American POW freed in prisoner swap. And the GOP doesn't like it.....

White House Attacks Credibility of Soldiers Who Served With Bergdahl, Accuses Them of “Swift-Boating”…

Via Washington Examiner:http://washingtonexaminer.com/white...owe-bergdahl/article/2549294?custom_click=rss

White House aides have accused members of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s unit of “swift-boating” the 28-year-old Idahoan for claiming that he deserted his post in Afghanistan nearly five years ago, MSNBC’s Chuck Todd reported.

“I’ve had a few aides describe it to me as ‘we didn’t know that they were going to swift-boat Bergdahl’,” Todd said Wednesday.

The term “swift-boating” comes from 2004 when members of then-Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry’s Swift Boat unit came forward during the election to accuse him of misleading American voters about his service in Vietnam.

 

(if accurate) Holy ****:

Army Investigation: Bergdahl Search Left COP Keating Vulnerable To Brutal Attack

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/06/04/a...st-vulnerable-to-brutal-attack/#ixzz33h1DMnJa

 

You aren't getting your facts entirely right, this didn't have "the endorsement of GOP senators on the relevant committees" in fact, when it was brought before the relevant committees in 2011 it was almost unanimously rejected. Now I've heard the McCain clip, so we can throw him in as one who ever supported this idea but he was clearly in the minority.

The reason this is a controversy depends on who you are. The senate intelligence committee is upset because the president acted unilaterally without consulting them, which is very likely illegal (depends on the constitutionality of the law that was obviously broken). I'm sure there are some Republicans who are just piling on and I can understand why that would be annoying, but this isn't a partisan issue. The president "went rogue" against the wishes of pretty much everyone in his own party and across the aisle and released 5 Taliban leaders for a traitor.

Soldiers don't like it because numerous soldiers died as a direct result of Bergdahl's desertion and the administration portrayed him as a hero after they traded 5 Taliban leaders responsible for the deaths of hundreds of soldiers to get him back.

This IS a big deal, but it's not a partisan issue, or at least it shouldn't be. The president's administration screwed up. The Democrats didn't screw up, they were left in the dark just like everyone else and they spoke out against this idea when it was first brought up.

 

I was talking about Treeman who was such a believer in Dubya and the wholw wmd hoax. Supposedly Treeman went to Iraq.

 

This is beautiful. Now it will either be ignored or cherry picked by both "sides" while the overall message of the post is ignored.

 

hmmm. Which party keeps on asking... "is this impeachable" ?

 

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...hl-trade-officials-say/?cmpid=cmty_twitter_fn

IF true, why wouldn't they just pay over exchanging prisoners?

really nobody besides some soldiers that I have seen.

 

I don't know but a high ranking Democrat came out and called it flatly "illegal" yesterday. IMO it's not an impeachable offense not close really, but I do believe the president should be censured for going on his own against the wishes of everyone including his own party in this really terrible deal.

Of course, none of that nonsense really matters, what matters is that this kid faces a court marshal for desertion and a ridiculous trade like this never happens again.

 

Snow job? Terrorists may have staged video of haggard POW to fool U.S.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jun/3/taliban-used-haggard-look-of-pow-bergdahl-in-last-/

The Haqqani terrorist group kept Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in relatively good health the past five years because it was always its goal to trade him, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

But the last “proof-of-life” video the Haqqani network recorded showed Sgt. Bergdahl looking haggard and perhaps bruised. One U.S. official said intelligence analysts believe the soldier may have been made to look ill as a ploy to convince Washington he was in failing health and needed to be freed promptly. The video was produced in December and obtained by U.S. military in January.

 

So soldiers are not allowed to have opinions? Having a personal opinion and following orders are 2 separate things. You can't control the first.

 

The context of my question was about 'outgraged'. To the point that some folks are now introducing impeachment into the topic.

 

Ruppersberger Calls Taliban Prisoner Exchange ‘A Dangerous Precedent’

http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2014/...iban-prisoner-exchange-a-dangerous-precedent/

Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger, the top-ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, calls this a “dangerous precedent that puts all Americans at risk throughout the world.”

Ruppersberger is one of a growing chorus of critics who say five Taliban prisoners is too high a cost.

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I thought it was only Repugs who didn't like this. He must be racist.

 

If we're being real, soldiers are allowed to have opinions, but they aren't allowed to express them or act on them unless they are approved opinions.

 

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I wonder who gave Susan Rice her talking points this time.

 

Well people should be outraged, the trade was outrageous. Honestly there should be (and is) outrage from both Republicans and Democrats....and from everyone in between. That said, the impeachment crowd are going a little overboard. Censure is probably appropriate, certainly not impeachment.

 

keep prefacing each post with qualifiers like "if accurate", that makes your knowledge of the position look very solid.

 

Why Team Obama Was Blindsided by the Bergdahl Backlash '

The president and Ms. Rice seem to think that the crime of desertion in wartime is kind of like skipping class.

http://www.nationalreview.com/artic...was-blindsided-bergdahl-backlash-ralph-peters

 

From what I have seen, the crowd going overboard is only coming from one party. So the claim regarding manufactured outrage definitely has some legs.

 

what calls for impeachment are u talking about? All I can find is Allen West who doesn't hold any office.

 

Well there is no doubt that some of it is going on, it's unavoidable. Any time ANYTHING happens, you will have the partisan lapdogs take ridiculous extreme positions. Those who are defending the decision for the swap in my eyes are the exact same as those calling for impeachment. Micheal Moore is the same person as Rush Limbaugh.

I honestly cannot believe that this administration screwed up so completely on this issue and it was easily avoidable. If they followed the law and brought this before the congress or even the Democrat controlled Senate Intelligence Committee, then this would have never happened.