Posted on 06/03/2014 1:39:14 PM PDT by Kaslin
"We needed to get him out of there, essentially to save his life."
So said Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, an Army sergeant in Vietnam, of Barack Obama's trade of five hard-core Taliban leaders at Guantanamo for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, a Taliban prisoner for five years.
The trade speaks well of America's 's resolve to leave no soldier behind. And the country surely shared the joy of Bergdahl's family on learning their son was alive and coming home.
But this secret swap, as well as the circumstances of Bergdahl's capture and captivity, are likely to further polarize our people and poison our politics.
First, the price the Taliban extorted from us is high. We could be seeing these killers again on a battlefield after their year's detention in Qatar. Other Americans may have to suffer and perhaps die for our having freed these five from Guantanamo.
Taliban leader Mullah Omar is proclaiming a "big victory" over the Americans, and it is a morale boost for the Taliban we are fighting.
As for the Afghan government, it was kept in the dark.
The message received in Kabul must be: The Americans are taking care of their own, cutting deals behind our back at our expense, packing up, going home. We cannot rely on them. We are on our own.
But as for the claim that we "never negotiate with terrorists," it is not as though we have not been down this road before.
During Korea, we negotiated for a truce and return of our POWs with the same Chinese Communists who had tortured and brainwashed them. During Vietnam we negotiated for the return of our POWs with North Vietnamese and Viet Cong who massacred 3,000 civilians in Hue in the Tet Offensive.
Jimmy Carter negotiated with the Ayatollah's regime to get our embassy hostages out of Iran. The Iran-Contra scandal was about Ronald Reagan's decision to send TOW missiles secretly to Iran, for Iran's aid in getting hostages released by Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Bibi Netanyahu today insists that America not recognize a new Palestinian government that includes Hamas, for Hamas is a terrorist organization committed to Israel's destruction.
Yet Bibi released 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in 2011, many of them guilty of atrocities, in exchange for a single Israeli soldier held by Hamas in Gaza, Pvt. Gilad Shalit.
Yasser Arafat, Menachem Begin and Nelson Mandela were all once declared to be terrorists heading up terrorist organizations -- the PLO, the Irgun and the ANC.
And all three have something else in common: All became winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.
One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Today's terrorist may be tomorrow's statesman. The remains of Lenin and Mao rest in honor in their capitals. Jomo Kenyatta, founding father of Kenya, was once the chieftain of the Mau Mau.
When it comes to negotiating with domestic hostage-takers, do we not, along with training SWAT teams to take them out, train men to negotiate with them? How many of us, with a family member held by a vicious criminal demanding ransom, would refuse to negotiate?
Yet, if those released Taliban are indeed "hardened terrorists who have the blood of Americans ... on their hands," as John McCain charges, why were they not prosecuted and punished like the Nazis at Nuremberg?
America has sent a message to its enemies by trading five war criminals for Sergeant Bergdahl: The nation with a preponderance of the world's hard power has a soft heart.
And though America rejoiced with the parents of Sgt. Bergdahl this weekend, other troubling issues have begun to be raised.
Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, said on ABC that Bergdahl "served the United States with honor and distinction" and "was an American prisoner of war, captured on the battlefield."
But is this true? His fellow soldiers say Bergdahl was not missing in action, and not wounded. Disillusioned with the war, he walked away from his post.
In an email to his parents three days before he went missing. Bergdahl wrote, "I am ashamed to be an American. And the title of U.S. soldier is just the lie of fools. ... I am sorry for everything. The horror that is America is disgusting."
For days, Bergdahl's fellow soldiers were out searching for him, risking their lives to prevent his Taliban captors from taking him into Pakistan. U.S. soldiers may have been wounded and some may have died in the attempt to rescue their lost sergeant.
Did Sgt. Bergdahl defect, did he desert, did he collaborate with the enemy? We do not know. But these charges will have to be investigated.
For if they are not, or if they are proven true and Bergdahl evades all punishment, it would be a blow to Army morale and widen the gulf between the Army and commander in chief that was on display at West Point a week ago.
Sergeant Bergdahl, one suspects, is about to become a famous and representative figure of his country's divisions in the Obama era.
In the old days I called everybody listed as a Republican or Independent in Who’s Who in America, and for Fred I also used a “gadget” they supplied that linked to their site and let them know I was the initiator of the donation. I’d embed the gadget on websites and people would click in and donate. I don’t like social media and don’t use it.
Is “swaped” being raped at SXSW?
Both actors who give wood a bad name
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??
Chuck was a pretty ‘fair’ hitting first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers and Chicago Cubs before picking up his rifle.
TRUST BUT VERIFY......
Hmmm... Boy they must have hyped him when he went into acting.
He had 1 AB with Brooklyn in 1949 @28 and hit into a DP.
He had 67 AB with Chicago in 1951 @30 and hit .239 with 2 hrs, 18 RBIs....
I realize I was only 10 when he came up but I do seem to remember him BUT guess it isn’t so...
Like Bob Newhart (Prof Neutron) said when asked a question about an event 20 years ago
‘What??? I wear a bracelet with my address on it so I can have someone make sure I get home’
Thanks, 2dDivVet
I’ll read more about it.
One reporter stated he saw him and he looked rather healthy, did not seem ill...more lies from Obama and the thugs to cover for themselves...
Is he looking for a WH staff position?
Really? I though it went
Stranded, stranded on the toilet bowl,
What do you do when your stranded,
and you don't have a roll...
/elementary school
When we are so quick to judge the truth is the first thing that is lost in the zeal to convict.
****************
Your remark would make sense if Bergdahl were really going to be charged and brought to trial. Here, however, Bergdahl is allowing himself to be used as a poster child for the Obama administration, and those suspicious of the hostage trade are merely saying, “Not so fast.” You seem to want us to shut-up and not even do that.
People are already being swayed by his rank.
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That is ‘funny’ how the mind works.
In ‘Homeland’, SGT Brody sort of took a nose dive in my mind before it came out that he actually had ‘turned’...
Once I found out he had been captured as a PVT (or such) it completely changed my ‘opinion’ of him as they had been parading him around as a SGT.... It also made his ‘close association with the Officers suspect (in my 1950/60’s Military mind set)...
Prove what? He has already been declared ‘innocent’-—”served the United States with honor and distinction”. No investigation needed....his military comrades are just jealous liars. Too bad about those who gave their lives looking for this ‘honorable’ lad though.
I read where that Staff Sarge promotion is now put on a ‘HOLD’
For someone not liking the Military Service, he certainly has gotten pay raises...I didn’t think it was that easy to get promoted...
sure wasn’t 50 years ago...you had to beat your butt off working for a promotion.
Ought to take that top picture and photo shop it to read
GIVE BOWE BACK
Amid charges from his platoon that he is a deserter or even a traitor, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, nevertheless, is scheduled for promotion.
CNN cited a defense official saying he will be considered for promotion because he hasn’t been classified as a deserter.
But the official also said the Army needs to hear Bergdahl’s explanation of why he wandered away from base and how he got captured.
http://www.wnd.com/2014/06/traitor-deserter-bergdahl-up-for-promotion/#fS2HyAjw8CzorUid.99
Wrong. He was left there for 5 years even though they knew where he was being held. They did not want to risk more casualties trying to get the traitor back. And Hillary the Great put the trade on hold a few years ago because she did not want it to affect the troop escalation into Afghanistan that mysteriously seems to have failed with the loss of hundreds of American lives. Are they purposely trying to get Americans killed or what ?
He was court martialed already? I never read that.
Well, of course. We’re just goofing on a not very good western.
...I remember it well...Chuck Connors, (almost as bad an actor as a baseball player)...I always got a charge from the officer breaking the sword across his knee...always thought that had to hurt...
Me 2
I watch The Rifleman every Saturday morning. I have a little notebook where I jot down how many people Conners kills in every episode. 125 characters were shot down in the first season!
I don’t believe one is going to be court-martialed when your CC has declared via their spokesperson(Ms Rice) that one has ‘served the United States with honor and distinction’. Never mind what those who served with the ‘honorable lad’ have said. Never mind the FACTS—pro or con. The potential jury pool has been tainted. He is ‘innocent’. His CC has said as much. Who wants to jeopardize a possible military career/advancement by essentially calling your CC a liar.
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