The American-born Islamic State (ISIS) soldier who surrendered to the Kurds can be used by the United States as a valuable anti-terrorism tool, Pete Hoekstra, former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, tells
Newsmax TV.
"He'll come back to the United States and hopefully be prosecuted to the full extent, but right now we need to see him as an intelligence asset," Hoekstra said Friday on "The Hard Line," with guest host John Bachman.
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"What can he tell us about ISIS, how they operate, who else might be there, what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are.
"The other thing we really want to talk about is hey, what exactly was your motivation to go and join ISIS? How did you pull it off, who were you working with? But right now he's an intelligence asset, a resource that we should mine as deeply as we can."
Mohamad Jamal Khweis, 26, of Alexandria, Va.
gave himself up to Kurdish forces in Iraq earlier this week, explaining he had made "a bad decision" in joining the bloodthirsty terror group.
Hoekstra, a Michigan Republican who served in the House from 1993 to 2011, said he believes the Kurds will release Khweis into American custody shortly — but added the fact he gave himself up will hold no sway in the courts.
"This was a guy that was committed to killing Americans, committing and trying to kill our allies over there. This guy clearly is a traitor against U.S. interests," Hoekstra said.
"Yeah, he finally figured out this may not have been a very, very good idea. But at one point in time, he thought it was a good idea. Secondly, he tried to kill Americans and our allies. He should be held accountable."
Hoekstra is the author of
"Architects of Disaster: The Destruction of Libya," written with Teri Blumenfeld and published by The Calamo Press.
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