Obama Official: Bergdahl Worthy of Sympathy if Joined Taliban to Protest Platoon Leaders

Thursday, June 5, 2014 | Kristinn

[kristinn]

An Obama administration official has floated the idea that Bowe Bergdahl was justified in deserting his platoon in Afghanistan and joining the Taliban over disagreements with the platoon's leadership.

Brandon Friedman, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs for the Department of Housing and Urban Development posted a series of tweets Wednesday evening in which he speculated that Bergdahl deserted over bad leadership of his platoon and that is why his fellow soldiers were smearing him.

"Here's the thing about Bergdahl and the Jump-to-Conclusions mats: What if his platoon was long on psychopaths and short on leadership? (1/5)"

" What if he grew disillusioned with what he saw, didn't trust his leadership, and walked off? Legal? No. Worthy of sympathy? Maybe. (2/5)"

" If that were the case, the soldiers in his platoon would have all the more reason to smear him publicly now. (3/5)"

" Given other examples, it's not out of the realm of possibility--and more reason to withhold judgment until after an investigation. (4/5)"

" I'm not a fan of such speculation, but this story could not be more unbalanced--with so many premature calls of "traitor." (5/5)"

Friedman's Wikipedia page says he is a decorated war veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and is a veteran of the Democratic Party front group VoteVets. He joined the Obama administration in 2009 at the Veterans Administration. He left in 2012 and rejoined the administration in 2014 at HUD.

[cynwoody]

Boston conservative radio talk show host Howie Carr said this week that Bowe Bergdahl should just say he's gay, claim he was bullied by his fellow troops in Afghanistan and ran off. In today's Amerika, that would put him in a protected class, thus garnering all kinds of sympathy.

In his long career reporting on the antics of the Massachusetts government, Howie has developed a keen instinct on how liberals think.

Monday afternoon, Howie took a call from "Alex", one of the guys who went looking for Bergdahl when he vanished.

http://audio.wrko.com/hosting/media/wrko/3650/6-2-col-hunt.mp3

The first twelve minutes Howie discusses the case with Col. David Hunt.

[HOYA97]

Thanks for all your great work

[a fool in paradise]

Bradley Manning played up the gay outcast angle to engage in willful sabotage and espionage.

[a fool in paradise]

Found this reference in the antiwar article linked somewhere in this thread...

” And this US government cable posted by WikiLeaks contains intercepted Taliban communications hailing his capture and claiming it occurred in the course of an attack on Bergdahl’s base while he was using a latrine.”

Anyone heard any other talking points about this “wikileaks memo” claiming he was captured by the Taliban while on base?

[a fool in paradise]

And now he’s engaging in a warpspeed back pedal, thanks for launching this Twitter posts thread!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3164154/posts

Exclusive: HUD Official Apologizes For Tweets Critical Of Bergdahl’s Unit
Buzz Feed ^ | June 5, 2014 | Evan McMorris-Santoro

Posted on Thursday, June 05, 2014 2:31:57 PM by don-o

[a fool in paradise]

Why is it I never see headlines reporting “turncoat” Taliban members who go public with evidence of war crimes committed by their side?

Why is it I never hear about criminal prosecution of war criminals on the Islamist side in Iraq and Afghanistan?

[a fool in paradise]

At least Oswald waited for his military discharge to defect to the other side.

He lied a bit to get his hardship discharge.

[hal ogen]

I reject this anti-American fool’s “apology”. He should be fired and exiled.

[a fool in paradise]

Good find!

[a fool in paradise]

“if he joined the Taliban, he’s still a hero???”

>> To the Obama administration, yes.

John F. Kerry was a war hero, to the Viet Cong.

[a fool in paradise]

Down the memory hole...

TRANSPARENCY

[a fool in paradise]

Why doesn’t the WH make up a list of 100 excuses of why this private decided to desert his post, hand it too him, and ask him to pick one or two. Scandal solved...all is good.

"You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own set of facts." - Ronald Reagan

[a fool in paradise]

I mark this, the 5th of June, 2014, as the day when the Obama administration jumped the shark.

The Obama administration jumped the shark in March of 2009 after Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize. How could he possibly top that moment? It's all been downhill ever after.

[GeronL]

bump

A Nobel Prize for Nuttin’

[a fool in paradise]

He may be at HUD now but from 2009-2012 he worked at the VA

He just wrote this for Time(Lies) Magazine...

http://nation.time.com/2013/06/03/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-va-backlog/
The Rise (and Fall) of the VA Backlog
By Brandon Friedman
June 03, 2013
19 Comments

Brandon Friedman is a vice president at FleishmanHillard in Washington, D.C. and the author of The War I Always Wanted. From 2009 to 2012, he worked at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Follow him on Twitter at @BFriedmanDC.

boycott Time Warner, the same louts that bring you Bill Maher.

[a fool in paradise]

Thanks for finding that Time article. Ties him to the VA (2009-2012) before his switch to HUD.

But he still finds time to go on air, in print, and in social media.

He carries the administration’s water bucket.

[GeronL]

March 2009- Jumped the Shark

5 June, 2014- jumped the Snark

[a fool in paradise]

I see what you did

[Jane Long]

Thanks for the Time/VA info .... funny how these corporatist Marxists just keep recirculating.

[Alamo-Girl]

Buuuump!