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.

[LeoWindhorse]

form militias

[rdb3]

Remember when that guy used to post here?

There still are posters with those views here.

They wisely stay off this thread.

Oh don't get me started on them!

[PA Engineer]

They are floating narratives. This is evil most vile.

[Frank_2001]

He is definitely trying hard to land a position in the Obama administration/s;)

[melsec]

Class act - blame the leadership and his fellow troops - the Democrats are going to need to get a bigger bus to through all these people under!

[dixiechick2000]

If he walked away from his post and joined the Taliban, wouldn’t that make him a defector?

What happens to them? Firing squad?

[dixiechick2000]

Some of them are liberal. Not many, but some.

Good to “see” you. ;-)

[dixiechick2000]

No kidding? I missed that!

Thanks!

[Waryone]

What they don’t understand is that this situation presents a huge problem for the democrats. Those low info voters don’t vote midterms, but veterans do. The dems can do all they want to block overseas active military votes from being counted, but they can’t stop veterans’ votes.

Benghazi, the VA deaths, and this fiasco will get vets involved in this election cycle which is just what the dems did not need.

Desertion, purposely going AWOL and getting others killed searching for you, handing the enemy specific intel that allows the enemy to kill more efficiently because you don’t like your platoon leaders, is treason worthy of death.

[dixiechick2000]

Your last sentence sounds like defection to me.

But, what do I know?

[Waryone]

Definitely defection and that still = treason worthy of death.

[ifinnegan]

“What screen name did he use?”

His name.

[husky ed]

Thank you.

I thought he was writing as a paid nut! Which I guess would be the same thing. /:0

Ed

[1_Rain_Drop]

"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."

Unreal. Unbelievable. This can't be true and could not have been spoken by an adult.

Are we living in a Twilight Zone episode...that never ends?

[Gene Eric]

This regime pisses and craps on every respectable aspect of our Country.

[Ray76]

Yes they do. But nobody stops them.

Lindsey Graham Says Republicans Will Call for Obama’s Impeachment if He Makes This Move Again

How about impeachment for doing what he’s done: 1) He has violated federal law which he himself signed into law, 2) He has returned top enemy commanders to an enemy who has not surrendered - he has given aid to the enemy - treason.

[cynwoody]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Friedman

From the above:

In 2009, Friedman accepted a role as the Director of Online Communications at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C. In that position, he became "responsible for devising, implementing, and overseeing the Department's emerging media strategy" or, as FierceHealthIT described it in 2011, VA's "burgeoning social media empire." Additionally in 2011, AOL Government noted that VA was "becoming a model for other agencies."

[Mr Ramsbotham]

What if he was a gay soldier who was being mercilessly bullied by his homophobic cohorts? So he flees into the arms of the only people who could possibly understand his plight ... the Taliban. Yeah! That’s the ticket!

[Gene Eric]

I doubt the Republicans will do anything to interrupt the remainder of his term.

[itssme]

Mark Levin had a air force vet call in on his radio program today who corrected Mark on the term deserter vs DEFECTOR. A deserter leaves his post and disappears to points unknown. A DEFECTOR leaves his post and goes over to the the enemy's side by choice.

Bergdahl is a DEFECTOR..the lowest of the low.