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US Soldier spends 3rd Christmas as Taliban Prisoner

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So once again I'm about the only one who hopes that any impeachment proceedings escalate into a military coup. It's not like no one here has ever secretly wished to see CSPAN showing armed soldiers running about in congressional halls in support of whichever side you're in favor of.
 
Bergdahl Scandal Is Simpler Path to Impeachment A short, fully linked opinion piece worth reading.

The threat of impeachment is low. It cannot happen unless we end up with a Republican majority in both houses of Congress. That would need to come first. The bigger issue is will it be worth the race war that will result.

But on the other side of the scale is the specter of ever-increasing circumventing of our laws by the office of the Presidency. Do we stand by and let it escalate? I don't think that's in the best interest of the nation. Either party having complete control of the Executive and Legislative branches of government can be disastrous. The last thing we need is to reinforce the notion that the Executive branch can rule as it sees fit.

There is only one right decision but the consequences are weighty.
 
Jonathan Turley and Jeffrey Toobin, both of whom are liberal leaning, have come out and stated that Obama broke the law.

Those here arguing otherwise look foolish.

Fern
 
Gonad the Barbarian said:
Diane Feinstein has too. And if it was their loved one, or even they themselves, they'd be thanking him for it instead of giving congress the chance to screw it up.
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Speak for yourself. If one of my relatives did what this guy did, there's no way I'd be advocating for sacrificing people that didn't betray our country, or trading high-ranking enemy officials for them. I'd advocate to let them rot like they deserved, unless they had a precise location and the expected casualties would be more damaging to the enemy.

If it were me, sure I'd like to be rescued, but I definitely wouldn't have the expectation that they'd be releasing enemy captives to get me back at all if I were a traitor. Even if I were captured without betraying my country in the process, I still wouldn't want them releasing enemy captives for me unless the captive(s) was of equal value.

I've never been in the military, but I think that real soldiers know, understand, and accept the risks they take fighting for their country. I doubt that you would find many people in the military below a high command level who would say they would believe themselves valuable enough to trade for a single one of these high-ranking Taliban members.
 
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Rear Adm. John F. Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, said that there was a larger matter at play: The American military does not leave soldiers behind. “When you’re in the Navy, and you go overboard, it doesn’t matter if you were pushed, fell or jumped,” he said. “We’re going to turn the ship around and pick you up.”
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And as far as accusations of Obama breaking the law by not notifying congress of the deal before hand, WaPo posted the details for the whole world to see on 2/17/2014.
 
if this piece of shit traitor is lucky, he'll get a cell with bradley, uh i mean chelsea manning :colbert:
 
A WISE man would NOT decide or judge this situation too soon.
But naturally, Faux News would.
They know everything. right?

We've yet to hear from Bergdahl himself.

You can think for yourself, or just sit back and let Faux News do all your thinking for you.

What ends up so funny time after time after time after time, the Faux News brain and their loyal followers DROP the subject FLAT once their theory and hype and their delusion are fully debunked.
No apology. No admittance of stupidity. No addressing reality. Zilch! Dropped! Flat!

Does anyone really believe that Obama, the Bin Laden hunting/killing Obama, would have focused on and obtained the release of this soldier if Obama had not know more about the story than we know?
And especially knowing more than Cheney or Faux News ever will?

The right wing nut jobs naturally want, hope and pray for the worse.
They truly want to believe Obama is a traitor, liar, and clueless.

A wise man would know better.
But no one has ever accused Faux News or their loyal followers of knowing better.
 
mrjminer said:
Yes, it's obvious this exchange was not in the best interest of our country and it never would have made it through Congress.
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Yeah as if the best way to conduct delicate negotiations to get back a POW is to debate the merits of the exchange on the floor of Congress. :whiste:
 
sportage said:
A WISE man would NOT decide or judge this situation too soon.
But naturally, Faux News would.
They know everything. right?

We've yet to hear from Bergdahl himself.

You can think for yourself, or just sit back and let Faux News do all your thinking for you.

What ends up so funny time after time after time after time, the Faux News brain and their loyal followers DROP the subject FLAT once their theory and hype and their delusion are fully debunked.
No apology. No admittance of stupidity. No addressing reality. Zilch! Dropped! Flat!

Does anyone really believe that Obama, the Bin Laden hunting/killing Obama, would have focused on and obtained the release of this soldier if Obama had not know more about the story than we know?
And especially knowing more than Cheney or Faux News ever will?

The right wing nut jobs naturally want, hope and pray for the worse.
They truly want to believe Obama is a traitor, liar, and clueless.

A wise man would know better.
But no one has ever accused Faux News or their loyal followers of knowing better.
Click to expand...
You sir, are a wise man. /s
 
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Brovane said:
Yeah as if the best way to conduct delicate negotiations to get back a POW is to debate the merits of the exchange on the floor of Congress. :whiste:
Click to expand...

Of course, you are correct. Let's just go ahead ignore all of those silly, inconvenient laws Congress passes to ensure the interests of our country are maintained so Obama can negotiate the release of a low-ranking, likely traitor (and one likely to have voluntarily went to the other side, at that) for five high-ranking enemies without even partisan approval.
 
sportage said:
A WISE man would NOT decide or judge this situation too soon.
But naturally, Faux News would.
They know everything. right?

We've yet to hear from Bergdahl himself.

You can think for yourself, or just sit back and let Faux News do all your thinking for you.

What ends up so funny time after time after time after time, the Faux News brain and their loyal followers DROP the subject FLAT once their theory and hype and their delusion are fully debunked.
No apology. No admittance of stupidity. No addressing reality. Zilch! Dropped! Flat!

Does anyone really believe that Obama, the Bin Laden hunting/killing Obama, would have focused on and obtained the release of this soldier if Obama had not know more about the story than we know?
And especially knowing more than Cheney or Faux News ever will?

The right wing nut jobs naturally want, hope and pray for the worse.
They truly want to believe Obama is a traitor, liar, and clueless.

A wise man would know better.
But no one has ever accused Faux News or their loyal followers of knowing better.
Click to expand...

I haven't watched one segment of this on Fox News, just local news and some CNN online.. and i'll call him a traitor any day. When the guys that chewed the same dirt he did are speaking out against him well... I trust them more than what he can say at this point. Less he can prove leaving his post with no armor, no weapon, no supplies (minus water/compass) was part of some secret mission he should be arrested on touch down in the US and tried in a military court of law and if found guilty put to death .
 
Gonad the Barbarian said:
Diane Feinstein has too. And if it was their loved one, or even they themselves, they'd be thanking him for it instead of giving congress the chance to screw it up.
Click to expand...

seconding the speak for yourself, had he been a family member of mine i would disown him and/or punch him in the face.....
 
mrjminer said:
Of course, you are correct. Let's just go ahead ignore all of those silly, inconvenient laws Congress passes to ensure the interests of our country are maintained so Obama can negotiate the release of a low-ranking, likely traitor (and one likely to have voluntarily went to the other side, at that) for five high-ranking enemies without even partisan approval.
Click to expand...

He is a US Military soldier, how is his rank even relevant to this discussion? If you are a POW I don't care if your are a private or a colonel, it isn't relevant. Obama did what was necessary to secure his return as Commander in Chief of US Armed Forces. As far as guilt or innocence that is up to a Court Martial not the court of public opinion. If Congress has such a problem with it they can impeach him.
 
sportage said:
A WISE man would NOT decide or judge this situation too soon.
But naturally, Faux News would.
They know everything. right?

We've yet to hear from Bergdahl himself.

You can think for yourself, or just sit back and let Faux News do all your thinking for you.

What ends up so funny time after time after time after time, the Faux News brain and their loyal followers DROP the subject FLAT once their theory and hype and their delusion are fully debunked.
No apology. No admittance of stupidity. No addressing reality. Zilch! Dropped! Flat!

Does anyone really believe that Obama, the Bin Laden hunting/killing Obama, would have focused on and obtained the release of this soldier if Obama had not know more about the story than we know?
And especially knowing more than Cheney or Faux News ever will?

The right wing nut jobs naturally want, hope and pray for the worse.
They truly want to believe Obama is a traitor, liar, and clueless.

A wise man would know better.
But no one has ever accused Faux News or their loyal followers of knowing better.
Click to expand...

Yeah guy, the military has known from the outset that Bergdalh deserted. He has still remained the highest intelligence priority in the world since he was captured (even ahead of Osama Bin Laden.)

He regretted his actions and tried to escape once and was recaptured by Haqqani. He was still a deserter.

Obama isn't a traitor, he did was was necessary to recover America's only POW, which was the right thing to do.
 
This guy nails it, hard. I think I heard a mic drop at the end of it. Too many of our so-called patriotic Americans forgot about innocent until proven guilty and all of that. The law & order types, the believers in our constitution and due process. All of that goes out of the window when hate rules the day. Convict and throw away the key, no need for a trial.

How American. Not.

We don't leave anyone behind, not even the scumbags. It's a promise to our service members, one that we keep. The guy is still in the military and I will wait for them to pass judgment on him before forming an opinion on the matter. Those who would have left him over there should be ashamed of themselves but they are too stupid to see how wrong they are.

No wonder the Romans had no problem filling the stadium bleachers with cheering, bloodthirsty animals.

Some things never change.
 
Brovane said:
He is a US Military soldier, how is his rank even relevant to this discussion? If you are a POW I don't care if your are a private or a colonel, it isn't relevant. Obama did what was necessary to secure his return as Commander in Chief of US Armed Forces. As far as guilt or innocence that is up to a Court Martial not the court of public opinion. If Congress has such a problem with it they can impeach him.
Click to expand...

Actually, rank is extremely relevant when you are talking about multiple extremely high level enemies vs. extremely low level military personnel. Perhaps you should check with the various military privates you know and ask them if they think they would be worth a trade for Osama Bin Laden if we had him in custody. While you're at it, maybe you should consider the morale of our soldiers if they're dying to capture these fuckers only to have them be released for some other asshole that likely deserted them and for which they were also sacrificed to attempt to retrieve.

Of course it is up to military law to decide whether or not he was really a deserter, but I think you would have to be a fool to think the information at this point isn't damning and shows that it is extremely likely this guy is a deserter or intended to assist the Taliban and had his plan backfire. Also, you can of course argue that Obama did what was necessary to bring him home, but acting as though a Congressional ruling enacted to prevent this exact scenario from occurring is justifiable, regardless of the outcome, is asinine. No single person has absolute power, and this is a good example of why no single person should.
 
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