I'm legitimately shocked, and frankly scared, about the stunning cultural disconnect between the people here and the real world of the military. There was a gentleman on Fox who talked about this. Being a deserter is second only to actively betraying your country in terms of severity. As the guy on fox said, being a deserter isn't like being a little too hungover and skipping Gender 101.
Just because someone did something wrong doesn't mean they deserve to be a prisoner of the Taliban.
Bergdahl has a well-documented history of being less than fully devoted to his duty. He was documented as someone who has written letters and emails to his families in which he describes his hate and disgust with the country he had sworn to protect. He trained with an AK-47, which is bizarre for the military due to it's use by enemy combatants. Villagers, when asked if an American had come through, they said yes and he was actively looking for the taliban.
Six of our guys were killed looking for this sad excuse of a human being. While he was, as he said, "going to walk to China," we lost six patriots who died just trying to help a fellow American. That fellow American, though, was sick of them and disgusted with them. They died helping someone who wouldn't have pissed on them if they were on fire.
We don't know the facts yet. The fact is that this guy seemed to have been mentally ill and in a bad place emotionally. It's partly his fault, sure. But, I blame the commander who kept this person in the battlefield when they're having severe emotional problems. Not to mention, the people in Washington who have kept our troops in Afghanistan waaaaay too long.
There is also evidence suggesting that during his captivity, if it was captivity, he rolled and delivered intelligence to the Taliban that led to further death. After his disappearance, the attacks made by extremists were improved in efficiency.
He has shown blatant disloyalty. Somewhere in this process, I believe at the start, Bowe Bergdahl betrayed his country, betrayed his flag, and betrayed our men and women in uniform.
Again, this hasn't been determined yet. The military will investigate this and we'll have a better picture. You have to expect some of what Bergdahl did while in captivity was under duress and not of his volition anyway.
This notion that somehow there is some vast right wing media hit job on this guy is absurd. I must have missed the memo about Dianne Feinstein switching parties and Chris Matthews signing with Fox News. Plenty of left of center folks are just as outraged at this horrific scandal.
It's certainly Republicans jumping to conclusions and not looking at the complexity of the situation. They are definitely scapegoating Bergdahl's family and showing a lack of compassion for a messed up kid.
Let's also talk about how illegal this is. The President has released enemy combatants without notifying congress. So, somehow, there is this idea in the White House that rules regarding release of hate-fueled mass murderers are LOOSER than school lunch regulations. The President very, very blatantly broke the law. This is incredible.
That's debatable. It's always questionable when Congress tries to act like the Commander-in-Chief of the military.
The release of 5 dangerous, anti-American mass murderers endangers our stature in the War on Terror. This president orchestrated this thing against the advice of his generals, despite Department of Defense findings that Bergdahl is a deserter, and he did it all while threatening our national security. He broke the law and is endangering our country.
Maybe, but if this was your family member, you would want them to make the swap. It's certainly possible that these 5 guys will make no difference in terms of danger to America's security.
Let's be honest, the President did this for political gain. The VA scandal was tanking the White House and making him look like he doesn't care about the military and veterans. So, naturally, the political folks in the White House said, "Boss, let's get Bergdahl out! They'll love that." They wanted a quick, uber positive news cycle about his strength as commander in chief and his staunch patriotism. Conservatives aren't the ones playing politics here.
No, they were negotiating this for years. That's just not factually accurate.
