Why is a former fighter pilot wanted by the US government?
9NowMay 12
Australia: US Marine Pilot to Appeal Extradition
Image copyright: Martin Ollman/Stringer/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
An Australian magistrate ruled that former US Marine pilot Daniel Duggan, who became an Australian citizen in 2012, can be extradited to the US on charges of violating arms control laws for allegedly training Chinese soldiers to land planes on aircraft carriers.
Duggan, who is originally from Boston, Mass., has spent 19 months in a New South Whales maximum-security prison. US prosecutors allege that he was paid AUS$88K ($61K ) over nine installments for training Chinese pilots in 2010 and 2012.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
With over a decade of service under his belt, Duggan should have known that China uses civilians to gain access to Western military secrets. He also didn't help his case by renouncing his American citizenship and even moved himself and his family to China for some time. Duggan is on his way to face trial in the US because he violated US law.
Establishment-critical narrative
Duggan — who spent over a decade serving his country and faced no scrutiny for years while teaching all sorts of people how to fly — suddenly became a criminal when the US, UK, and Australia decided to turn China into an adversary. He has sat in solitary confinement for years because Washington needed a proxy in its new cold war with Beijing.