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  1. #1
    Senior Member AirborneSapper7's Avatar
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    Why Team Obama Was Blindsided by the Bergdahl Backlash

    June 3, 2014 6:40 PM

    Why Team Obama Was Blindsided by the Bergdahl Backlash

    The president and Ms. Rice seem to think that the crime of desertion in wartime is kind of like skipping class.

    By Ralph Peters



    (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

    Comments 4351

    Ralph Peters

    Congratulations, Mr. President! And identical congrats to your sorcerer’s apprentice, National Security Adviser Susan Rice. By trying to sell him as an American hero, you’ve turned a deserter already despised by soldiers in the know into quite possibly the most-hated individual soldier in the history of our military.
    I have never witnessed such outrage from our troops.
    Exhibit A: Ms. Rice. In one of the most tone-deaf statements in White House history (we’re making a lot of history here), the national-security adviser, on a Sunday talk show, described Bergdahl as having served “with honor and distinction.” Those serving in uniform and those of us who served previously were already stirred up, but that jaw-dropper drove us into jihad mode.
    But pity Ms. Rice. Like the president she serves, she’s a victim of her class. Nobody in the inner circle of Team Obama has served in uniform. It shows. That bit about serving with “honor and distinction” is the sort of perfunctory catch-phrase politicians briefly don as electoral armor. (“At this point in your speech, ma’am, devote one sentence to how much you honor the troops.”)
    I actually believe that Ms. Rice was kind of sincere, in her spectacularly oblivious way. In the best Manchurian Candidate manner, she said what she had been programmed to say by her political culture, then she was blindsided by the firestorm she ignited by scratching two flinty words together. At least she didn’t blame Bergdahl’s desertion on a video.
    The president, too, appears stunned. He has so little understanding of (or interest in) the values and traditions of our troops that he and his advisers really believed that those in uniform would erupt into public joy at the news of Bergdahl’s release — as D.C. frat kids did when Osama bin Laden’s death was trumpeted.
    Both President Obama and Ms. Rice seem to think that the crime of desertion in wartime is kind of like skipping class. They have no idea of how great a sin desertion in the face of the enemy is to those in our military. The only worse sin is to side actively with the enemy and kill your brothers in arms. This is not sleeping in on Monday morning and ducking Gender Studies 101.
    But compassion, please! The president and all the president’s men and women are not alone. Our media elite — where it’s a rare bird who bothered to serve in uniform — instantly became experts on military justice. Of earnest mien and blithe assumption, one talking head after another announced that “we always try to rescue our troops, even deserters.”
    Uh, no. “Save the deserter” is a recent battle cry of the politically indoctrinated brass. For much of our history, we did make some efforts to track down deserters in wartime. Then we shot or hanged them. Or, if we were in good spirits, we merely used a branding iron to burn a large D into their cheeks or foreheads. Even as we grew more enlightened, desertion brought serious time in a military prison. At hard labor.
    This is a fundamental culture clash. Team Obama and its base cannot comprehend the values still cherished by those young Americans “so dumb” they joined the Army instead of going to prep school and then to Harvard. Values such as duty, honor, country, physical courage, and loyalty to your brothers and sisters in arms have no place in Obama World. (Military people don’t necessarily all like each other, but they know they can depend on each other in battle — the sacred trust Bergdahl violated.)
    President Obama did this to himself (and to Bergdahl). This beautifully educated man, who never tires of letting us know how much smarter he is than the rest of us, never stopped to consider that our troops and their families might have been offended by their commander-in-chief staging a love-fest at the White House to celebrate trading five top terrorists for one deserter and featuring not the families of those soldiers (at least six of them) who died in the efforts to find and free Bergdahl, but, instead, giving a starring role on the international stage to Pa Taliban, parent of a deserter and a creature of dubious sympathies (that beard on pops ain’t a tribute to ZZ Top). How do you say “outrageous insult to our vets” in Pashto?
    Nor, during the recent VA scandal, had the president troubled himself to host the families of survivors of those vets who died awaiting care. No, the warmest attention our president has ever paid to a “military family” was to Mr. and Mrs. Bergdahl.
    (I will refrain from criticism of the bumptious attempts to cool the flames of this political conflagration by Secretary Hagel: I never pick on the weak.)
    What is to be done? Behind the outrage triggered by Team Obama’s combination of cynicism and obliviousness (Bergdahl was so ill we had to set those terrorists free immediately, without notifying Congress, but now he’s chugging power shakes in a military hospital . . . and all this just happened to come at the peak of the VA scandal . . . ), military members don’t really want to lynch Bergdahl. But they want justice.
    Our military leaders need to rediscover their moral courage and honor our traditions, our regulations, and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. We need a fresh, unprejudiced 15-6 investigation (the military equivalent of a grand jury). We already know, as the military has known since the first 24 hours after Bergdahl abandoned his post, that sufficient evidence exists for a court-martial, but it’s important to do this by the numbers.
    It’s hard to believe that the resulting court-martial would not find Bergdahl guilty of desertion (although there will be heavy White House pressure to reduce the charge to Absent Without Leave, or AWOL, status, a lesser offense). If he is convicted, I for one do not want him to go to prison. I’m sure he has paid and paid for betraying his comrades, quite possibly suffering brutal sexual violence. But if he is found guilty, he needs to be formally reduced to the rank of private, stripped of all privileges and entitlements (the taxpayer should not pay for a deserter’s lifelong health care — Bergdahl’s book and film deals can cover that), and he should be given the appropriate prison sentence, which would then be commuted by the president. Thereafter, let Mr. Bergdahl go home and live with himself.
    As for President Obama, how about just one word of thanks to the families of those fallen soldiers you sent out to find Bowe Bergdahl?
    — Fox News Strategic Analyst Ralph Peters is a retired Army officer and former enlisted man.


    http://www.nationalreview.com/articl...h-ralph-peters
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  2. #2
    Senior Member AirborneSapper7's Avatar
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    'He's Not a Hero': 6 of Bowe Bergdahl's Platoon Members Speak Out

    by Fox News Insider // Jun 05 2014 // 11:03pm
    As seen on The Kelly File

    Several Videos at the Page Link:

    In a powerful interview with Megyn Kelly, six of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's platoon members, including the platoon's former leader, spoke out on the latest developments in the embattled Taliban trade that secured Bergdahl's freedom.

    Responding to Kelly's questions about an exclusive Fox News report by James Rosen that alleges Bergdahl converted to Islam, fraternized openly with his captors and declared himself a "warrior for Islam," former platoon leader Evan Buetow said, "We knew that he had deserted."
    Buetow went on to say that the unit on the ground in Afghanistan had knowledge that Bergdahl was attempting to find the Taliban, or someone outside of the platoon with whom he could speak in English who could talk to the Taliban for him.

    Fox News Exclusive: Bergdahl Converted to Islam During Captivity
    Sen. Rubio: If Rosen’s Bergdahl Reporting Is True, We’ve Got A Serious Problem On Our Hands
    Obama on Bergdahl Criticism: 'I Make Absolutely No Apologies'

    When asked by Kelly for a head-count of how many among the six platoon members thought Bergdahl deserted, every hand went up.
    "It doesn't matter what his motives were. We all took an oath and had to abide by orders, and you don't just leave your fellow Americans to join somebody else," said Cody Full, who was Bergdahl's former roommate.
    Former platoon leader Evan Buetow described in detail the morning the platoon realized Bergdahl was missing, and the subsequent search that ensued.
    In the days since the platoon members first spoke out about Bergdahl, reports have surfaced that some White House aides have accused the former platoon members of "swift boating," a reference to a group of Vietnam veterans who questioned now Secretary of State John Kerry's military service record during his presidential run in 2004.
    Department of State spokespeople have openly called into question the credibility of the soldiers who were there on the ground in Afghanistan when Bergdahl disappeared.
    In an even more outrageous turn, a deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development suggested on Twitter that the platoon members speaking out against Bergdahl were "psychopaths." The deputy secretary, Brandon Friedman, was formerly a VA official.
    When asked by Kelly for their reaction, the six platoon members gave an incredulous chuckle. Gerald Sutton said he was flattered, because it meant that the administration was noticing their story.
    The platoon members all agreed that none of them have political motivations in speaking out against Bergdahl.
    "This is not about politics. This is about the fact that Bergdahl walked away from us, went to try to find the Taliban, and we know that for a fact. We were all there, and there is not one person you could find who would say that they don't believe that -- at least who was there," said Buetow.
    "He's not a hero, and he did not serve with distinction, and that's a spit in the face to everyone who joined the Army and anyone who died looking for him. What do you think their families think? They don't get their loved one back like Bergdahl's family," said Buetow.
    "When you're in a combat zone, it doesn't matter if you're left, right, independent, Jedi, whatever you want to be, okay? The only thing that matters is that you have an American flag on your shoulder... We're all going to ride together, we're all going to die together," said Full.
    "I don't know how he felt about us, but we all would die for him, and he left," Full said.
    "I would just ask him, 'Why?'" said Sutton, who added that he'd considered Bergdahl a close friend.
    "We have no idea why he did it," Buetow said.
    When asked to raise their hands if they would like to see Bergdahl court-martialed, all six hands went up.
    "He needs to answer for what he did," said Buetow.
    Watch part one of the interview and tune in to 'The Kelly File Friday at 9p ET for must-see part two.



    Posted in: // Bowe Bergdahl // Megyn Kelly // exclusive // Obama // Afghanistan // platoon // Islam // Taliban


    http://foxnewsinsider.com/2014/06/05...bers-speak-out
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  3. #3
    Senior Member AirborneSapper7's Avatar
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    Sen. Rubio: If Rosen’s Bergdahl Reporting Is True, We’ve Got A Serious Problem On Our Hands

    by Fox News Insider // Jun 05 2014 // 10:40pm
    As seen on The Kelly File

    Video at the Page Link:

    On The Kelly File, Republican senator Marco Rubio responded to James Rosen’s report on secret documents suggesting that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl converted to Islam during his captivity. Rubio was among the senators who were briefed by officials from the State Department, Pentagon and intelligence agencies on Wednesday.

    “The answers I got directly contradict or dispute what you have been reporting this evening,” Sen. Rubio said. “So clearly if this happens to be true we've got a very serious problem with the administration misleading members of Congress because the question that I asked is right on point with what you're reporting tonight.”
    Rubio said he anticipates that at least four out of the five Taliban detainees will rejoin the battlefield shortly. Lawmakers from both parties have accused the Obama administration of breaking the law by not giving them 30 days' notice of the impending release.
    The Republican senator added that he is convinced that Obama made the decision as part of an overall “messaging strategy for domestic consumption” to boost the president’s image as Commander-in-Chief and as a domestic leader.

    Watch the entire interview above.

    Posted in: // Marco Rubio // Bowe Bergdahl

    http://foxnewsinsider.com/2014/06/05...blem-our-hands
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