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

Dude, nothing about his character is germane to the issue of getting him out, nothing.
He was the last American soldier held in Afghanistan, American soldier being the sole determent of the sanctity of the task.

You know for yourself, boneheaded ness, recalcitrance, twisted politics or mild mental illness don't
disqualify one from being a soldier.

 

When did you join again?

 

That is your opinion, and many (a majority of Americans, by the latest polls) disagree.

So if the worst reports are true - and I don't know if they are, but if so - that he assisted the Taliban in adjusting their tactics against our people, converted to Islam, etc... You don't think that's germane? You still think we should sell the farm to get a traitor back? Do we regularly do prisoner swaps for traitors?

At the very least it does appear that he deserted. He abdicated his sworn oath and abandoned his duty and his brothers in arms. That may be irrelevant to you, but it is not to most people. And vets take a VERY dim view of his behavior, as well as the wisdom of trading what we did to get him back.

Sorry man, but nobody outside of Obama's hardcore base is buying it this time.

Here are some polls on the subject to peruse at your leisure:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-poll-americans-obama-notified-congress-of-bowe-bergdahl-taliban/

http://www.people-press.org/2014/06/09/public-has-doubts-about-bergdahl-prisoner-exchange/

Note that quite a large number of people have no opinion or aren't sure. Which way do you think they are going to swing once we start hearing more of what really happened - once it's clear that he deserted at the least?

Also note how when you narrow the situation down to the specific situation with information of his desertion, the numbers turn increasingly sour on the deal. Why? Because it *does* matter, at least to most people out there.

 

Public opinion is fickle and influenced by bought propaganda. The tenets of national responsibility, especially to those we send into harms way are not. The command structure deemed this man ' fit for service' before they sent him to a war zone. Anything that happens to him subsequent to that is our responsibility.

The possibility exists public opinion is wrong, the possibility exists the man might be mentally compromised, possibly by the experience we sent him into. That's why he remains innocent until proven guilty and retains his full value as a us soldier until proven guilty. Anything else is equivalent to a mob lynching.

I'm not arguing Mr. Obama values her, I'm arguing American principles

 

Would rep again if I could, great post.

 

Something that I would like to know is why Bergdahl was even sent to Afghanistan and stationed at a forward operating post. Everything that I am reading about this guy sounds like he was a problem waiting to happen.

 

The armed forces desperately needed warm bodies at the time.

 

If innocent until proven guilty is such a core value to you, then you should probably be calling for Obama's impeachment and potential arrest for war crimes for his use of drones against American citizens not afforded due process.

 

You're comparing apples to oranges.

 

If "innocent until proven guilty" is an absolute as has been suggested multiple times in this thread, then the type of fruit being compared shouldn't matter. That it does only proves that the tenet is not absolute.

 

Yes. I have been thinking that Bergdahl might be an example of lowered recruitment standards. Even so it seems like somewhere along the line someone might've realized that this guy shouldn't be put into that sort of situation.

 

I'm wondering if part of the reason for freeing Bergdahl was so drone strikes could be carried out without the possibility of him getting hit.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/haqqani-network-militants-killed-u-s-drone-strike-taliban-n129526

 

Yeah, probably part of their master plan....just like any other mistake.

 

Treeman had it right. Lowered standards. Fresh meat.

At that time I talked to a young guy outside the main recruiting station at one of the dt post offices. He was excited and told me that he was getting something like $20,000 sign on bonus despite a dwi and no high school grad. It was in the height of the fighting when enthusiasm was fading and after that silly Dubya and the whole Mission Accomplished stunt.

 

wrong thread.

 

Smoking Gun Alert:

Exclusive: Bergdahl Explains in Prison Letters Why He Vanished

In a pair of letters, the captured U.S. soldier asks his government to reserve judgment about his disappearance—and complains about the officers leading his unit in Afghanistan.

Writing from a Taliban “prison,” Bowe Bergdahl urged his family and his government to wait until they had all the facts before judging him for leaving his base. Then Bergdahl explained, at least in part, why he left his fellow troops in 2009.

Full Story:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/12/exclusive-bergdahl-explains-in-prison-letters-why-he-vanished.html

Does anyone *still* seriously think this guy didn't desert? He admitted it in these letters. Click the link, then I dare you to come back and seriously try and argue that he did not desert.

 

I'm not sure it proves he's a traitor as much as it proves he's illiterate and possibly mentally ill and had no business being in the military in the first place.

 

There comes to a point of personal responsibility. We all have made bad decisions that effect for many years to come, like getting a masters degree in fine arts at a private college. His was a little more serious and arguably cost other soldiers lives. Nobody made him join. Nobody made him desert.

 

Couldve just gone AWOL. Correct me if I'm wrong, but desertion implies leaving without intending to return. AWOL is just leaving without authorization for a temporary period. (without the intention of deserting the army)

Either way, he did something wrong. If he did go AWOL or desert, just do what we did to Charles Jenkins (who deserted to North Korea before he came back to the US). Just strip him of his rank, give him a dishonorable discharge and move on. Our prison system can't even recreate the suffering of living with the Taliban for 5 years. I dont see what there is to gain by giving him some crazy sentence.

 

Even so (hypothetically) , you leave him in a closet in a foreign country?