Free Republic

When Walter Cronkite came out against the war in Viet Nam in February of 1968, former President Lyndon Johnson said, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.” And that is exactly what history will say actually happened. To watch NBC, CBS, and the Washington Post accurately (if reluctantly) report on the trade of five members of the Taliban’s starting line-up, for a soldier that the preponderance of the evidence says is a deserter, should be on that same level for Barack Obama. Only it is moderate America that Obama has lost. You know, the people who kept him and...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)American Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, while held prisoner in Afghanistan, was locked in solitary confinement for two straight years and did not see another human face for that entire time, senior military sources with knowledge of his "reintegration process" told Fox News. Officials said Bergdahl, during that period, only talked to his captors through the wall of a six-foot-by-six-foot metal box, in which he was kept. The box was just big enough for him to stand up straight and stretch his arms. If he was ever taken out of the box, Bergdahl was apparently hooded. Bergdahl told officials that this treatment...

Again, what could possibly go wrong with the recent release of five high-level Taliban commanders in exchange for Sgt. Private Bowe Bergdahl? Just about everything. Writing in the Weekly Standard, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies Senior Fellow Thomas Joscelyn writes that the "Taliban 5" are worse "than we've heard." In fact one of them, Mohammad Fazl, played a key roll in the lead-up to the 2001 9/11 terror attacks. One of the five senior Taliban leaders transferred to Qatar in exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl played a key role in al Qaeda’s plans leading up to the September 11,...

NOTE:  This is part of a continuing series of exclusive, clandestine, interviews with my mole known only as “Deep Quote” or “Molsterman,”  (who may or may not also be known as “Little Mo” to the MOTUS community) Molsterman is currently serving under deep cover at NSA. (Presented, as always, with apologies to the Ulsterman Report) I recently sat down again with Molsterman to talk about the controversy surrounding Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s ransom and return .MOTUS: Thanks for stopping by. I understand you have been digging into NSA’s Bowe Bergdahl dossier.Molsterman: Yeah, I’m a mole, that’s what I do: dig.MOTUS:...

One of the five senior Taliban leaders transferred to Qatar in exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl played a key role in al Qaeda’s plans leading up to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Mohammad Fazl, who served as the Taliban’s army chief of staff and deputy defense minister prior to his detention at Guantánamo, did not have a hand in planning the actual 9/11 hijackings. Along with a notorious al Qaeda leader, however, Fazl did help coordinate a military offensive against the enemies of the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan the day before. And Osama bin Laden viewed that...

Bergdahl's ability to make decisions and anticipate the future was stripped during his captivity.After five years in Taliban captivity, US Sgt Bowe Bergdahl is on his way to Texas for the next stage of his "reintegration" to freedom. What does the programme consist of and what does a returning prisoner of war need in the long term? The first stage of the military's reintegration mission is straight-forward - ensure the ex-captive is safe and out of immediate danger. The Pentagon says this takes 48-96 hours and often deals with emergency medical issues and time-sensitive intelligence debriefing. The second and third...

(10) He bowed to the demands of the Castro brothers (9) To show Putin that he was not exclusively flexible (8) To make room for those teabaggers, er, Tea Partiers (7) The five said they had converted and are now unofficial members of the Duck Dynasty (6) Their lives had become too easy; a permanent vacation (5) Living under Sharia law would be more difficult for them (wink, wink, nod, nod...) (4) To dispel the notion that "His" government was providing too much "aid" and "comfort" to terrorists (3) In reference to GITMO, the Taliban told him to "tear down...

Blackfive has obtained the actual intel reports on Bowe Bergdahl’s captivity with the Haqqani network. As Jim notes in the post, the reports are compiled in order to help develop a picture of his captivity; they’re not the full picture. You can read what Blackfive has posted at the link above. Here’s a troubling sample. Conditions for Bergdahl have greatly relaxed since the time of the escape. Bergdahl has converted to Islam and now describes himself as a mujahid. Bergdahl enjoys a modicum of freedom, and engages in target practice with the local mujahedeen, firing AK47s. Bergdahl is even allowed...

The Obama administration has quietly repatriated a dozen detainees from a small U.S. military prison in Afghanistan, moving a modest step closer toward winding down the United States' controversial post-9/11 detainee system. President Barack Obama, in a letter to Congress released on Thursday, informed U.S. lawmakers that about 38 third-country, or non-Afghan, prisoners remained at the Parwan detention center outside of Kabul, down from 50 a few months ago. A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that at the end of May, a Frenchman, a Kuwaiti and 10 Pakistani prisoners were sent back to their respective home...

Soon we shall get to the bottom of the swap of five Taliban kingpins from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility for one Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. In time we will learn whether Bergdahl really served with "honor and distinction" and was "captured on the battlefield," as National Security Adviser Susan Rice has stated. Or whether, as fellow soldiers of his platoon insist, he was a deserter who left his comrades to seek out the Taliban. We will soon discover whether Bergdahl's serious health problems or imminent danger prompted President Obama to make the sudden swap. Or whether, as administration skeptics insist,...

Five Taliban leaders released by the United States have told visitors that they are likely to seek to remain in Qatar beyond an agreed one-year travel ban, sources who have spoken to the visitors told Reuters. Diplomats and Qatari sources say the men are in a "safe location" within a guarded compound in Doha. They have been allowed to receive guests from the Afghan community in Qatar, including Taliban members who were previously living in Doha, the sources said. "So far they haven't asked for political asylum, but it's just too early to tell and, besides, not many countries would...

(Reuters) - It was the shoes that betrayed Corporal Faiz Mohammad's would-be killers. When 10 Taliban militants attacked Pakistan's busiest airport on Sunday night, sparking a five-hour gun battle that killed at least 34 people, Mohammad and his fellow officers from the Airports Security Force (ASF) were the first line of defense.

Yesterday I wondered if Democrat Rep. Jacki Speier of California had gone off the deep end by musing that the Taliban aren't really terrorists, but rather "part of the fabric of Afghanistan." It turns out she was basically mangling the new talking points from the Obama Administration, which is going all-in for the reinvention of the Taliban butchers as legitimate battlefield opponents. CNN reports on Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel's testimony before Congress today: Bergdahl was held by the Haqqani network, a Taliban wing designated a terrorist group in 2012. However, Hagel noted Bergdahl was a war captive, not a...

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel admitted that “the trust has been broken” between the White House and Congress following the Obama administration’s decision to skirt U.S. law and release five top Taliban leaders without first consulting with lawmakers. Hagel admitted to lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday that the administration unilaterally inked a deal with the Taliban to release five top prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp without first notifying Congress, as is legally mandated. The deal was signed “without providing 30 days notice to Congress,” as is required by law, Hagel told lawmakers before attempting to justify...

Both libertarians and conservatives want to keep America safe. We differ on how best to do that. Most libertarians believe our attempts to create or support democracy around the world have made us new enemies, and done harm as well as good. We want less military spending. Some conservatives respond to that by calling us isolationists, but we're not. I want to participate in the world; I just don't want to run it. I'm glad Americans trade with other countries -- trade both goods and people. It's great we sell foreigners our music, movies, ideas, etc. And through dealing...

Walid Shoebat has had a look at Bob Bergdahl’s playlist and it’s ugly and uglier. It’s a mix of Islamism videos and moonbat materials. Bergdahl favorited Anwar Al-Awlaki’s “Why The World Hates America” uploaded by HayaAlalJihad. He also subscribed to more Westernized Islamic propaganda channels like Deen and Journeyman Pictures. Some of his channels were about learning Arabic. Others were full of technical Islamic material unlikely to be of any interest or relevance to non-Muslims. He appeared to be drawn in particular to Salafist materials which would match his beard. Then he subscribed to leftist outlets like Brave New Films...

A memorandum of understanding between the United States and Qatar on the deal that freed Bowe Bergdahl offered "no guarantee" that the five Taliban commanders exchanged for the captured Army sergeant would be tracked, a Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee told CNN....

Obama administration officials refused to fully explain to key senators the justification for freeing five senior Taliban leaders that the White House had once considered to be among the most dangerous prisoners being held in the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, according to senior Senate insiders familiar with a closed-door briefing held Tuesday for members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Top Obama administration officials continued to defend the decision to skirt U.S. law and not inform Congress about the deal, telling lawmakers that “it was worth it; period,” according to one Senate insider familiar with Tuesday’s classified briefing. Officials maintained...

Those of you old enough to have loved the hapless deputy might bristle at the insult of comparing Barney Fife to President Barak Obama. An insult to Barney, that is. The latest self-inflicted White House wound is the bumbling President Barney’s swap of five high-level enemy Taliban leaders held at Gitmo for U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, held by the Taliban for five years, and the clearly unsuitable White House Rose Garden press event to celebrate. For starters, President Barney circumvented Congress, yet again, after receiving a loud and bipartisan “NO” from Congress in prior years when the same swap...

Welcome home, Sergeant, and you're under arrest. Which sums up the two polar reactions you can see and hear all over the papers, news channels, Internet, talk shows and Washington, that other swirl of confusion. All of 'em are bustin' out all over with fact-free, equal-but-opposite opinions about what th' heck to do with Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl of Hailey, Idaho, United States of Agitation. If it's not too much to ask, supposed ladies and gentlemen and quick-on-the-draw opinionators, could we all just settle down, president and senators and distinguished and undistinguished kibitzers alike, and let the sergeant settle in at...