Thread: Bergdahl !
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Old 03-27-2015, 05:36 PM   #28
Jim in CT
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Join Date: Jul 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by detbuch View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim in CT View Post
Well he's still alive. He is also charged not just with desertion, but for some kind of inappropriate action while with the enemy.

Spence reply:
Misbehavior before the enemy and it's the more serious charge. I'm not sure I buy his story he was going out to report on problems within his unit, not that there weren't any, but to do so alone and at night seems pretty reckless. I'd like to know if there actually was a senior officer in the area he could have gone to.

The military would know all this better than anybody. They'll decide. Whether "justice" will prevail depends on political and military motivations which we can only conjecture. It is brave (a military attribute which it is hoped still exists) of the military to do this in the face of what must be the President's desire to have Bergdhal exonerated, deserving of his promotion to sergeant while in "captivity" and honored by his staff as serving with distinction.

Quote by Jim in CT:
I don't think we had a choice but to get him back. If it was my call, I would plug my nose and make the deal, because we need to know what happened, and it's possible we stioll owe a debt to this man - maybe he's not even really responsible for what happened.

Spence reply:
I'm sure that was the reasoning.

Other's are not as sure as you, or even outright doubt the reasoning. Nor, if as Jim says, we had no choice but to get him back, do others believe the way was the best, or even proper.

Quote by Jim in CT:
But I wouldn't have staged that phony, farsical, manipulative Rose Garden ceremony until I had the facts. That's what I call "shooting without aiming", which Obama likes to accuse Bush of.

Spence reply:
Had his father not had such freakish behavior I think people would have read the situation a lot differently. More empathy and less ridicule.

But it is that very manipulative rose garden ceremony which makes for serious doubt as to the President's reputed "reasoning." It was so unnecessary to have the great announcement, as if some victory redounding to Obama, was achieved, then parading thankful Bergdahl's parents to the public's attention to cement Obama's great humanitarian achievement. And his assertion that we do not leave anybody behind.

In the meanwhile, those parents who were not allowed to ransom their loved ones who then had their heads chopped off, had to witness the joy of Bergdahl's parents.

The blatant insensitivity to some people in favor of sensitivity to others is a reminder of government power over us. Of its ability to choose winners and losers. Of its power to extend the nations largesse to some and not to others. Of the blatant inequality practiced by those equality whores who pretend to serve us. All the while manipulating us in ways that consolidate their power.

It was not necessary to make a public spectacle of the swap. And then to rationalize how good and necessary it was, even though the release of the five could potentially cause more harm to Americans abroad than the ransom of a loved one by a private citizen.

If you truly believe in the validity of the smell test, Spence, as you apply it to Cheney's statements, you would have to concede there is a lot of stink emanating from the White House here.
"those parents who were not allowed to ransom their loved ones who then had their heads chopped off, had to witness the joy of Bergdahl's parents. "

Yep. An awful situation. I would not know what to say to those parents. I guess a soldier volunteering to go over there and fight, maybe deserves a bit more committment from the US, than someone who goes ovr there as a news reporter? But what about people who go over there for humanitarian reasons? I guess we should tell those people, that there are plenty o fplaces where they can help others, without being surrounded be people who want to cut your head off.

I don't think I like th eidea of telling servicemen that we won't negotiate for their release. But how do you explain not letting citizens pay ransom for their kidnapped loved ones?

If we kill every single one of them, it becomes a non-issue.
Jim in CT is offline