Posted on 06/03/2014 4:32:26 PM PDT by don-o
WASHINGTON On Saturday, President Obama stood with the parents of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in the White House Rose Garden a voluntary media event to announce the deal that exchanged five Taliban detainees for Bergdahls release.
Days later, that feel-good event stands in contrast to the deals reception, with reports from soldiers he served with that Bergdahl may have been a deserter, and lawmakers demanding to know why the administration did not notify Congress of the deal in advance.
Tommy Vietor, one of Obamas former top aides, said Tuesday the goal of Saturdays event was to get in front of the story and take a moment to reflect on Bergdahls years in Taliban custody before the issue could be politicized.
What they were trying to do was tell the story before it devolved into partisan attacks, said Vietor, Obamas former National Security Council spokesperson. To tell a story about who Bowe is, what hes endured, and what his familys endured.
Saturdays White House event with Bergdahls family was about as high-profile as events get. Networks broke into programming and the White House got the time to make its case. Reporters traveling with the president said Tuesday that the White House didnt expect the immediate criticisms of the Bergdahl swap that began before Obama had left the lectern.
Vietor said administration officials expected the heat to come, but he said the degree of the attacks on Bergdahl and his family before they have had a chance to speak was a surprise.
Im positive everyone knew that it was all going to come out, he said. But whats the alternative? Are we going to preemptively sentence this kid to rot in in a Taliban jail?
(Excerpt) Read more at buzzfeed.com ...
BS - this administration is nothing but PR pure and simple - the ceremony was to try to improve the image and status of the president - and to h*ll with the security of the country and its people....
She’s knee deep in this, IMHO. I can smell it...
Just one more lie...
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/13-things-you-need-to-know-about-bowe-bergdahl-20140602
Your link to the Hastings story was 404. Above is a current RS story with a good link to Hastings.
PARTISON?!?!?!?!
Since when was a partisan issue to honor a deserter?
Since when is it partisan to trade a deserter for 5 high value terrorists?
He didn’t expect a man who looked like a weedy white version of Bin Laden addressing the American people in Arabic would go over badly? Stupidest, most corrupt administration in American.
Sounds exactly like RAT behavior to me.
I agree. First CNN, then the Washington Post and even the NY Times. My guess is the Clintons are behind it. It'll soon get leaked that Hillary didn't favor the exchange while Sec of State.
I still don't think Hillary's health will allow her to run. I just think they're getting ready to bury 0 for beating Hillary six years ago.
These hapless bastards are the most incompetent bunch to ever occupy the office....truth is they’re to stupid to realize what they did!!!
Stupidity? Or just cold, calculated malice?
Stupid in only that they didn’t see this coming. Obama’s head almost exploded today in Poland when he was questioned about this. He’s such a mean little man.
He kept comparing himself to Abraham Lincoln and George Washington when it comes to the “fog of war.” Maybe he’d be better sticking to Warren G. Harding or James Buchanan.
I’m afraid that Clinton has already made a statement that she agrees with this release. Also, remember that the media came down hard on the Obamacare computer snafus. That faded with time, too.
They knew exactly what they were doing. They got the five most dangerous terrorists in Guantanamo released back to the fight. And the cost to them? A few weeks of sturm und drang in the press, maybe lose a point or two in the polls. But ultimately, no real consequences for such a huge victory.
We make a fatal error dismissing their actions as "stupid." They are devious and know how accomplish their objectives. Think of all the successes they've racked up in the past five years. And compare that list to ours....
What did Hillary know and when did she stop knowing it??
Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. Ultimately it does not matter. They got the five most dangerous terrorists at GITMO released back to the fight.
Obama will survive this scandal just as he has all the others. And in the end, all that matters is that he accomplished his objective -- the Taliban Dream Team is back on the job. And there's not a thing you or I can do about it, and there's not a thing our GOP reps will do about it.
You make good points.
We traded 5 proven Taliban killers from Gitmo for 1 Taliban sympathizor who may wind up in Levenworth. Dude, thats gnarly.
You know, Bowe was comfortable and liked being with the Taliban...I am curious as to what got thrown into the mix to help Bowe decide to come home? Is he getting a multi-million dollar nest egg or something?
When this Bergdahl character WENT AWOL and SHOULD have been declared a DESERTER from the gitgo, he left behind emails and notes saying he was “disgusted” with the United States and talked about RENOUNCING HIS CITIZENSHIP. (During my 4 years in the USAF in the Vietnam era, I wasn’t all that thrilled about how the government was mishandling a war that was getting so many of our folks unnecessarily KIA but never once thought about doing what THIS clown did!)
Despite obozo’s desire to keep all this hush-hush, MORE will come out as his former comrades defy orders to shut up and do speak out.
Now, here are the $64,000.00 questions that may have already been asked:
After 5 years with the Taliban, just how many IEDs and other “devices” did they teach him how to construct?
And, once he’s set out and about in the US population, how many other similarly disaffected malcontents, black muslims, radical Bill Ayers/Bernadine Dohrn wannabes will he teach everything the Taliban taught him?
Think Boston Marathon bombers X 10 to the 10th power on steroids!!
And we can all thank the TRAITOR in the Spite House, his lackeys in the bureaucracy, congress,the Pentagon and the lapdog media!
Doesn’t bother you, you say? It may if one of YOUR loved ones happens to be in a shopping mall when one of those devices goes off
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.