No, and AFAIK Shalit never converted to Islam either.
No, the question we should be asking is a version of the one Pope Francis made famous in a different context: “Who Are We To Judge?”
Did he really experience "brutal" captivity?"
Was he worth 14 lives lost attempting to rescue him?
Where was the press during those five years?
Should we depend upon the MSM and White House for information, or his colleagues and those with direct knowledge?
It is difficult to judge anything with the lack of information, and the smoke and fog of spin. And, it is difficult to judge with no real source of information on what happened, similar to Benghazi and other scandals.
So, we wait.
We are NOT Bowe and his family....never have or never will be!! IDIOTS!!
Bergdahl is a traitor. So is the man who swapped him for 5 Islamicist fellow travelers.
No, we are not.
What a pile of pap. The real question is not should we have taken him back, it’s whether we should have payed the price we did. The answer to that is no.
This is a terrible comparison. Israel's lopsided prisoner exchanges are probably tied to two things that aren't a factor in the U.S.:
1. Israel has compulsory military service for its citizens. Even worse, they have exemptions for large segments of the population -- including a disproportionate number of those who have lived in settlements that have been the subject of so much contention over there. If the Israeli government didn't move mountains to recover every prisoner held by the Palestinians, the country would probably collapse.
2. Israel is a collectivist, Marxist country in many respects. It is so different from the U.S. that it really shouldn't be compared to us here. A more appropriate comparison would be to European countries with leftist parliamentary governments. Those countries would probably act the same way as Israel when it comes to "prisoner exchanges" like this.
Good question. I'm prior military, lost several close friends in the war on terror, with my son active duty, and my father a former POW. I'd say that gives me the right to an informed opinion on a deserter. Many (most?) of us on FR are prior military or have close relatives in the service. We judge because we have been there - without desertion, without treason, and without unnecessarily endangering our units.
We do not raise our kids with the idea that all moral choices are equally valid, from heroism and fidelity to treason and homosexuality. We raise our kids with values, for most of us biblical values, and Bergdahl's conduct does not measure up to what we ourselves did when we were bored with duty, or when we were unsure about a leadership decision. Bergdahl's conduct does not measure up to what we would want our children and grandchildren to recognize as acceptable.
We are humans, endowed by God with a sense of right and wrong, and tasked by God with teaching our children the difference between good and evil. That gives us the right and the duty to judge reprehensible conduct.
American soldier captured
American soldier deserted (fixed)
“...should have informed those members of Congress who see it as their right to know such things...”
See it as their right? It’s a law.
And Israel was foolish to trade 1,000 terrorists for a single soldier. That puts all the power in the hands of a kidnapper - I kidnap one of your guys, you give me 1,000 people back. Who in their right mind would agree to that deal?
I don’t think this sleeper jihadist is me. I’ve never deserted, nor have I ever been a moslem idiot.
Gilad was actively abducted.
Bowe walked off.
Hmm... Writer misses that fact.
Writer needs to go offer themselves as a hostage, see what happens.
Who wrote this sh*t?
He is not me.
We had to get him back to try, and subsequently, kill him for treason.
Private Eddie Slovik.
We shouldn’t judge? That is all the libs do. If they didn’t judge there would be no way for them to “feel” superior.
When I was in Israel I met a surprising number of young people who avoided military service due to religious reasons. One woman made it sound like that 100% service requirement was more like a PR campaign for outsiders than a fact of life.
I wonder if Israel would have swapped Hitler, Himmler,Goebbels,Hess for one prisoner?