Time to stop the vicious attack against an emaciated POW for political gain

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Good morning:

I am revolted by the Republicans and their right-wing-hate-machine’s exploitation of Bowe Bergdahl to attack President Obama.

I also am disgusted with every Democrat who has sided with them instead of condemning them for their shameful use of a sick and vulnerable man who cannot defend himself.

The Republicans hate President Obama because of the color of his skin. Even though he has been elected twice, they will never accept his legitimacy to serve as president and live in the White House. So they behave like attack dogs seizing every opportunity to wound him politically, regardless of whose blood they spill.

There is nothing courageous about what they do.

They only succeed in further shaming our nation’s reputation, as the rest of the world watches this disgraceful destruction of a POW’s honor and reputation committed for political gain. They do this in violation of his right to due process of law, which is one of the core principles of our legal system and the rule of law.

Their behavior is unacceptable and deserves condemnation.

What have we become when we stand idly by impotent and speechless as the right-wing-hate-machine excoriates our president for repatriating our last prisoner of war?

What the hell else was he supposed to do?

Should he have abandoned Bergdahl, an emaciated POW who has never been formally accused, let alone convicted of any wrongdoing?

To ask that question is to answer it.

We need to push back hard against the racists who so desperately hate our president that they are willing to trample the rule of law in the dirt for political gain.

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I would be honored and proud to defend Bowe Bergdahl

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Good afternoon:

A person who shall remain nameless posted the following comment a few minutes ago in response to my post yesterday about Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. Because this person is new to the blog, the comment went into my pending folder. I think the comment is worth examining because it’s typical of many comments I have seen in the news and blogosphere.

Frederick, Bergdahl is a disgrace to anybody that has ever served. He made his own choice to join the military. Nobody put a gun to his head! Do you care about the lives of the soldiers that died trying to find this scumbag? I’ve read their names and their stories. It is shocking that anyone can defend his actions.

Somebody has to be held accountable, but it seems you think nobody should be accountable.

I find it impossible to take the author seriously because he assumes that his factually unsupported conclusion is true. He does not need an investigation, an accusation, a trial, a conviction or a sentencing because everything is so obvious to him.

He apparently does not realize that the military is not claiming and has not accused Bergdahl of responsibility for anyone’s death.

He apparently does not realize that Bergdahl enlisted in the Army because he wanted to go to Afghanistan to protect the lives of the inhabitants from attacks by the Taliban while improving the quality of their lives. He was heavily influenced by the book Three Cups of Tea and wanted to meet people and establish friendships based on mutual respect.

In other words, he swallowed the counterinsurgency theory hook, line and sinker. But it was 100% bullshit because soldiers are killers, not social workers.

He became disillusioned just like Pat Tillman did before him. Tillman enlisted in the Army to hunt down Osama bin Laden and protect the homeland from attack by terrorists only to realize that the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan were wars of aggression to obtain control of natural resources.

Bergdahl soon realized after arriving in Afghanistan that the military did not give a damn about the impoverished villagers. One cannot creating enduring friendships with people by disrespecting their cultural traditions and treating them like dirt.

Bergdahl walked away from the camp one night without informing anyone when he would return or if he would return. He was unarmed and may have intended to walk to India because he told several members of his platoon that he was thinking about doing that.

They did not take him seriously because the idea sounded crazy. He was a loner and no one really knew him. He was different.

As I said yesterday, I think he may have been experiencing a psychotic break.

Fortunately, the Taliban did not kill him.

By not killing him, they have acted more honorably and respectfully than the person who wrote the comment and all of the politicians and media people who have condemned Bergdahl as a deserter and traitor.

I am not ashamed to defend him. I am proud to do so.

For additional information, please read this article about Bowe Bergdahl written by Michael Hastings in Rolling Stone Magazine. The title is America’s Last Prisoner of War.

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Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl deserves to be welcomed home

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Good afternoon:

I am surprised by recent criticism of President Obama and Chuck Hagel, the Secretary of Defense, regarding their agreement to release five former members of the Taliban in exchange for the Taliban releasing Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, whom they seized five years ago.

Republicans in Congress have criticized the agreement because they were not informed about it until after the exchange took place and they believe the U.S. gave up too much in the 5 to 1 swap.

Several members of his platoon also have criticized the agreement publicly. They claim Sergeant Bergdahl was a deserter and they resent him because six members of the platoon were killed during an unsuccessful attempt to find him.

Some Republicans have repeated this accusation when all of us should be praying for his full recovery and welcoming him home.

The response by the administration is that timing was critical, they reached an agreement with the Taliban faster than expected, and they carried out a promise to military personnel to leave no one behind by securing the release of the only soldier held by the Taliban.

The administration has announced that the Department of Defense classified Sergeant Bergdahl as a prisoner of war and he is receiving medical care in a hospital in Germany. It has promised to investigate what happened and take appropriate action after he recovers.

The plot has thickened because Sergeant Bergdahl apparently objected to the war in Afghanistan and he talked about leaving his weapons behind and walking to India.

I suspect the intense pressure and anxiety of living in a war zone where your next breath or step could be your last coupled with an escalating dislike of the war and U.S. objectives in Afghanistan could cause a psychological breakdown in anyone, no matter their toughness.

Throwing down your weapons and abandoning the relative safety of the military post to walk hundreds of miles through hostile country to reach India is not rational behavior. It sounds like he was experiencing a psychotic delusion or break and he was lucky the Taliban did not kill him when they first saw him.

Seems like everywhere I look, I find people with undiagnosed and untreated mental illness.

I am offended by the unofficial and unproven accusation that Sergeant Bergdahl, who is officially classified as a POW, was a deserter who should have been left to rot and die in a prison somewhere in Afghanistan.

The Republicans never cease to amaze me with how low they can go.

They deserve to be condemned for attacking the character of a prisoner of war who was never formally accused of wrongdoing and has been locked up for 5 years.

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