UPDATED 2X ~ Hagel: I'm 'Offended And Disappointed' By Treatment Of Bergdahl Family
Last edited Wed Jun 11, 2014, 01:10 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: TPM
TOM KLUDT JUNE 11, 2014, 10:47 AM EDT
In his opening statement before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday morning, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel hit back at the critics of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and the POW's family.
Hagel assured the House panel that the Army will conduct a "comprehensive and coordinated" investigation of Bergdahl's capture, which has been the subject of intense scrutiny ever since his release. Many of Bergdahl's former platoon mates have accused him of desertion. Some have argued that the manhunt that followed Bergdahl's 2009 disappearance led to the deaths of fellow soldiers.
Moreover, Bergdahl's father, Bob, has drawn criticism from conservatives who are suspicious of his unruly beard (grown in solidarity during his son's five years in captivity), his ability to speak Pashto and an email wherein he encouraged his son to follow his conscience before the soldier disappeared from his base in Afghanistan.
Hagel admonished those critics on Capitol Hill.
"And I think I need not remind anyone on this committee: like any American, Sgt. Bergdahl has rights," Hagel said.
-snip-
Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/chuck-hagel-offended-bergdahl-family-criticism
Hagel Lashes Out At GOPer For Raising Suspicions About Bergdahl's Health
TOM KLUDT JUNE 11, 2014, 12:07 PM EDT
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel rebuked Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL) on Wednesday after the congressman appeared suspicious of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's medical status.
Miller posed a series of pointed questions about Bergdahl during Hagel's testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. A senior defense official said last week that Bergdahl, who is being held at a U.S. military medical facility in Germany, is too fragile to answer questions about his alleged desertion. That didn't smell quite right to Miller.
"Mr. Secretary, you keep saying we can't get the facts from Sgt. Bergdahl until he gets home," the congressman said. "Have you ever thought about going to Landstuhl and talking to him there?"
"Well, I don't know how much medical training you had, congressman. I haven't had much. And what we're doing is we are allowing the doctors " Hagel said before Miller cut him off.
more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/chuck-hagel-jeff-miller-bergdahl-hearing
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Hagel: 'We Could Have Done Better' On Prisoner Exchange
TOM KLUDT JUNE 11, 2014, 11:12 AM EDT
Although he mounted a spirited defense of the prisoner exchange that secured Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's release, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told members of the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that the administration "could have done better" in its execution of the deal.
In his opening remarks, Hagel told the panel that President Obama made the "final decision" on the prisoner swap, further pushing back on House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon's (R-CA) contention that the White House was making the defense secretary the "fall guy."
"I would never sign any document or make any agreement, agree to any decision that I did not feel was in the best interest of this country," Hagel said. "Nor would the President of the United States, who made the final decision with the full support of his national security team."
Hagel then addressed the swiftness of the decision to go ahead with the swap, telling the committee he recognized the "speed with which we moved has caused great frustration, legitimate questions and concern."
more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/chuck-hagel-could-have-done-better-bergdahl
Zambero
(8,964 posts)Resembling the ones sported by their heroes from Ducks Dynasty?
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)Amonester
(11,541 posts)tea-had-roar-ist districts...
central scrutinizer
(11,648 posts)He should be ignorant and god-damned proud of it!
[link:|
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)K&R
[center][/center]
24601
(3,962 posts)leader in executions.
"China executed more people than any other country last year. Although Chinese authorities treat official execution statistics as a state secret, Amnesty International estimates thousands are killed under the death penalty every year, more than the rest of the world combined."
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/27/world/amnesty-international-death-penalty/
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)Botany
(70,504 posts)madashelltoo
(1,698 posts)Are intentionally emotionally inflammatory. Will we send soldiers to re-capture the five we traded for his release? Of course we would if they did something that warranted it? Just dumb. If they had notified them they would have told it to the first camera they found. These people make me sick.
kelliekat44
(7,759 posts)jmowreader
(50,557 posts)Does anyone really think the Taliban wouldn't have beheaded the sergeant if the deal leaked? Just to save face with the rank and file in the Taliban movement they would have had to do it.
As you may have already guessed, if we'd have received our guy back in two pieces it would have been Obama's fault.
JEB
(4,748 posts)Diclotican
(5,095 posts)DonViejo
Wel - If I ever was to visit the US, I better keep myself clean shaved at all time - as I have what would constitute a real unruly beard if I let it grow to a point where it kind of live a life on it own - and I often let the beard grow when I am on Holiday - sometimes it is really pain in the famous end - to have to shave 2 times a day to keep it clean shaved...
Diclotican
reflection
(6,286 posts)When I want to shave, I just put some milk on my lip and play with my cat.
valerief
(53,235 posts)Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)colleagues, "The honorable (so and so)," then I might make the distinction. Because those Republicans are NOT honorable.
Autumn
(45,082 posts)you have a way with words. I admire that. 'worse than syphilis' Congress
valerief
(53,235 posts)Hekate
(90,683 posts)riverwalker
(8,694 posts)(actual quotes of those accusing him of desertion as supporting their story)
When he first got to the unit, he was the leaderships pet. He read the Ranger Handbook like no other. Some people resented him for it. Bowe kept to himself, doing physical training on his own. He never hung out with anyone, always in the background, never wanted to be in front of anything, He surrounded himself with piles of books, including Three Cups of Tea, about a humanitarian crusade to educate girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as instructions on Zen meditation and an introductory ethics handbook with writings from Aristotle, Augustine, Kant and Hume..
Sergeant Bergdahl was viewed as standoffish or eccentric, smoking a pipe instead of spitting tobacco, as so many soldiers do, and reading voraciously when others napped or watched videos.
He was a good soldier, and whenever he was told to do something, he would do it.
Sergeant Bergdahl was cagey, never telling anyone his full personal story, sharing a snippet with one soldier, another snippet with someone else.
Sergeant Bergdahl showed more interest in humanitarian activities, like passing out food or medical supplies to Afghan villagers or helping Afghan soldiers repair their buildings, and seemed disappointed that the Army was not more like a kind of Peace Corps.
Bergdahl "always looked at the mountains in the distance and talked of 'seeing what's on the other side.' "
"bookish and filled with romantic notions that some found odd.... Other platoon members said that Sergeant Bergdahl wrote Jason Bournetype novels
"he wouldn't drink beer or eat barbecue and hang out with the other 20-year-olds. He was always in his bunk. He ordered Rosetta Stone for all the languages there, learning Dari and Arabic and Pashto.
He had sent all his belongings home his computer, personal items, said Mr. Full, now 25. He said Sergeant Bergdahl used to gaze at the mountains around them and say he wondered if he could get to China from there
Several soldiers in Bergdahls unit told investigators that Bergdahl talked about his desire to leave the base unaccompanied and that he may have done so and returned unharmed at least once before the night he disappeared for good, the official said
Cornelison described Bergdahl as being super quiet, the type of guy who really kept to himself and didnt interact with the other guys in the platoon. Bergdahl liked to read and write and always carried a notebook around with him, in which he would scribble during the day. However, Cornelison said he saw no warning signs that Bergdahl was going to desert his post. He did mail some of his things home, but so did the other soldiers, such as books they finished reading or other odds and ends that they no longer needed to lug around Afghanistan.
Cody also points out that Bergdahl never wore deodorant, rarely showered, did not own a phone
Leatherman told CNN that Bergdahl "always looked at the mountains in the distance and talked of 'seeing what's on the other side.' "
The Second Stone
(2,900 posts)so that is what they are getting.
An old Army adage dating back to the Revolutionary War.
trumad
(41,692 posts)Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)Botany
(70,504 posts)Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL) on Monday cited the extinction of the dinosaurs as proof that man-made global warming was a hoax.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/09/gop-rep-global-warming-is-a-hoax-because-dinosaurs-went-extinct-without-car-pollution/
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)to have a rage stroke.
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)barbtries
(28,794 posts)i liked the clip though. hagel showed him up for the scumbag asshat he is.
stillcool
(32,626 posts)not to hate them...every time they get some ink/open their mouth.. which is way too often.