Free Republic

Bowe Bergdahl "caused a lot of suffering among members of the military" after he walked away from his post in Afghanistan in 2009 — and he may skate on charges of desertion and misbehavior because he still has defenders in the White House, says a former CIA station chief. "We're going to have to wait for a legal outcome here on this case, but the administration has a lot vested in this," Gary Berntsen, who led the CIA hunt in Tora Bora for Osama bin Laden, said Friday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.(VIDEO-AT-LINK)"The administration made the mistake...

Recounts latest attacks on ChristiansROME — Pope Francis on Sunday, March 16, condemned the bombings of two Churches in a Christian neighborhood in Lahore, Pakistan. The twin bombings — at one Catholic and one Protestant church —came as local Christians were attending Sunday Mass and services. The deadly blasts left 14 people dead and 78 wounded. The attack followed last December's Peshawar school massacre, when 7 gunmen — including one Chechen, two Arabs and two Afghans — entered the Army public school in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar and opened fire on staff and children, killing 145, including 132...

Investor’s Business Daily has put together facts to demonstrate that the release of Bowe Bergdahl from Taliban captivity was just a ruse to provide cover for President Obama to release the Taliban commanders, a goal he had long pursued. Here is the timeline they provide: January 2009: Obama signs executive order calling for Gitmo to be shuttered within a year, while his national security team considers if five Taliban leaders are safe for release. 2011: White House and State Department officials open secret talks with the Taliban in Germany and the Persian Gulf to discuss their release from Gitmo...

The sudden announcement of the charges Bergdahl faces, reinvigorated the sometimes fierce political debate that took place last year after the alleged deserter was secretly traded for five high-level Taliban prisoners from the military detention center at the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Marine base. Equally controversial was a legal watchdog group’s announcement that it had already filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) in order to have a federal judge force the Obama-appointed commanders to release records regarding the U.S. Army’s review of the disappearance of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl while he was assigned...

It’s not even remotely satisfying to witness the Obama administration and its media minions repeatedly spew maniacal, spittle-flecked pablum only to have those words served up cold and congealed for them to consume.  Because the Left never eats its words. On June 6, 2014, Susan Rice—head cheerleader for the “I’ll read any talking point” squad—told CNN, "I realize there has been lots of discussion and controversy around this," Rice said. "But what I was referring to was the fact that this was a young man who volunteered to serve his country in uniform at a time of war. That, in...

Last July, President Obama presented Staff Sgt. Ryan Pitts of New Hampshire with the Medal of Honor in a White House ceremony. Pitts single-handedly defended an outpost from hundreds of attacking Taliban fighters. He emptied machine guns, tossed grenades and did whatever it took to protect his fellow soldiers. As Obama put it, “Against the onslaught, one American held the line.” Less than two months earlier, Obama had been in the White House Rose Garden, grinning while the father of Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl gave his son an encouraging shoutout in Pashto — the language of the Taliban. A Rose...

EXCLUSIVE: At least three of the five Taliban leaders traded last year for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl have tried to plug back into their old terror networks, a government official familiar with the intelligence told Fox News, describing it as an attempt to "re-engage." The new allegations come as Bergdahl now faces desertion charges, and as the one-year deal governing the former Guantanamo detainees' supervised release in the Gulf nation of Qatar is set to expire -- at the end of May. The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency recently told Congress that, after that expiration, all his officers can do...

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl says he was tortured in the five years he was held captive by the Taliban, beaten with a copper cable as he spent months blindfolded and chained spread-eagle to a bed. The 28-year-old soldier described his harsh treatment in Afghanistan in a letter released Thursday by his defense lawyer.

U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl has been charged with desertion for leaving his unit in Afghanistan and joining up with the Taliban. It’s about time. After months of stonewalling as the evidence that Bergdahl was a deserter mounted ever higher, U.S. officials could ignore it no longer.

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who abandoned his post in Afghanistan and was held captive for five years by the Taliban, was charged Wednesday by the U.S. military with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy and could get life in prison if convicted. The misbehavior charge could land Bergdahl in prison for life, though some legal experts said a lengthy sentence was unlikely. He also could be dishonorably discharged and forfeit all his pay if convicted on either charge. Next, an Article 32 hearing — similar to a civilian grand jury proceeding — will be held at Fort Sam Houston in...

A Pakistani lawyer under death threats for defending a doctor who helped CIA agents hunt al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was shot dead on Tuesday, police said, and a Taliban splinter group claimed responsibility. Samiullah Afridi represented Dr Shakil Afridi, who was jailed in 2012 for 33 years for running a fake vaccination campaign believed to have helped the U.S. intelligence agency track down bin Laden. That sentence was overturned in 2013 and the doctor is now in jail awaiting a new trial. Samiullah Afridi was shot dead on Tuesday as he was returning to his home in the...

Highlights: "Having aligned with everyone from Castro to the Supreme Leader of Iran (a country which rapes teenage girls so that they don’t die as virgins, and stones teenage rape victims), Obama has to make it seem as if it’s the Republicans who are the traitors." "During his original campaign, Obama said, “We cannot allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon." Bill Clinton said during his first term in office, 'North Korea cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear bomb.' North Korea could and did. Bill Clinton knew all along that it could and would." "Clinton and Obama didn’t accidentally...

There are a few potentially important details surrounding the timeline leading to Bowe Bergdahl’s release that might deserve some discussion. Truth Revolt supplies some details on the timeline: This week’s [the week of Bergdahl’s release] secret diplomacy was not the first time the U.S. government had engaged the Taliban in an effort to negotiate a prisoner swap for the release of Bergdahl. In 2011, State Department officials held a series of meetings with Taliban leaders in Doha. In Congress, there was bipartisan opposition to any release of Guantanamo prisoners. After the negotiations were made public in early 2012 by Sen....

The Justice Department is pressing the State Department to designate Boko Haram, a Nigerian militant group alleged to be responsible for hundreds of deaths, as a "foreign terrorist organization," according to a document obtained by Reuters. Lisa Monaco, head of the Justice Department's national security division, sent a letter in January to State Department counter-terrorism chief Daniel Benjamin requesting that Boko Haram, also known as the "Nigerian Taliban," be put on the list. A Congressional source said that in the last few days, State Department representatives have lobbied Congress to try to stop legislation which would force the administration to...

The secretary of the Army is defending his decision to strip awards for heroism from a former Green Beret officer, saying the soldier demonstrated a "lack of honorable conduct" after he earned the medals. Golsteyn was later investigated for an undisclosed violation of the military's rules of engagement in combat — a violation related to the killing of a known enemy bombmaker, according to officials familiar with the case. The investigation closed in 2014 without Golsteyn's being charged with a crime, but Army Secretary John McHugh made the rare decision to strip him of both awards anyway. (snip) In a...

A Weston parent urged the Broward School Board on Tuesday to fire a teacher he claims called his son a "rag-head Taliban.". Youssef Wardani said Maria Valdes, who teaches French at Cypress Bay in Weston, called his 14-year-old son a Taliban four times in class last month. "I want her fired," said Wardani. "As a parent I should not be spending my time in front of [the School Board], explaining to them what should have been done on Day One … My son is not a rag-head Taliban."

<p>Recently, London Mayor Boris Johnson described Jihadists as “porn driven losers” who have “low self-esteem and are unsuccessful with women.”</p> <p>According to Syrian doctors in a report in the British media, ISIS fighters are buying frilly underwear for their wives and sex slaves — and subjecting them to abnormal and sadistic sexual practices. They may well have learned this from pornography.</p>

snip The reality is that the Islamic State is Islamic. Very Islamic. Yes, it has attracted psychopaths and adventure seekers, drawn largely from the disaffected populations of the Middle East and Europe. But the religion preached by its most ardent followers derives from coherent and even learned interpretations of Islam. Virtually every major decision and law promulgated by the Islamic State adheres to what it calls, in its press and pronouncements, and on its billboards, license plates, stationery, and coins, “the Prophetic methodology,” which means following the prophecy and example of Muhammad, in punctilious detail. Muslims can reject the Islamic...

A fleeing Taliban terrorist, desperate for water, was plodding through the Afghan desert when he saw something far off in the distance. Hoping to find water, he hurried toward the mirage, only to find a very frail little old Jewish man standing at a small makeshift display rack selling ties. The Taliban terrorist asked, "Do you have water?" The Jewish man replied, "I have no water. Would you like to buy a tie? They are only $5." The Taliban shouted hysterically, "Idiot Infidel! I do not need such an over-priced western adornment. I spit on your ties. I need water!"...

The State Department issued a little noticed statement on Saturday warning of an “imminent complex attack” on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, telling Americans to avoid the area around the embassy. “As of February 2015, militants are preparing an imminent complex attack against the U.S. Embassy compound in Kabul City, Afghanistan, from a location near Massoud Circle. The U.S. Embassy is taking this threat seriously and advises American citizens to avoid the area.” Massoud Circle was the location of a deadly suicide bomb attack last September claimed by the Taliban. ... As the Kabul Embassy staff prepares for an...