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Wounded Bear

(58,598 posts) Thu Jun 5, 2014, 12:41 PM Jun 2014

Interesting question re: Bergdahl exchange...

So, I was listening to Stephaine Miller this morning and a RWer got through on the phone. This guy insisted that the 5 Taliban folks who were traded in the exchange should not have been, and his logic seemed to be that since this wasn't a "war" because Congress didn't declare war, that they were not "prisoners of war" and weren't eligible for exchange because of that.

So, my question is: If those guys weren't POWs because we 'weren't at war,' doesn't that mean that Bergdahl also wasn't a POW?

I know they're trying to paint him as a traitor and/or deserter now, but hey, they seem to try to bend the argument in any way they want, to justify their hypocrisy.

2 replies

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Interesting question re: Bergdahl exchange... (Original Post) Wounded Bear Jun 2014 OP

I don't see what difference it makes. upaloopa Jun 2014 #1

That's the thing... Wounded Bear Jun 2014 #2

upaloopa

(11,417 posts)

1. I don't see what difference it makes.

Reply to Wounded Bear (Original post)

Thu Jun 5, 2014, 12:53 PM

Jun 2014

We called the prisoners enemy combatants so I guess our POWs were to.
So we traded enemy combatants problem solved

Wounded Bear

(58,598 posts)

2. That's the thing...

Reply to upaloopa (Reply #1)

Thu Jun 5, 2014, 01:00 PM

Jun 2014

The original Bush doctrine refused to recognize the 'detainees' in Gitmo as POWs and tried to create a new category that wasnt POW, who have certain rights by international treaty, nor criminals that have other protections guaranteed by the US Constitution.

The problem is the RW talking heads, who have banks of rhetoricians that use such arguments to their benefit, and would quickly shift the label game elsewhere.

Personally, IDC. I'm glad the guy is back, and I actually have no problem with an investigation into the circumstances of his capture. The castigation in the RW echo chamber for politcal reasons is what gets my dander up.

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