Posted on 06/03/2014 12:23:24 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The Taliban prisoner swap for Bowe Bergdahl might do some good, but fear and anger are getting in the way of a realistic appraisal.
Richard Hofstadter opened his 1968 essay, "The Paranoid Style in American Politics," with this line: "American politics has often been an arena for angry minds."
He continues, "Behind this I believe there is a style of mind that is far from new and that is not necessarily right-wing. I call it the paranoid style simply because no other word adequately evokes the sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy that I have in mind."
One wonders what Mr. Hofstadter would have to say about the great gnashing of teeth and anger today over President Barack Obama's prisoner swap for US soldier Bowe Bergdahl. Lurking behind this is not just disagreement with the decision – to release five men, four of them very senior Taliban leaders at the time of their detention in 2001, in exchange for the army sergeant – but a seemingly deep-seated belief that Obama is unpatriotic, more interested in helping American enemies than helping America.
Lending to the outrage is credible evidence that Bergdahl, an odd duck who had grown to hate the war according to people who served with him, deliberately walked off post before his capture. Nathan Bradley Bethea, who was serving in Afghanistan at time with Bergdahl's unit (the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment) makes it clear that Bergdahl went AWOL from his platoon's small outpost in Paktika Province in an in-depth piece on the events before his capture and how members of his unit, which lost soldiers trying to track him down, feel about the event. Many are understandably angry and consider the man a deserter....
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
Amen.
Bowe Bergdahl Scheduled for Promotion to Staff Sergeant in June
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/06/02/Bowe-Bergdahl-Scheduled-For-Promotion-to-Staff-Sergeant-in-June
Col. David Hunt: US Lost 14 SOLDIERS Searching for Deserter Bowe Bergdahl (Video)
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/06/col-david-hunt-we-lost-14-soldiers-searching-for-deserter-bergdahl-video/
Taliban: We’ll trade one of your terrorists for five of ours!
Obama: Sounds like a bargain to me.
OBAMA SAVED A RAT?
...at best a deserter, at worst a traitor.
You forgot shuttering coal power plants by his EPA.
It is ludicrous!
More accurately - Bergdahl DESERTED.
Desertion, as opposed to going AWOL, requires an intent to not return. IMHO, he demonstrated that intent through his actions and his emails.
BRANDED! Scorned as the one who RAN!
WHAT do you do when you’re BRANDED....
‘Cause you’re one of the TALIBAN????
Fear and anger are normal reactions to terrorism. For many Americans, fear and anger are natural responses to obama. Isn't it interesting that terrorism and obama elicit the same emotions?
A decade ago! Its been a leftwing rag ever since I can remember, and I just turned 65.
Hmmmm ..?? My greatest “paranoia” .. that the son will murder his parents (or at least his mother).
I wonder what the level of paranoia will be then ..??
“take former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who wrote on her Facebook page: “You blew it again, Barack Obama, by negotiating away any leverage against the bad guys as these bad guys – Osama Bin Laden’s partners in evil crime – joyfully celebrate their ‘win’ in the deal you sealed.”
That is not remotely what Obama has just done. And amid all the fear and anger and, yes, paranoia, is the chance that the release of the Taliban five maybe – just maybe – will do some good. None of the men were ever charged with any crime against US citizens or soldiers, and the Afghan government has been eager to pen a reconciliation deal with the Taliban. US-installed President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly sought talks with the group, downplayed their threat, and criticized the money spent and blood spilled on his government’s behalf in America’s longest war.
Ending wars almost requires hard choices, and that moment has arrived for the US. A hard choice may prove to be a wrong choice, but it isn’t betrayal, and people that seek black and white clarity over Afghanistan need to look elsewhere.”
Wow, Dan. You’re really a moron.
xlnt summary
I would add using the IRS to go after patriotic groups and citizens who disagree with him.
Bergdahl deserted his unit during wartime. Then he converted to Islam and collaborated with the enemy by training the Taliban (according to the Taliban) in bomb-making techniques. This is treason and deserves the death penalty.
Even the National Enquirer is more credible.
Agreed.
Bergdahl was a talib (student) of the Taliban (plural).
“These are the hardest of the hard core. These are the highest high-risk people, and others that we have released have gone back into the fight,” he told Face the Nation. “If they are able to (after) a year in Qatar to do whatever they want to do there’s no doubt they will reenter the fight.”
Perhaps. But it’s also possibly that these men, older and wiser heads than many of the commanders in the field who have little political experience, will be interested in cutting deals with the Afghan government after so much bloodshed. With the group in Qatar for the next year, government representatives will have a chance to find out.”
Yeah, that’s great. What a plan.
Of course, they’ll stay in Qatar.
They promised and everything, right?
They’re older and wiser and stuff.
Who is this naive idiot?
You don’t really believe evil exists, do you Dan?
Don’t forget that he allowed openly gay men and women to serve in our armed forces, and wants to enlist transexuals and illegal aliens too.
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