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I think there's something very curious about this whole deal. You can be acquainted with someone and not truly "know" someone.
So it's not only why, but why now?
A pressing desire to close out Gitmo ASAP I'm guessing. They've been wanting to dump these 5 guys for awhile, this gave them a somewhat valid pretext for doing it. Now that they've released the 5 most dangerous guys they had, they can wait a few months, if there are no incidents they can say "see, look, we released the most dangerous guys, nothing happened, so lets get the rest of these guys out of here."
By all accounts the White House and the State Department were pretty much entirely behind this with the Pentagon and the intelligence community largely cut out of the decision-making. They had gone to the intelligence community before, not gotten the answers they wanted so they seem to have side-stepped them entirely.
Is it the right decision? Only time will tell ultimately. I think Bergdahl was just a useful pretext for them, reportedly the Taliban had gotten desperate to make a trade and the U.S. military had a good idea of Bergdahl's whereabouts but didn't want to risk operator's lives for a guy who was considered a deserter. I think they had a lot more leverage and could have worked out a much more favorable deal but it is what it is and hopefully it all goes for the best.
Everybody is cying about the 5 ALLEGED Terroist we let go going back to fight. I think of it this way, when my in Law was released from a Vietnamese Prison back in the 70's The last thing he wanted to do was go back and fight a war.
He went home to be with his family and never looked back.
It has been proven that MUSLIM militants don't think like Americans.
First of all I'd like to say that I am TOTALLY nonpartisan. I don't agree with any of the parties or their extreme views. With that said....
One thing is for sure, there are still many facts which have yet to come to light in this case. It is pretty common knowledge that the American people are the last to know anything about what our government is doing. Bottom line, he is absolutely not a hero and it fills me with rage that he has been treated as such. But knowing the president's warm and fuzzy feelings about Islam (Mr. Obama's father makes Bergdahl's dad look downright patriotic), it is not surprising he has treated this individual's family the way he has. This is not nearly the first strange, questionable thing Obama has done in office (returning of the Churchhill bust, complete reversal of stance about the Falkland Islands, etc.).....makes you wonder what the current administration's ultimate goals really are....
Location: In a little house on the prairie - literally
10,202 posts, read 7,919,895 times
Reputation: 4561
Quote:
Originally Posted by graceC
You now, he's gone through 5 years as POW in Afghanistan. Plus the media has started to shed light on this guy's shady background so his name and his family's name will be dragged through the mud before the whole thing blows over. Isn't that punishment enough?
"Bergdahl is a deserter, and he's not a hero," says Buetow. "He needs to answer for what he did." Within days of his disappearance, says Buetow, teams monitoring radio chatter and cell phone communications intercepted an alarming message: The American is in Yahya Khel (a village two miles away). He's looking for someone who speaks English so he can talk to the Taliban. "I heard it straight from the interpreter's lips as he heard it over the radio," said Buetow. "There's a lot more to this story than a soldier walking away."
The Army will review the case of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl "in a comprehensive, coordinated effort," Secretary of the Army John McHugh said Tuesday.
The review will include speaking with Bergdahl "to better learn from him the circumstances of his disappearance and captivity," he said.
The night Bergdahl disappeared, says Buetow, the platoon was at a small outpost, consisting of two bunkers and a perimeter of military trucks. Buetow was in one of the bunkers, and Bergdahl was supposed to be in a tent by one of the trucks.
Then a call came through on the radio. "I'll never forget that line, 'Has anyone seen Bergdahl?'" says Buetow. Firsthand accounts from soldiers in his platoon say Bergdahl disappeared while he was on guard duty. Buetow says Bergdahl was about to go on guard duty, but when a fellow soldier went to wake him, he was not in his tent. He had left behind his weapons, his bullet-proof vest, and night vision gear.
"I immediately knew, I said, 'He walked away. He walked away,'" said Buetow.
Bergdahl walked off the observation post with nothing more than a compass, a knife, water, a digital camera and a diary, according to firsthand accounts from soldiers in his platoon.
Buetow was involved in the immediate search for Bergdahl, pushing a patrol into a nearby local village. "Immediately as we left the base, two small boys walked up to us, and they told us that they saw an American crawling in the weeds by himself," said the former Army sergeant. The search followed that lead, and others, for months. "For 60 days or more, I remember, just straight, all we did was search for Bergdahl," said Buetow, "essentially chasing a ghost because we never came up with anything."
At least six soldiers were killed in subsequent searches for him, according to soldiers involved in those operations.
According to the military, he is NOT a traitor. In fact, he will be getting a promotion to staff Sergeant.
In fact he won't.
Quote:
Dempsey said in the interview that Bergdahl, a private, who was promoted to sergeant during his captivity, will no longer be automatically promoted to staff sergeant because he is now free.
The more that is learned, the more I'm convinced that the residents of the town of Hailey, ID are either in some cult, mentally incapacitated, or just plain delusional.
certain areas of Idaho have a reputation for attracting all 3 that you mentioned.
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