Statement by the President on Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl

[Casino67]

Seems as though O has another scandal to read about in the news.

[clearvision]

CNN?

 

Fellow soldiers call Bowe Bergdahl a deserter, not a hero

 

The sense of pride expressed by officials of the Obama administration at the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is not shared by many of those who served with him -- veterans and soldiers who call him a deserter whose "selfish act" ended up costing the lives of better men.

 

"I was pissed off then and I am even more so now with everything going on," said former Sergeant Matt Vierkant, a member of Bergdahl's platoon when he went missing on June 30, 2009. "Bowe Bergdahl deserted during a time of war and his fellow Americans lost their lives searching for him."

 

Vierkant said Bergdahl needs to not only acknowledge his actions publicly but face a military trial for desertion under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

 

[SrWoodchuck]

[SrWoodchuck]

[Valin]

@Valin @Casino67

 

Your reactions are NOT what Obama wanted from this.

 

I had a Flight Chief in Korea, one of the things he would say...."Life is full one disappointments, This is one of them...DEAL WITH IT."

[Valin]

Mullah Omar hails release of 5 top Taliban commanders as 'great victory'
Thomas Joscelyn
June 1, 2014

Mullah Omar, the reclusive head of the Taliban, has purportedly released a statement hailing the transfer of the top five Taliban commanders from Guantanamo to Qatar. Omar says their freedom is a "great victory."

 

The five Taliban leaders were exchanged for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who has been held by the Taliban since 2009.

 

A copy of the statement attributed to Omar has been posted on the Taliban's Urdu-language web site.

 

Omar thanks the government of Qatar, as well as its emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad, for his help in brokering the deal and for hosting the Taliban leaders. In earlier statements, both President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry similarly thanked Qatar for its assistance.

 

Omar offers his "heartfelt congratulations to the entire Afghan Muslim nation," including "all the mujahideen and to the families and relatives of the prisoners for this great victory."

 

(Snip)

 

 

[Valin]

[Valin]

From (left wing) Raw Story

 

U.S. troops in Afghanistan so happy Sgt. Bergdahl released by Taliban militants

 

US troops in Afghanistan expressed relief on Sunday over the release of their fellow soldier, Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, even as they voiced misgivings that his freedom came in a swap for Taliban militants.

To ensure troops stayed on the lookout for Bergdahl, commanders had installed a screen saver on every American soldier's computer in Afghanistan that carried a photo of the captured sergeant as a reminder.

"I always wondered what happened to him," said Gloria Goomtam, 37, a US Army specialist. "I'm so happy for him."

 

But Bergdahl, held by insurgents for nearly five years, was never spotted by American forces or rescued in a raid.

Instead, his freedom was brokered by Qatar in a swap that required the United States to transfer five Taliban detainees out of the Guantanamo prison.

The deal has sparked an outcry among some lawmakers that President Barack Obama sold out to Taliban "terrorists," but Goomtam said the agreement was worth it.

 

"To be honest, I'm still glad he's back, because we need him. It's better to have him back," she said.

 

(Snip)

[Draggingtree]

A Pathetic Prisoner Exchange

By Arnold Ahlert · Jun. 2, 2014

 

While Americans were busy with the weekend, a hopelessly corrupt Obama administration did a Saturday news dump that can be summed up in one succinct phrase: America now negotiates with terrorists. Five high-level Taliban thugs were swapped for American Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who had been held by the Taliban for several years.

 

Hagel told reports en route to Bagram Air Field. “It was our judgement that if we could find an opening and move very quickly with that opening, that we needed to get him out of there essentially to save his life.”

 

Really?

Try getting that despicable whopper past the families of Ambassador Chris Stevens, diplomat Sean Smith and Navy SEALs, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. No one has ever disputed the fact the Woods and Doherty were killed by mortar fire in the midst of painting those mortars with a laser. http://patriotpost.us/opinion/26237

[Valin]

Even if Sgt. Bergdahl were a 21st century Audie Murphy on steroids (and there are questions as to this), this would still be a bad stupid deal. You don't trade one American soldier for five enemies....two of whom are probably mass murderers. Just because the Israelis have made trades like this in the past is no reason we should. A bad deal is a bad deal no matter who does it.

[Cyber_Liberty]

Seems as though O has another scandal to read about in the news.

Indeed. What's "funny" about it (if anything about this tragedy can be called that), is this was supposed to chase the VA scandal off the front pages, and it turns out to be a scandal in and of itself. This bunch would screw up a wet dream.

 

If our best men and women weren't made less safe with these actions I'd laugh about it. In fact, I cannot.

[Cyber_Liberty]

Even if Sgt. Bergdahl were a 21st century Audie Murphy on steroids (and there are questions as to this), this would still be a bad stupid deal. You don't trade one American soldier for five enemies....two of whom are probably mass murderers. Just because the Israelis have made trades like this in the past is no reason we should. A bad deal is a bad deal no matter who does it.

I dunno,. Did Israel ever trade Hamas "leaders" for a deserter? Honest question, I don't know the answer.

[Valin]

Hooray For Barack Obama

[Geee]

FELLOW SOLDIER'S ACCOUNT: BERGDAHL 'DESERTED' MILITARY, COST LIVES

 

In a piece that former Daily Beast head Tina Brown declared a "conclusive" account about the newly freed Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, a fellow soldier serving in Bergdahl's same battalion recounts the story of how Bergdahl simply walked away from his military responsibilities one night, endangering and costing the lives of many of his colleagues.

"The truth is: Bergdahl was a deserter, and soldiers from his own unit died trying to track him down," writes Nathan Bradley Bethea, who served alongside the soldier and lost friends and colleagues in attempts to find him. Bethea asserts clearly that Bergdahl simply walked out of the camp. He did not lag behind or get lost; he openly chose to walk away:

Make no mistake: Bergdahl did not "lag behind on a patrol," as was cited in news reports at the time. There was no patrol that night. Bergdahl was relieved from guard duty, and instead of going to sleep, he fled the outpost on foot. He deserted. I’ve talked to members of Bergdahl’s platoon—including the last Americans to see him before his capture. I’ve reviewed the relevant documents. That’s what happened."

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/06/02/In-Definitive-Account-Fellow-Soldier-Proves-Bergdahl-a-Deserter

[Geee]

BOWE BERGDAHL SCHEDULED FOR PROMOTION TO STAFF SERGEANT IN JUNE

 

Although he was a private when he was first captured by the Taliban, Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl was promoted twice in captivity and is scheduled for another promotion to staff sergeant.

CNN’s Barbara Starr reports that a defense official confirmed that Bergdahl is scheduled for a promotion to the rank of staff sergeant later in June of this year.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/06/02/Bowe-Bergdahl-Scheduled-For-Promotion-to-Staff-Sergeant-in-June

[clearvision]

I could understand politics wanting to make him a hero, but why would the military infrastructure promote him if it is clear to them he deserted?

[Draggingtree]

June 01, 2014

Big problems with Bergdahl deal

First let me address all of the vitriol aimed at SGT Bowe Bergdahl; then we can focus on just how damaging this deal with the devil actually is.

 

There are plenty of tales out there about how he was captured that paint him in a very negative light: He was drunk and wandered off; he shed his uniform and headed into the mountains to be the Grizzly Adams of the Hindu Kush; or even that he left to join the Taliban. The bottom line is nobody but Bergdahl knows what he did or why and all the speculation is unseemly. If he was drunk or just deluded, he certainly paid a pretty heavy price with five years of his life. If he actually deserted, his guilt needs to be established by more than Internet chatter.

 

Yes, men were killed while looking for him. That was their job and that is the deal we make when we say we will leave no man behind. We don't caveat that with unless he is a dumb ass kid we think may have done something awful. No, we bring them home. Period. And the video he made talking about how the Taliban is better than us and that we are cowards hiding behind our technology is painful to watch, but so are the ones from Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf War, etc. POWs are forced to say things to further the cause of their captors and we do not and should not hold it against our POWs when this propaganda occurs. Now if it turns out that Bergdahl was a traitor . http://www.blackfive.net/main/2014/06/big-problems-with-bergdahl-deal.html

 

[Valin]

 

Even if Sgt. Bergdahl were a 21st century Audie Murphy on steroids (and there are questions as to this), this would still be a bad stupid deal. You don't trade one American soldier for five enemies....two of whom are probably mass murderers. Just because the Israelis have made trades like this in the past is no reason we should. A bad deal is a bad deal no matter who does it.

I dunno,. Did Israel ever trade Hamas "leaders" for a deserter? Honest question, I don't know the answer.

 

Top of my head...no.

[SrWoodchuck]

From (left wing) Raw Story

 

U.S. troops in Afghanistan so happy Sgt. Bergdahl released by Taliban militants

 

US troops in Afghanistan expressed relief on Sunday over the release of their fellow soldier, Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, even as they voiced misgivings that his freedom came in a swap for Taliban militants.

To ensure troops stayed on the lookout for Bergdahl, commanders had installed a screen saver on every American soldier's computer in Afghanistan that carried a photo of the captured sergeant as a reminder.

"I always wondered what happened to him," said Gloria Goomtam, 37, a US Army specialist. "I'm so happy for him."

 

But Bergdahl, held by insurgents for nearly five years, was never spotted by American forces or rescued in a raid.

Instead, his freedom was brokered by Qatar in a swap that required the United States to transfer five Taliban detainees out of the Guantanamo prison.

The deal has sparked an outcry among some lawmakers that President Barack Obama sold out to Taliban "terrorists," but Goomtam said the agreement was worth it.

 

"To be honest, I'm still glad he's back, because we need him. It's better to have him back," she said.

 

(Snip)

 

Really? See below:

 

Officer: Soldiers Were “Threatened” If They Questioned Story of Bergdahl’s Capture, Forced To Sign Non-Disclosure Agreements… http://weaselzippers.us/188051-officer-soldiers-were-threatened-if-they-questioned-story-of-bergdahls-capture-forced-to-sign-non-disclosure-agreements/

 

A former U.S. officer who served in Afghanistan with Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl claims that soldiers were threatened by U.S. authorities if they questioned his story.

 

After he was captured, Bergdahl said on a video from his captors that he lagged behind on patrol, although other sources in the military suggested anonymously that he walked away from his post.

 

“Not only has this nebulous non-story been put out for years but you know these soldiers of 4th Brigade 25th Infantry Division were threatened with legal repercussions if they spoke about Bergdahl. Everybody officially mandated silencing of what we saw has been so frustrating,” Bethea explained on BBC World Service Radio today.

 

Bethea served in Sgt. Bergdahl’s unit, and was an infantry officer in the U.S. Army from 2007 to 2014

CNN’s Jake Tapper also reported that many of Bergdahl’s fellow troops signed nondisclosure agreements agreeing to never share any information about Bergdahl’s disappearance and the efforts to recapture him.

 

 

Via WeaselZippers

[Cyber_Liberty]

@Draggingtree

 

 

The bottom line is nobody but Bergdahl knows what he did or why and all the speculation is unseemly. ... If he actually deserted, his guilt needs to be established by more than Internet chatter.

BS on the first part. We don't know, true, but somebody other than he knows the truth: the Taliban. To say we don't know is not the same as saying it's unknowable. I'm sure Rumsfeld had a quote about that.

 

As to the second, that is not BS at all, it's the truth. But...we'll never know because I'd bet my last dollar this guy won't ever see the inside of a courtroom for his actions. Giveaway phrase I heard from the brass over the weekend: "He's already been punished enough." That's what somebody says right before someone else gets let off scott free.

[SrWoodchuck]

Parents of Soldier Killed Searching For Bowe Bergdahl Were Originally Told He Died Hunting For A Taliban Commander… http://weaselzippers.us/188053-parents-of-u-s-soldier-killed-searching-for-bowe-bergdahl-were-originally-told-he-died-hunting-for-a-taliban-commander/

 

 

The furious parents of an officer who they claim was killed while searching for freed Taliban prisoner Bowe Bergdahl today said that they have been lied to as part of a ‘cover up just like Benghazi’.

 

The mother and father of Second Lieutenant Darryn Andrews are angry that they have been told different stories about how their son died.

 

First his commanders said that their son was blown up while hunting a Taliban commander – but only now that Bergdahl has been freed after five years in captivity are they learning the truth.

 

Lt Andrews’ parents told MailOnline that their own son branded Bergdahl a ‘deserter’ before he was killed.

 

In an exclusive interview his father Andy Andrews told MailOnline: ‘For his family it’s good to get him back but we will never be able to get our son back because of the actions of this guy (Bergdahl).

 

‘I think people need to be aware that the guy was not a hero and American lives have been lost trying to save this deserter’.

 

 

 

Via WeaselZippers

[SrWoodchuck]

From Michael Ledeen/Faster Please...

 

Mirrors and Veils: The Bergdahl Perplex: http://pjmedia.com/michaelledeen/2014/06/01/mirrors-and-veils-the-bergdahl-perplex/

 

I will confess to a dark suspicion that when Robert Bergdahl, standing next to President Obama, said in Pashto to Bowe Bergdahl, “I am your father,” it was some sort of coded message. I mean, what in the world was that all about? Does any father have to say such a thing to a son? Did he think Bowe didn’t know who his father was?

 

But then I started to ask questions of people who had followed the Bergdahl saga, and they calmed me down a bit. The elder Bergdahl seems a bit odd. Look at the pictures. “A hippy,” one of my best sources said. A guy who’d gone to Idaho to pursue a lifestyle reminiscent of the romantic sixties: love, peace, and the expansion of the mind. Or so they say. And it connects well with the story of Bowe, leaving his base in an “intoxicated state,” which, if true, can’t mean alcohol, which is forbidden in such places. It might mean pot, or hashish, however. Berkeley, California, on the plains of Afghanistan.

 

I think, as I always do when confronted with “breaking news,” that we are some distance from the truth. We don’t have the real facts just yet, and, contrary to all our frenzied desire to know everything right away, it’s a good idea to take a deep breath and analyze the odors.

 

One good place to start is where Brad Thor does: forget about the Taliban, they weren’t holding Bowe. He was a captive of the Haqqanis, which Thor nicely describes as a mixture of terrorism and mafia, “80% Sopranos and 20% Al Qaeda.” He then asks an important question: what did the Haqqanis get for Bergdahl? That’s exactly right, because four of the Guantanamo terrorists were indeed Taliban, and hence low priority for the Haqqanis. So?

 

So we need to ask how much money the Haqqanis got, or how many weapons, or maybe diamonds, I don’t know.

It is also possible that the Iranians were involved….

 

They have trained both the Haqqanis and the Taliban, and they are eager to extend their control over Afghanistan as we retreat. For extras, one of the released Taliban was in cahoots with them, planning anti-American operations as we prepared to invade in 2001. It would make sense, although it is not high on my list of likely explanations, for them to be midwives to the deal.

 

As we sort out the real facts from the abundant background noise, we will discover several disconcerting things: first, that control over the efforts to recover Bowe often shifted between US government agencies.

 

Second, that it is misleading to say that the negotiations were underway for five years; the final push came in the last six weeks, when the Qataris told the U.S. that a deal was now possible.

 

Third, that the list of Guantanamo terrorists to be “paid” shifted continuously.

 

And fourth, who were the key intermediaries?

Finally, a mystery: why the sudden urgency at the end, when talks had often collapsed in the past?

 

It’s hard to believe that the administration thought Bowe’s health was so bad he might drop dead, although it’s a possibility. But it’s more likely that we’re missing a key element, something separate from the Bergdahl saga.

 

 

 

Via E-mail

[Draggingtree]

@Draggingtree

 

 

The bottom line is nobody but Bergdahl knows what he did or why and all the speculation is unseemly. ... If he actually deserted, his guilt needs to be established by more than Internet chatter.

BS on the first part. We don't know, true, but somebody other than he knows the truth: the Taliban. To say we don't know is not the same as saying it's unknowable. I'm sure Rumsfeld had a quote about that.

 

As to the second, that is not BS at all, it's the truth. But...we'll never know because I'd bet my last dollar this guy won't ever see the inside of a courtroom for his actions. Giveaway phrase I heard from the brass over the weekend: "He's already been punished enough." That's what somebody says right before someone else gets let off scott free.

 

@Draggingtree

 

 

The bottom line is nobody but Bergdahl knows what he did or why and all the speculation is unseemly. ... If he actually deserted, his guilt needs to be established by more than Internet chatter.

BS on the first part. We don't know, true, but somebody other than he knows the truth: the Taliban. To say we don't know is not the same as saying it's unknowable. I'm sure Rumsfeld had a quote about that.

 

As to the second, that is not BS at all, it's the truth. But...we'll never know because I'd bet my last dollar this guy won't ever see the inside of a courtroom for his actions. Giveaway phrase I heard from the brass over the weekend: "He's already been punished enough." That's what somebody says right before someone else gets let off scott free.

This guy is a deserter, bring forth the charges.

[Cyber_Liberty]

A lot of noise is being broadcast, so maybe I might lose that bottom dollar, @Draggingtree...but it would be worth it if it means we get to grill this guy to sweat the truth out of him. I saw the Fox story about the six soldiers who were killed while looking for him, and also how their families were lied to about why their sons died.

[Valin]

Former Army Sgt. who served with Bergdahl: 'He is at best a deserter, at worst a traitor'

Jake Tapper

6/2/14

 

(CNN) For five years, the soldiers who served with Bowe Bergdahl largely stayed silent about his disappearance, and the efforts to find him. Many of them were asked by the military to sign non-disclosure agreements about the matter.

 

But now that he is free, they are coming forward to talk, regardless of the consequences.

 

"He is at best a deserter, and at worst a traitor," says former U.S. Army Sgt. Josh Korder. Korder served with Berghdahl in Blackfoot company, 2nd platoon in Afghanistan, and was recently discharged from the military.

 

(Snip)