Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, imprisoned by Taliban in Afghanistan since 2009, is freed

[Mr. Morden]

Not sure it makes that much sense to label the Taliban "terrorists", at least in the relevant sense one would consider here.  They're a political/military faction in Afghanistan that we're fighting a war against, and this is hardly the first time the US has done a prisoner exchange during wartime.

[Joe Republic]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

This is actually true.

Yep.^^

Um, the US has rather a long history of negotiating with terrorists.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

This is actually true.

Yep.^^

Um, the US has rather a long history of negotiating with terrorists.

That doesn't mean politicus' statement is still not true, although your point is well taken.

[ingemann]

Correct, King.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Yes that's correct, I just can't see why this is a bad thing.

In the worst case scenario, this mean that they capture Americans rather than kill them, when they have the opportunity.
In the best case scenario, it mean that they sacrifice more resources on capture missions rather than other mission (like road side bombs).

All in all the result are fewer dead Americans, and in the best case scenario more dead enemies of USA.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

What's up with Bergdahl's Taliban supporting daddy?

[anvi]

Now right-wing media guys are going after the parents, too?  Bergdahl's parents are Presbyterian, and the father probably learned Pashto so he could understand and communicate with the people who captured his son.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/for-father-of-released-pow-growing-a-beard-and-studying-captors-defined-the-years/2014/06/02/d8de9fcc-ea93-11e3-93d2-edd4be1f5d9e_story.html

As was asked above, if the soldiers in Bergdahl's unit thought he was showing signs of wanting to leave, as they have said in interviews, why didn't they inform commanding officers about it at the time?  It's terrible that men lost their lives looking for him, but that's part of a soldier's duties, they were under orders.

Anyway, even if Bergdahl did bail on his unit, he was probably f-ed up by his experience of the war, a war which, by that time was eight years old and having rapidly diminishing returns and now is thirteen years old.  Does that mean he doesn't deserve to live?  The war is rapidly ending for us, the prisoners who were released in exchange for him, who were Taliban government officials and not al Qaeda members, probably have next to no intelligence value to us anymore; they were captured the first week of the Afghan war and have been out of the field since.  Unless you're going to eliminate every living Taliban fighter, which we haven't done in 13 years and couldn't do in another 13, some bad guys are still going to be running around and causing the Afghan government and us trouble.  It's a dangerous world, tough.  If we're getting out of there anyway, and it's about damned time, maybe we should save a few lives while we're at it.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

It's terrible that men lost their lives looking for him, but that's part of a soldier's duties, they were under orders.

Besides that, it hasn't been conclusively proven that those 6 men lost their lives while looking for him. They probably died while doing something else.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

It's terrible that men lost their lives looking for him, but that's part of a soldier's duties, they were under orders.

Besides that, it hasn't been conclusively proven that those 6 men lost their lives while looking for him. They probably died while doing something else.

http://news.msn.com/us/for-fallen-soldiers-families-bergdahl-release-stirs-resentment

I think their opinion is totally legitimate.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Now right-wing media guys are going after the parents, too?  Bergdahl's parents are Presbyterian, and the father probably learned Pashto so he could understand and communicate with the people who captured his son.

Yes, the fact he looks like a Taliban was necessary to understand Pashto?

[Badger]

Now right-wing media guys are going after the parents, too?  Bergdahl's parents are Presbyterian, and the father probably learned Pashto so he could understand and communicate with the people who captured his son.

Yes, the fact he looks like a Taliban was necessary to understand Pashto?

George, I'm playing with little George and Daniel on the deck, and if either of them were captured by a terrorist offshoot of the Blue Man Group, and I even DREAMED that I might have the option someday of meeting them to release my boy, and that mimicing their physical appearance might help create even SOME rapport, I'd paint myself blue.  From head to toe, twig, berries, ass and taint. Anything to foster the flicker of chance, especially after 5 hellish years of uncertainty and raw unadulterated dread.

I really can't blame the guy.

[Meursault]

You have to understand that Grumps is an "individualist".

Which means that you, individually, will either conform to his sense of propriety and normative behavior, or he will - individually - try to ostracize you.

[pbrower2a]

Correct, King.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

America's enemies have always had an incentive for taking prisoners to use them as tools of propaganda.

But don't we, too? 

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Republicans would never negotiate with terrorists. The Iranian hostages were just coincidentally released on Reagan's inauguration day. The Iran-contra scandal never happened, and the World Court did not find the US guilty of terrorism in Nicaragua.

[swl]

Not sure it makes that much sense to label the Taliban "terrorists", at least in the relevant sense one would consider here.  They're a political/military faction in Afghanistan that we're fighting a war against, and this is hardly the first time the US has done a prisoner exchange during wartime.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

You have to understand that Grumps is an "individualist".

Which means that you, individually, will either conform to his sense of propriety and normative behavior, or he will - individually - try to ostracize you.

Hmmm.  Not at all, E.  I'm trying to look at this from all perspectives......and I understand Badger's point.

[angus]

I think y'all are a bunch of goddamned experts all of the sudden on all manner of things, ranging from terrorism to hostage negotiation to the psychology of soldiers.  I wish I were as smart as all of you.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

I think y'all are a bunch of goddamned experts all of the sudden on all manner of things, ranging from terrorism to hostage negotiation to the psychology of soldiers.  I wish I were as smart as all of you.

Another uninformed opinion for you, my friend:

http://www.militarytimes.com/article/20140602/NEWS/306020055/Gold-Star-mom-guy-worth-my-son-s-life-

[angus]

I think y'all are a bunch of goddamned experts all of the sudden on all manner of things, ranging from terrorism to hostage negotiation to the psychology of soldiers.  I wish I were as smart as all of you.

Another uninformed opinion for you, my friend:

http://www.militarytimes.com/article/20140602/NEWS/306020055/Gold-Star-mom-guy-worth-my-son-s-life-

“The military really owes the parents of these fallen soldiers the truth...”

I certainly wouldn't argue with that.

I'm saying that I noticed this story, or one like it, yesterday morning.  I also saw the bits about Berg's parents and about how McCain's comments were met with silence.  I considered posting something about it at the time, but we don't know any more than what the Army is telling us, other than the fact that it doesn't exactly square with what his mates are saying.  Obviously the matter needs to be investigated.  Nothing I've read in this thread assists with that investigation in any way.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

I am absolutely livid over the way the right-wing media is behaving over this story.

[angus]

I am absolutely livid over the way the right-wing media is behaving over this story.

I was but I've gotten over it.  

"Team Obama more willing to negotiate with terrorists than congress" is my new favorite headline.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

I am absolutely livid over the way the right-wing media is behaving over this story.

I was but I've gotten over it.  

"Team Obama more willing to negotiate with terrorists than congress" is my new favorite headline.

Damn right wing bastards:

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2014/06/04/watch-bergdahls-fellow-soldiers-parents-of-those-killed-seaching-for-him-react-to-prisoner-swap-n1847494#!

Two top lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee said Tuesday that the Obama administration broke the law by not informing Congress before the prisoner exchange that resulted in Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s release.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss said the administration violated the law by failing to address serious concerns they had about the deal to swap Bergdahl for five Taliban detainees. Chambliss said he had not had a conversation with the White House about a possible exchange for at least 18 months.

"It comes to us with some surprise and dismay that the transfers went ahead with no consultation, totally not following law," Feinstein told reporters following a closed door meeting. "And in an issue with this kind of concern to a committee that bears the oversight responsibility, I think you can see that we're very dismayed about it ."

[angus]

At the risk of getting sucked in to this thread, I can scrounge up stuff too:

Bergdahl is Obama's People!

I'm not in the mood to argue about this, but I am wondering if this is going to totally derail his speeches in Brussels today.  Are they taking questions afterward?  Most big US news outlets have offices in Brussels, so his handlers may just try to sweep him away quickly to avoid awkward moments. 

[anvi]

Well, in my opinion, we should be at the "cutting our losses and salvaging what we can" stage of the Afghanistan war.  That includes prisoner swaps.  If we want to dig in and eliminate the Taliban, then we can be upset about this--and on top of it, we should at least triple our 2009 force-strength in Afghanistan. If we're done, we should be done, and should be doing the things that people and nations do when they decamp--settle up, no matter how messy it is, and move on.

Of course I'm not an expert on any of this stuff.  Few on Atlas would be interested in reading what I am an expert on, unless there is some huge, silent horde of you here who are fascinated by Sanskrit verb conjugations.  Anyway, I'm just writing what I think.  This is a political discussion forum, so I had the vague impression that voicing opinions was the protocol.

Anyway, you see, there are plenty of targets to shoot at, the Obama administration for failing to consult, military representatives for failing to disclose the nature of missions to soldiers' families (happens with some frequency, actually) and a military investigation of a possible case of desertion.  And of course there is the eternal question of whether or not Obama should be psychoanalyzed and then fried by true patriots for telling foreign audiences that he thinks America has made mistakes, but continuing to drop drone bombs on them.  So many things to sit in front of television and computer to be outraged about, so many snarky lines of denunciation to quote, for years on end.  Hey, if we're giving up in Afghanistan and Iraq, at least we have one another to fight with over politics and law, forever.  Isn't it grand?

But, again in my non-expert opinion, going after Bergdah's dad for doing everything he could to try and save his son's life is both low and stupid.  

[Brittain33]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/04/us-usa-afghanistan-bergdahl-hagel-idUSKBN0EF1KP20140604

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Lindsey Graham called the prisoners exchanged for Bergdahl "the Taliban Dream Team."

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

“I am still working to free all Guantanamo prisoners,” the tweet said, according to various screen grabs. The tweet was subsequently deleted. “God will repay for the death of every Afghan child, ameen.”