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

[Simfan34]

"ameen"

[angus]

“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.”

Many Americans want to see Guantanamo prisoners released.  Many Americans also believe in a god who will avenge the deaths of innocents.  

This guy Bergdahl may or may not have believed in any of that, but I find it hard to hold such a message against him.  His son was being held as a prisoner by fanatics who almost certainly believed, or claimed to believe such things, and it was entirely logical that he would want to communicate to them this message.  I could understand idiots and children not being able to comprehend such things, but you're a father.  Surely you can understand the passion of the father who is trying, quite logically in my opinion, to communicate with his son's captors.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

It's amazing how many Republicans thought this was a good idea until Obama proposed it.

[Miles]

How bout that:

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[memphis]

The right is swiftboating a recently released POW? Can't say I'm surprised.

[Maxwell]

The GOP should be god damn ashamed of its self for the pushing for the release of this guy at all costs, and then condemning his release.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

How bout that:

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Apparently they're canceling because too many supporters planned to show up - not because of the Fox News-fueled backlash.

[rejectamenta]

The right is swiftboating a recently released POW? Can't say I'm surprised.

For real, this entire episode is completely vile. Freaks.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

How bout that:

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Apparently they're canceling because too many supporters planned to show up - not because of the Fox News-fueled backlash.

Well this turned out to be incorrect. Apparently they are canceling because Tea Party types bullied the town into canceling:

http://news.yahoo.com/bergdahls-hometown-cancels-celebration-release-212136884.html;_ylt=AwrTWf19jo9TV0AAHmfQtDMD

[Likely Voter]

Just to be clear...the critics think we should have left him with the Taliban?

[IceSpear]

So the GOP is trying to score political points by bullying a recently released POW? Just when you thought they couldn't sink any lower.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Just to be clear...the critics think we should have left him with the Taliban?

No. They would be criticizing Obama for that too. The critics disagree with Obama no matter what he does.

[Joe Republic]

Well I guess this just confirms that negotiating with actual terrorists is easier and more fruitful than negotiating with the Republicans in Congress.

[Joe Republic]

John McCain calls the release of this POW a mistake.

Meanwhile, Oliver North wants to know if this deal meant that the US government funded a terrorist organization.

[Joe Republic]

Bob Bergdahl isn't the only one scrubbing awkward tweets from his feed...









All of the above are mysteriously nowhere to be found now.

[Franzl]

Well I guess this just confirms that negotiating with terrorists is easier and more fruitful than negotiating with Republicans.

What's the difference?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Well I guess this just confirms that negotiating with terrorists is easier and more fruitful than negotiating with Republicans.

What's the difference?

Nothing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua_v._United_States

[ingemann]

Republicans have for years complained over stories about Democrats/Fellow Travellers/Lefties spitting on Vietnam veterans.

Let compare that with this, where the Republicans as a movement have thrown a POW and his family under the train.

[Potus]

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.

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.

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.


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.


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.

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.

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.

[ingemann]

Yes you're correct being deserter are a serious thing, which is why people usual don't just call other people it, without them in some way saying they deserters, the government saying or showing any kind of evidence beside hearsay.

But it must be nice to American soldiers to see how willing the American Right are, to throw them under a bus, if they can gain any political benefits from it.

[Franzl]

Love Riley's usage of "enemy combatant".

[7,052,770]

Six of our guys were killed looking for this sad excuse of a human being.

Why do Republicans keep repeating this is fact, when it's been demonstrated to be objectively false?

Maybe he is a deserter -- I'm certainly not qualified to determine that -- but why must Republicans always include lies and/or falsehoods in their arguments?

[Simfan34]

How bout that:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Apparently they're canceling because too many supporters planned to show up - not because of the Fox News-fueled backlash.

Well this turned out to be incorrect. Apparently they are canceling because Tea Party types bullied the town into canceling:

http://news.yahoo.com/bergdahls-hometown-cancels-celebration-release-212136884.html;_ylt=AwrTWf19jo9TV0AAHmfQtDMD

LOL

[Never]

Well I guess this just confirms that negotiating with actual terrorists is easier and more fruitful than negotiating with the Republicans in Congress.

When was the last time that the Republican party hauled off and killed 6 people?

Anyhow, I think that it's hard to say what Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is, but I strongly suspect that he was a deserter, and it's pretty clear that Obama did not adhere to the notification requirement when transferring the Taliban fighters out of Guantanamo.

I think it's pretty telling that the soldiers in Bergdahl's unit are risking punishment by calling him a traitor.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Former Sec Def and CIA Director Panetta isn't a big fan of the deal.