Soldier held by Taliban released

" ... Afghan theater of operations."

Theater.

 

Kabuki

 

The righty blowhards are madder than ol' wet hens about this deal. Mainly because Obama did something and they can't lay a glove on him, and Obama knows it.

 

While it is good that he is freed, the fact that Bergdahl simply walked away from his post one night (desertion) will still need to be addressed. I do hope the Army will, first, debrief him, then let him see his family, but then get to the reasons why he did that and punish him somehow for having done that.

 

A POW is still subject to UCMJ.

 

Some accounts have said he went AWOL, other accounts have said that the Taliban caught him with his pants down, as he had walked away from his unit to take a dump.

I don't know which is right but I do know it is better to have an American soldier at home.

The fact that this has turned into a screechfest isn't surprising but it is sad.

 

A screechfest about an illegal action that, ultimately, was designed to get the VA scandal off the front pages. Yes...very sad.

 

Yeah, I know that. So what? Still doesn't change the fact that it was a shitty deal negotiated with terrorists. We give them five commanders, they give us one deserter. Sound like an even swap to you?

 

The U.S. government is legally obligated to do everything in its power to ensure the safe return of American POWs.

 

Prisoner exchanges are also always controversial. This chap will be extensively debriefed by the relevant intelligence agencies and then quietly given an honorable discharge. Once you decide to bring him back, you can't criminalize his behavior. As for the trade itself, Israel has on more than one occasion traded much larger numbers of Palestinians imprisoned for terrorism in return for soldier held by organizations (Hamas, Hezbollah) which it does not accord legitimate political status. That's Israel, where the freed prisoners now live next door, not 10,000 miles in Afghanistan.

 

I can't help but think, if the White House determined that this was a truly good idea, this would have been rolled out on a weekday and not buried on a Saturday afternoon.

Also consider the quality of the one soldier we got back. Was this young man a deserter? A traitor? Did he walk off the base and, in the search for this man, multiple American soldiers were killed?

Then, on top of this, our government gets him back for five Taliban leaders?

Would General Patton, if captured in 1944, even have been worth five POW Nazi leaders?

I would assume the WH knew what it was getting into, that it vetted Robert Bergdahl and all of the email correspondence from Bowe Bergdahl before green-lighting this.

 

Yes, you can.

Not saying anything one way or another in this specific case, but detrimental conduct as a prisoner is absolutely a chargeable offense.