Bowe Bergdahl

:-?

It doesn't look good (http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/01/us/bergdahl-deserter-or-hero/).

Don't know what to think about this

I'm surprised to learn that the US does not have the Taliban listed as a terrorist organization. Russia thinks otherwise ...

Politicing aside, he was an American POW. Welcome home.

So we should get more info but....we can debate strategy of prisoner swaps and short term win versus long term damage. More people being kidnapped for future bargaining.

If Obama hadn't agreed to the swap the GOP would be bitching about "Obama doesn't support our troops!! HE LEAVES MEN BEHIND!!!!"

Let's say he's a deserter....maybe we got the guy back to prosecute him.

Most of what I've heard from the GOP so far is laughable....remember Iran/Contra?? The GOP...negotiating with terrorists is only ok when they are in the white house.

callen said:

So we should get more info but....we can debate strategy of prisoner swaps and short term win versus long term damage. More people being kidnapped for future bargaining.

...
I have never been in a war zone or been held captive for 5 years, so it is difficult for me to even begin to pretend I know what I would do. Especially if I were held in a solitary captivity environment... where I would be not be in the company with other captive soldiers that I would be able to relate to.
That said... i think I'll wait until more truths emerge before I join the lynch mob.
...
Regarding prisoner swaps... we've been doing it for decades. We'd swap spies linked to Cold War deaths at the Glienicke Bridge and during the Reagan administration, senior administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran, who was the subject of an arms embargo. Some Reagan administration officials also hoped that the arms sales would secure the release of several hostages and allow U.S. intelligence agencies to fund the Nicaraguan Contra rebels seeking to overthrow their government. Under the Boland Amendment, further funding of the Contras by the U.S. government had been prohibited by Congress.
Yet, no one batted an eye and claimed it was a necessary evil. Reagan is heralded as the Patron Saint of America... so, the same things he did on his watch are accepted and seen an American act of virtue. It is all political theater for the American A.D.D. public.
Also, look into how the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan. Back in the 1980s, America cheered the people who would become the Taliban and Al Qaeda as 'Freedom Fighters'. We taught them how to successfully disrupt and kill large, well-trainned regular armies with primative methods of asymetric guerilla warfare. We are fighting the monster we created. America needs to own up to the fact that we were instrumental in creating the existance of the Taliban and their supporters. Maybe, we need to stop doing that shit.
...
So, if you are shocked by the events we see going on with us in the middle east today... you really should look into to re-taking that High School level U.S. History class you skipped out on in order to smoke that Marlboro cigarette behind the wood shop.

primussucks said:

It sure seems his fellow soldiers already know the truth. After all they are the ones calling him a deserter. How do we know that whatever bowe comes out and says will be the truth? After all he has previously condemned America in previous statements and it's hard to believe he won't be coached in what to say and not say after the media attention this is getting. 6 soldiers have already died because of him! How many more will die because of the 5 released prisoners?

So the CNN article I read was a little confusing. It said the soldiers that were most directly connected all signed an NDA. I'm sure a military executed NDA has the type of non-compliance consequences that you don't want to mess with. So are all the other people speaking out, talking to people just soldiers at the base, who know things based on hearsay, or did they witness the situation?