Posted on 06/02/2014 5:36:07 AM PDT by AU72
I will confess to a dark suspicion that when Robert Bergdahl, standing next to President Obama, said in Pashto to Bowe Bergdahl, “I am your father,” it was some sort of coded message. I mean, what in the world was that all about? Does any father have to say such a thing to a son? Did he think Bowe didn’t know who his father was?
But then I started to ask questions of people who had followed the Bergdahl saga, and they calmed me down a bit. The elder Bergdahl seems a bit odd. Look at the pictures. “A hippy,” one of my best sources said. A guy who’d gone to Utah to pursue a lifestyle reminiscent of the romantic sixties: love, peace, and the expansion of the mind. Or so they say. And it connects well with the story of Bowe, leaving his base in an “intoxicated state,” which, if true, can’t mean alcohol, which is forbidden in such places. It might mean pot, or hashish, however. Berkeley, California, on the plains of Afghanistan.
I think, as I always do when confronted with “breaking news,” that we are some distance from the truth. We don’t have the real facts just yet, and, contrary to all our frenzied desire to know everything right away, it’s a good idea to take a deep breath and analyze the odors.
One good place to start is where Brad Thor does [1]: forget about the Taliban, they weren’t holding Bowe. He was a captive of the Haqqanis, which Thor nicely describes as a mixture of terrorism and mafia, “80% Sopranos and 20% Al Qaeda.” He then asks an important question: what did the Haqqanis get for Bergdahl? That’s exactly right, because four of the Guantanamo terrorists were indeed Taliban, and hence low priority for the Haqqanis. So?
So we need to ask how much money the Haqqanis got, or how many weapons, or maybe diamonds, I don’t know. We probably arranged for the payment–it’s illegal to do it directly, I believe (although CIA has done it, as has the military, usually under the guise of “providing information”)–and the Qataris may have thought it was a good investment. But something of value had to be given to the Haqqanis. I don’t believe they turned over Bowe as a favor to the Taliban.
It is also possible that the Iranians were involved…. They have trained both the Haqqanis and the Taliban, and they are eager to extend their control over Afghanistan as we retreat. For extras, one of the released Taliban was in cahoots with them, planning anti-American operations as we prepared to invade in 2001. It would make sense, although it is not high on my list of likely explanations, for them to be midwives to the deal.
As we sort out the real facts from the abundant background noise, we will discover several disconcerting things: first, that control over the efforts to recover Bowe often shifted between US government agencies. Second, that it is misleading to say that the negotiations were underway for five years; the final push came in the last six weeks, when the Qataris told the U.S. that a deal was now possible. Third, that the list of Guantanamo terrorists to be “paid” shifted continuously. And fourth, who were the key intermediaries? I suspect we will find some relatively unknown academics involved in the talks. It wasn’t entirely the work of Qatari diplomats and U.S. officials by any means.
Finally, a mystery: why the sudden urgency at the end, when talks had often collapsed in the past? It’s hard to believe that the administration thought Bowe’s health was so bad he might drop dead, although it’s a possibility. But it’s more likely that we’re missing a key element, something separate from the Bergdahl saga.
For once, I think we have a good chance to find out. There are lots of angry people out there, from military guys who despise Bowe and think he’s worthless, to members of the various agencies who fought one another to get control and glory and will now tell very different versions of what actually took place.
The people I wouldn’t trust on this one–aside from top decision makers who likely have a lot to hide–are the Bergdahls. They’re very odd people, to put it mildly.
It’s always about the money.
It was about the money with the Taliban too, we just never were told where the money was coming from and where it was going.
Same with Libya and Syria, only more so if only because there is more money to be had in those countries.
I think so too.
An epiphany came when I was in the Army, in fatigues, holding orders and packed to be shipped to the Middle East, when I heard the "breaking news" that there were no plans to send troops to the Middle East.
A guy who’d gone to Utah to pursue a lifestyle reminiscent of the romantic sixties: love, peace, and the expansion of the mind.
Yes. I did the same thing; only it was California and Hawaii.
I found that love, peace, and expansion of the mind had been in my own backyard all the time and that the hippie lifestyle reminiscent of the romantic sixties was a dangerous, slippery slope into American decadence and destruction--national and personal.
Many of my fellow travelers were not so wise--or smart--and slipped right down the slope.
judas effing priest
This farce is a win-win-win for obama the muslim;he released 5 enemies of the America he hates,brought back one native-born convert to the enemy,AND knocked the VA scandal off the front page of the news.
So why doesn’t he shave off that disgusting muzzie beard?
maybe when obama sneaked into Bagram Air Base on his “memorial day” trip to “boost the troops”, someone on AF 1 had a suitcase full of cash and a “get out of jail free” card for 5 terrorists, signed by potus himself
No wonder Karzai took a pass on meeting obama (and now claims ignorance of the whole deal..as if)
Oh and obama’s team also outed the CIA COS- ka ching.
If not part of the deal to pay off the enemy, certainly a cherry on top of a crap sundae
the VA scandal is not going away, there are just too many veterans in too many American families and communities
half the country doesn’t care about the IRS scandal because they don’t pay taxes, can’t spell Benghazi and thinks “fast and furious” is a movie, but they know what and who is a veteran
If Obama looks like he’s doing treasonous activities it’s because he is.
I believe this was all set in place by Obama; to get all Gitmo prisoners out and complete his commitment to close Gitmo! He couldn’t do it legally...congress was against him. So he did what he does best...a deceitful end around.
When a hostage is sick and dieing, it is actually bad news for the group holding therm hostage. It makes the hostage less valuable if they may die any minute. So they would have never made his health problems known. And if word got out that he was having problems, the payment for his release should have gone down. Not stayed the same. The time factor would have been working against the hostage takers. They would have lowered their demands to get a quicker release.
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