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DonViejo

(60,536 posts) Thu Jun 5, 2014, 08:52 AM Jun 2014

4 questions we should be asking about the Bowe Bergdahl prisoner swap

Hi DU'ers! I found this to be a fairly informative article, worth hitting the link and going over to GlobalPost for a full reading. I hope you will also find it informative. Don

Jean MacKenzie

Journalist Jean MacKenzie reported from Afghanistan from October 2004 to December 2011, first as the head of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, then as a senior correspondent for GlobalPost.

Bergdahl is the new Benghazi, Obama is a Muslim, and terrorists are set loose upon the world. Can things get any weirder?

Truthers, birthers, and Kennedy assassination geeks, move over: The sad case of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is providing rich fodder for conspiracy theorists everywhere.

-snip-

1. Is Bowe Bergdahl a hero or a traitor?

2. Did the White House violate US policy against negotiating with terrorists in securing Bergdahl’s release?

The general consensus, with everyone from CNN’s Jake Tapper to Fox News’s Chris Wallace weighing in, is that the Taliban is a terrorist organization, and talking to them is, or should be, out of the question.

This may be emotionally satisfying, but it happens not to be true. The Afghan Taliban has never been designated as a terrorist organization, either by the United States or the United Nations. It is, instead, an enemy combatant.

-snip-

3. How dangerous are the Taliban who were released?

-snip-

4. Is the Bergdahl release the first step in Obama’s final push to close down Guantanamo?

-snip-

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/140603/bowe-bergdahl-guantanamo-prisoner-swap

8 replies

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Highlight:

4 questions we should be asking about the Bowe Bergdahl prisoner swap (Original Post) DonViejo Jun 2014 OP

Highly recommend due to a good composite of important elements to the story, thus far. Jefferson23 Jun 2014 #1

A PR person was hired to coordinate the smear job on Bergdahl riderinthestorm Jun 2014 #2

Korder and the rest of Bergdahls critics are contributing to this, clearly..but why? Jefferson23 Jun 2014 #3

Micheal Hastings' article in Rolling Stone indicates Bergdahl's platoon had problems riderinthestorm Jun 2014 #5

Perhaps, but his fellow soldiers reports are compelling seveneyes Jun 2014 #4

Not necessarily about a clear who was right and who was wrong but a closer look at Jefferson23 Jun 2014 #6

None of them saw what happened to Bowe Bergdahl that night. None of them riderinthestorm Jun 2014 #7

Yes and why it is bizarre they speak with such certainty before he gets home. n/t Jefferson23 Jun 2014 #8

Jefferson23

(30,099 posts)

1. Highly recommend due to a good composite of important elements to the story, thus far.

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Thu Jun 5, 2014, 09:17 AM

Jun 2014

It is beyond bizarre to me that soldiers Korder and Full made such an effort to get out in
front of this story before Bergdahl gets home..disgusting, really. Lots of questions and
Hagel has stated he was not aware of soldiers deaths as they would relate to Bergdahl.

If Korder/Full felt so strongly about these deaths, what prevented them from speaking out
earlier..they claim they're making the record clear for the soldiers who allegedly died due
to Bergdahl.

The rush to judgement does not surprise me from the GOP..it's what they do.

riderinthestorm

(23,272 posts)

2. A PR person was hired to coordinate the smear job on Bergdahl

Reply to Jefferson23 (Reply #1)

Thu Jun 5, 2014, 10:27 AM

Jun 2014

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/06/grenell-helped-organize-bowe-bergdahl-critics-189657.html

Jefferson23

(30,099 posts)

3. Korder and the rest of Bergdahls critics are contributing to this, clearly..but why?

Reply to riderinthestorm (Reply #2)

Thu Jun 5, 2014, 10:37 AM

Jun 2014

That it was organized by a Republican is telling, but I find these soldiers message and posturing
very defensive...I wonder what Bergdahl knows that may not be flattering to the platoon.
Meaning, is there much more than already has been indicated.

The treatment has been off the charts ugly...very weird.