Missing/Captured: Bowe Bergdahl

[Chopstick]

And the Gitmo Gang is being welcomed home.
https://twitter.com/Borhan/status/473075775185223680/photo/1

BTW "ABalki" on Bergdahl's dad's deleted tweet is a Taliban spokesman. How many Taliban spokesman do you have on your Twitter feed?

 

[Ooh-Rah]

Reading more about the dudes we released (that the Taliban hand picked)

I keep thinking this president cannot do anymore damage to this country than he already has, I keep being wrong.

 

[Kraut783]

"The detainees are among the most senior Afghans still held at the prison. They are:
:: Abdul Haq Wasiq, who served as the Taliban deputy minister of intelligence
:: Mullah Norullah Nori, a senior Taliban commander in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif when the Taliban fought U.S. forces in late 2001
:: Khairullah Khairkhwa, who served in various Taliban positions including interior minister and had direct ties to Taliban leader Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden
:: Mohammed Nabi, who served as chief of security for the Taliban in Qalat, Afghanistan, and later worked as a radio operator for the Taliban's communications office in Kabul
:: Mohammad Fazl, whom Human Rights Watch says could be prosecuted for war crimes for presiding over the mass killing of Shiite Muslims in Afghanistan in 2000 and 2001 as the Taliban sought to consolidate their control over the country."

http://news.uk.msn.com/world/freed-us-soldier-arrives-in-germany

 

[Viper1]

I'm hopeful that we have some way of keeping track of the ones we've released. I am also hopeful that the information SGT Bergdahl may provide outweighs the negative consequences of releasing TB leadership. I am also hopeful that the TB leaders released have been out of the fight too long to make a serious impact, however, a dozen years thinking in a cell is a long time to formulate a plan. Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for twice as long and was able to take his mind into leadership of South Africa.

We shall see...

 

[AWP]

My favorite part is where @pardus goes from calling Bergdahl's father a "cunt" in one thread, to (very politely) reminding folks to use the proper spelling of politicians names in the very next thread. Somehow that shit me laugh out loud this morning.

Ever have an officer who was a total shitbag, but you called him "Sir" regardless? The correction is about the office, not the man, and will be made for any politician when we catch it.

I personally think Obama is a..."horrible" president.

At any rate, we'll move on from this discussion and return to Bergdahl's Folly.

 

[Centermass]

Here's another that would appear to solidify some of the assertions.

1/501 Soldiers' 1st Hand Accounting Refutes Stories

Based on his detail, I wouldn't have any reason to doubt him.

 

[Chopstick]

I just find it an amazing coincidence that Bergdahl's family just happened to be in Washington D.C. on that particular day. Also this video is just plain...weird. Check out dear old Dad at about 4:08.

 

[TLDR20]

I just find it an amazing coincidence that Bergdahl's family just happened to be in Washington D.C. on that particular day. Also this video is just plain...weird. Check out dear old Dad at about 4:08.

I doubt it was a coincidence. Don't you think they have been working this out for months?

 

[CQB]

Oh boy, that twitter feed is pretty interesting.

 

[Chopstick]

I doubt it was a coincidence. Don't you think they have been working this out for months?

CNN doesnt think so. And there is that 30 day notification of Congress thingy that has gone out the window.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/01/world/asia/afghanistan-bergdahl-release/index.html

Believing that his health was deteriorating, the United States acted quickly to save his life after years of work to free him from being a prisoner of war, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Sunday.

"It was our judgment 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," Hagel said. "I know President Obama feels very strongly about that, I do as well."

McKeon said his staff was notified by the Defense Department Saturday after the exchange took place, but he pointed to a law that requires the administration to notify Congress 30 days before detainees are released from the facilities at Guantanamo Bay.

Rice said Sunday that the "acute urgency" of Bergdahl's declining health justified the administration's decision to execute the swap without telling Congress.

"It was determined that it was necessary and appropriate not to adhere to the 30-day notification requirement, because it would have potentially meant that the opportunity to get Sgt. Bergdahl would have been lost," she said.

I wonder if was all that badminton that caused his health to diminish so rapidly?
http://news.yahoo.com/freed-us-soldier-celebrated-xmas-played-badminton-captors-181447547.html

"He loved badminton and always played badminton with his handlers. In fact, he taught many fighters about the game," he added.

 

[Dame]

Brad Thor has an interesting article on this. He says Bergdahl wasn't held by the Taliban but by the Haqqanis.

Contrary to press reports, the Afghan Taliban – aka the Quetta Shura – never had their hands on Sgt. Bergdahl. He was always under the control of the Haqqani network.

http://www.theblaze.com/contributio...the-capture-and-release-of-sgt-bowe-bergdahl/

 

[Gypsy]

So we negotiate with terrorists to get this guy back. Great, let's put a bounty on every American head while we are at it.

What a huge fucking slap in the face to those who died or were hurt while in battle to capture those shitbags that were released in the first place.

 

[Centermass]

5 politicians in exchange would have a much better deal.......

 

[Ooh-Rah]

What I want to know is...who "didn't" we bargain with terrorists for and had them lost.
This is the most overtly political play I have ever seen, the precedent being set is terrifying...we have just given them a reason to at least try and snatch more of our folks.

 

[Pharaoh19XX]

He should say sorry personally to everyone who lost their loved ones looking for him.But he probably won't because he's writing a NY times best seller and talking to Micheal Bay to make a movie with him saving the SF at the end.

 

[Pharaoh19XX]

5 politicians in exchange would have a much better deal.......

I got my five how about you.

 

[Scotth]

What I want to know is...who "didn't" we bargain with terrorists for and had them lost.
This is the most overtly political play I have ever seen, the precedent being set is terrifying...we have just given them a reason to at least try and snatch more of our folks.

It's the same deal that was offered in '09 that they didn't make at the time. We are leaving and '14 is a much different time. We had to make a deal now before we leave. It doesn't mean we should give the guy a free pass Go without consequence but if we didn't make a deal everyone would have criticized the administration for leaving him behind. The administration was going to get criticized regardless of what they did.

 

[DA SWO]

It's the same deal that was offered in '09 that they didn't make at the time. We are leaving and '14 is a much different time. We had to make a deal now before we leave. It doesn't mean we should give the guy a free pass Go without consequence but if we didn't make a deal everyone would have criticized the administration for leaving him behind. The administration was going to get criticized regardless of what they did.

Did the deal gel in 24 hours?
They could have at least given Congress a heads-up before CNN got the heads up.

He fucked up, and I suspect his treatment declined once he was sold to HQN (?).

He'll get the med care he deserves, but he should also have to explain 9as a minimum) why he left the COP, and that explanation should be pushed by DoD.

That would put a damper on his book/movie deals.

 

[Scotth]

Did the deal gel in 24 hours?
They could have at least given Congress a heads-up before CNN got the heads up.

He fucked up, and I suspect his treatment declined once he was sold to HQN (?).

He'll get the med care he deserves, but he should also have to explain 9as a minimum) why he left the COP, and that explanation should be pushed by DoD.

That would put a damper on his book/movie deals.

Hagel did warn the appropriate committee chairs prior to the deal. What are you going to do? Try an make a deal when congress knows about it so some random congressman can break the story to the press and screw the pouch on the whole deal. Or is the administration suppose to negotiate with 535 members of congress on what they feel is an acceptable deal before he has to negotiate with the other side? How many Presidents, involved in prisoner negotiation cleared those negotiation with congress in the past prior to the deal being made? Hell when has America ever got the better end of a prisoner exchange, ever.

Nothing Obama did was ever going to be acceptable to Republicans period. The prisoners involved, whether he got the kid back or not he was going to get shit.

Maybe Obama should have sold them missiles in exchange for the kid. It would have made it harder for Republicans to criticize him.

 

[Teufel]

Haven't we done prisoner exchanges in the past? I'm not saying we should or should not have just looking at historical precedent.

I can't imagine what kind of cruelties he suffered while a prisoner. He is a dumbass, possibly a traitor (honestly he seems more like an idiot than a bonafide traitor) but no one deserves 5 years or so of repeated terrorist boom boom and other tortures.