Bowe Bergdahl: Deserter, Traitor, or Just a Pawn?

Off Topic Politics & World Issues
141

[quote]Bismark wrote:

[quote]UtahLama wrote:

[quote]Bismark wrote:

[quote]Severiano wrote:
I want to hate that kid… Problem is he seems to be the sort that wasn’t weeded out during any point in training. The guy seemed to be so out of place that he was more case where others had to babysit him. He was basically a liability the whole time I’ll bet and seemed to contribute nothing to his unit.

The guy was basically a civilian… [/quote]

Keep in mind his unit was plagued with discipline issues and was reprimanded for something as unprofessional as ditching K-pots for ball caps on patrol.[/quote]

Link?

And the question is, how different were their reprimands compared to similar front line units?[/quote]

http://m.rollingstone.com/politics/news/americas-last-prisoner-of-war-20120607

I do take that with a grain of salt, but it’s decent journalism.

From my understanding, it was a bit heavier given the publicity it received, a photograph illustrating the unit’s lack of discipline being featured on the front page of a major US publication. [/quote]

Not a bad article, the Stone leans hard left however.

I would be interested to see a comparison to other front line units. I would bet that reprimands were also given to many other combat units for similar violations.

It’s just the media’s way of saying, it’s not this guys fault.

142

[quote]Varqanir wrote:

[quote]angry chicken wrote:
They canceled his home town parade LOL

[/quote]

Trivia: Bowe Bergdahl is from the same town in Idaho where Matthew Inman, a.k.a. The Oatmeal, grew up.[/quote]

Love The OAT

143

[quote]UtahLama wrote:

[quote]Bismark wrote:

[quote]UtahLama wrote:

[quote]Bismark wrote:

[quote]Severiano wrote:
I want to hate that kid… Problem is he seems to be the sort that wasn’t weeded out during any point in training. The guy seemed to be so out of place that he was more case where others had to babysit him. He was basically a liability the whole time I’ll bet and seemed to contribute nothing to his unit.

The guy was basically a civilian… [/quote]

Keep in mind his unit was plagued with discipline issues and was reprimanded for something as unprofessional as ditching K-pots for ball caps on patrol.[/quote]

Link?

And the question is, how different were their reprimands compared to similar front line units?[/quote]

http://m.rollingstone.com/politics/news/americas-last-prisoner-of-war-20120607

I do take that with a grain of salt, but it’s decent journalism.

From my understanding, it was a bit heavier given the publicity it received, a photograph illustrating the unit’s lack of discipline being featured on the front page of a major US publication. [/quote]

Not a bad article, the Stone leans hard left however.

I would be interested to see a comparison to other front line units. I would bet that reprimands were also given to many other combat units for similar violations.

It’s just the media’s way of saying, it’s not this guys fault.[/quote]

Hence the grain of salt qualifier.

Most likely, yes. The combat arms have little room for “freethinkers” like Bergdahl.

I think it absolutely is, and it demonstrates some degree of premeditation. More than a few people are dead because of his moral nativity.

144

[quote]Bismark wrote:

[quote]UtahLama wrote:

[quote]Bismark wrote:

[quote]UtahLama wrote:

[quote]Bismark wrote:

[quote]Severiano wrote:
I want to hate that kid… Problem is he seems to be the sort that wasn’t weeded out during any point in training. The guy seemed to be so out of place that he was more case where others had to babysit him. He was basically a liability the whole time I’ll bet and seemed to contribute nothing to his unit.

The guy was basically a civilian… [/quote]

Keep in mind his unit was plagued with discipline issues and was reprimanded for something as unprofessional as ditching K-pots for ball caps on patrol.[/quote]

Link?

And the question is, how different were their reprimands compared to similar front line units?[/quote]

http://m.rollingstone.com/politics/news/americas-last-prisoner-of-war-20120607

I do take that with a grain of salt, but it’s decent journalism.

From my understanding, it was a bit heavier given the publicity it received, a photograph illustrating the unit’s lack of discipline being featured on the front page of a major US publication. [/quote]

Not a bad article, the Stone leans hard left however.

I would be interested to see a comparison to other front line units. I would bet that reprimands were also given to many other combat units for similar violations.

It’s just the media’s way of saying, it’s not this guys fault.[/quote]

Hence the grain of salt qualifier.

Most likely, yes. The combat arms have little room for “freethinkers” like Bergdahl.

I think it absolutely is, and it demonstrates some degree of premeditation. More than a few people are dead because of his moral nativity.
[/quote]

I get what you are saying, and I agree.

145

Better buckle down fellas, looks like Bam is looking to release another terrorist.

Fox News reports the Fouzi Khalid Abdullah al-Awda appeared before a review board in Virginia via video feed. Al-Awda has been in detention for 12 years. The Pentagon reports he traveled to Afghanistan from his home country of Kuwait just before 9/11 to train in terrorist camps.

Al-Awda says he only traveled to teach the Quran and aid the poor. His attorney argues he poses no threat to the United States. If released, he would return to Kuwait and immediately enter a rehabilitation center, but could be allowed to leave during daytime hours in as soon as six months.

146

In true Obama fashion his team(after being righty ripped from both sides of the aisle) tries to discredit Bergdhal’s unit as Psychopaths.

This is Brandon Friedman the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs based out of the White House. He scrubbed his employer off Twitter after being inundated by military twitterers raked him.

  1. https://twitter.com/BFriedmanDC/status/474396432305504256

  2. https://twitter.com/BFriedmanDC/status/474396652854591488

  3. https://twitter.com/BFriedmanDC/status/474396782043336704

  4. https://twitter.com/BFriedmanDC/status/474396970959011841

  5. https://twitter.com/BFriedmanDC/status/474397249251069952

147

I’m confused. The twitter handle is Brandon Friedman?

148

[quote]Bismark wrote:
I’m confused. The twitter handle is Brandon Friedman?[/quote]

Typo, I fixed it.

Brandon Friedman is the guy who sent the tweets

149

Well this cannot be good…eeeerbody knew that our boy had gone native.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/06/05/exclusive-bergdahl-declared-jihad-secret-documents-show/

150

[quote]UtahLama wrote:
Well this cannot be good…eeeerbody knew that our boy had gone native.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/06/05/exclusive-bergdahl-declared-jihad-secret-documents-show/[/quote]

Fox News isn’t exactly unbiased and did you even read the link you posted or just the title?

“The report cited a source new to Eclipse – a member of the Haqqani network said to be close to Mullah Sangeen, the Haqqani commander charged at all points over the last five years with operational custody and control of Bergdahl – whose trustworthiness had not been fully vetted by the group. However, the report stated, the informant “does have plausible access to the information reported below, and claims to have seen Bergdahl personally in Shawal,” in North Waziristan.”

"[Gen. James] Mattis was also adamant that no one at CENTCOM or within the broader U.S. military or intelligence community – despite intensive investigation of such allegations – ever learned of anything to suggest Bergdahl had evolved into an active collaborator with the Haqqani network or the Taliban. “We were always looking for actionable intelligence,” Mattis said. “It wasn’t just the IC [intelligence community]. We had tactical units that were involved in the fight. We had SIGINT. Any collaborators who were on the other side and who came over to our side. We kept an eye on this. … There was never any evidence of collaboration.”

“At other points, the SITREPs depict a much nastier relationship between Bergdahl and his captors.”

So we have a situation where there’s a lot of gossip, rumors, conflicting information and nobody knows for sure. There’s also the issue of a private intelligence company trading “intel” for cash.

So imagine now you have a good soldier, who ends up captured, and some sharp mujahideen starts feeding false intelligence for the sole source of misdirection back up the food chain.

Now this good solder, remembers this Bergdahl incident, and starts thinking the worse that his country thinks he is a traitor and is either going to leave him to rot or put him on an active target roster, and starts to lose hope that he will ever be rescued, making his situation 100% worse than what it was.

Whatever the truth of Bergdahl’ situation, which may never be known, it’s sad that it is now being used as a political weapon, especially because nobody really knows for sure.

If he’s a deserter and traitor so be it, but I think the onus is still on the military to bring him back and do it the ‘civilized’ way.

151

Maybe Obama should meet with the families of the 6 soldiers who died looking for Bergdahl, instead of that father who looks like an axe murderer.

153

[quote]Chushin wrote:
Oh my, yes.

Bring him back, by all means.

No matter the cost.

Right?[/quote]

What would you do?

Leave him there? Put it as a vote to congress? Declare him an enemy combatant or whatever the lawyers are calling them?

155

[quote]Chushin wrote:

[quote]theuofh wrote:

[quote]Chushin wrote:
Oh my, yes.

Bring him back, by all means.

No matter the cost.

Right?[/quote]

What would you do?

Leave him there? Put it as a vote to congress? Declare him an enemy combatant or whatever the lawyers are calling them?
[/quote]

Make an effort to get him back in a way that doesn’t involve the POTUS breaking the goddamned law and the release of 5 ultra-hardcore terrorists.

And yeah, there is always the possibility that he’ll get left there. That’s because we should never decide that we’ll pay ANY price to get him back.

[/quote]

It’s part of the deal we sign up for when we join up and are forward deployed. There’s the possibility that we are killed or captured and may not make it back. That’s part of the honor of serving.

What bugs me is that it seemed to be done for political reasons… To make Obama look like he gives a shit about troops given the VA scandal, which nobody seems to be talking about anymore.

157

[quote]theuofh wrote:

[quote]Chushin wrote:
Oh my, yes.

Bring him back, by all means.

No matter the cost.

Right?[/quote]

What would you do?

Leave him there? Put it as a vote to congress? Declare him an enemy combatant or whatever the lawyers are calling them?
[/quote]

At what cost man? He MAILED his fucking uniform home and walked out the fucking gate.

Six good men DIED trying to get his ass back.

You make sacrifices to get hero’s back, SEALS/DELTA/RECON…not guys who walk out the gate in civies.

158

[quote]UtahLama wrote:

At what cost man? He MAILED his fucking uniform home and walked out the fucking gate.

[/quote]

This is the question of the hour.

I’m not sure exactly what they had on these 5 guys and another individual mentioned that maybe Karzai finally pissed us of enough to give Afghanistan back to the Taliban.

159

Freed Taliban Commander Tells Relative He’ll Fight Americans Again

160

[quote]MaximusB wrote:
Freed Taliban Commander Tells Relative He’ll Fight Americans Again

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/bowe-bergdahl-released/freed-taliban-commander-tells-relative-hell-fight-americans-again-n124451[/quote]

Good thing nobody saw that coming.

The best part is, every liberal friend I have is attacking his unit-mates…like it was their fault that he deserted.

God sometimes I hate politics.