2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumSlate's Fred Kaplan: The Bergdahl Deal Could Be the Start of Something Big
America negotiates with terrorists. These were not terrorists. And this could be the start of something big.
By Fred Kaplan
The news channels are blaring two misconceptions about the recovery of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who had been held captive by the Taliban for five years until this past weekend, when he was traded for five Guantánamo Bay detainees.
First, contrary to claims by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers and others, the Obama administration did not negotiate with terrorists to get Bergdahl back.
But, second, contrary to messages conveyed by President Obama and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, this is not an occasion for unblemished celebration.
The first point is politically important. Many columnists and congressmen make a big point that America doesnt negotiate with terrorists. Well, sometimes America does, but the key thing here is that the Taliban delegates, with whom U.S. officials have been negotiating in Qatar over the fate of Sgt. Bergdahl, are not terrorists. They represent a political faction and a military force in Afghanistan; they are combatants in a war that the United States is fighting. In other words, Bergdahl was not a hostage (another erroneous term uttered by Rogers). He was a prisoner of war, and what happened on May 31 was an exchange of POWs.
The Bergdahl deal may serve as a prelude to a wider set of talks with the Taliban.
more
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/06/bowe_bergdahl_and_negotiating_with_the_taliban_why_the_deal_to_free_this.html
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)PatrynXX
(5,668 posts)too bad the media doesn't. bout as stupid as what Bush did with the Iraqi Police in 2003. Fired them all. Well we lost the war from then on. So the Iraqi Police had no other job so they went to whoever payed them.
Taliban has some rogue fighters called Al Qaeda , those are terrorists and yes this was a prisoner exchange. can't remember how John McCain got out although I've been told he was leaking intel and thats why they had to get him out..
frylock
(34,825 posts)kidnapped, as if they were snatched off the playground see-saw.
former9thward
(31,970 posts)McCain was released at the end of U.S. participation in the Vietnam War -- just like every other POW. No one had to "get him out". The War ended. Read some history sometime.
Hekate
(90,633 posts).... Obama is going to empty it. Just watch.
Rachel's piece about how the final bits went down with Qatar during the graduation ceremonies at West Point was priceless, afaic.
former9thward
(31,970 posts)The Army never listed him as a POW. In 2010 they investigated and concluded he had deserted.
SunSeeker
(51,550 posts)The term deserted has very explicit legal meaning, and I imagine requires a trial before it can be asserted as fact.
What is very clear is that the Army was on notice that this kid was losing it well before he disappeared. And yet they did nothing.
His fellow soldiers noted he would stare at the mountains and talk about going to China; he sent his personal effects home:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/us/us-soldier-srgt-bowe-bergdahl-of-idaho-pow-vanished-angered-his-unit.html?_r=0
Indeed, there were tons of hints he would do this:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/13-things-you-need-to-know-about-bowe-bergdahl-20140602
But most important, the morning he left, he asked his team leader an incredibly telling question:
Yes, his team leader responded if you took your rifle and night-vision goggles, that would cause problems.
Bowe returned to his barracks, a roughly built bunker of plywood and sandbags. He gathered up water, a knife, his digital camera and his diary. Then he slipped off the outpost.
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/americas-last-prisoner-of-war-20120607page=4#ixzz33bXXWsEZ
The talking heads make much of the fact that Bergdahl left his rifle/equipment behind when he left the base, as if that proves he intended to join the enemy. But as the above exchange demonstrates, he was just complying with what his team leader said about not taking his sensitive equipment--rifle and night-vision goggles--if he were to leave the base, so as not to create "problems" for his team.
former9thward
(31,970 posts)The Army can't have psychologists and social workers assigned to everyone. A lot of young people in the military "act weird". When I was in the Air Force they were all over. So what. For the most part they made it through.
This is the link to him never being a POW. http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/06/03/bergdahl-never-listed-by-pentagon-as-prisoner-of-war/
He may not have been listed as a legal deserter but he certainly was AWOL.
SunSeeker
(51,550 posts)It doesn't take a shrink to figure that one out. It is not a "hand holding" situation but a security issue. Even if you don't give a shit if this guy wanders off, how about the guys who have to search for him?
And of course he was not officially a prisoner of war. We did not declare war in Afghanistan. I did not challenge that. I challenged your loaded use of the term deserter. You seem to acknowledge he was never found to be a deserter. Are you now saying he was declared AWOL?
former9thward
(31,970 posts)He was not a deserter because they could not do legal proceedings against him when he was not there. This will proceed soon enough although the Army may sweep it under the rug because they don't want bad PR.
flpoljunkie
(26,184 posts)Its true that Bergdahl was never officially categorized as a prisoner of war, since the Pentagon apparently stopped using that designation years ago. But he was defined as missing/captured, which is essentially the same thing. And while the Taliban fighters who were released were likewise not formally designated prisoners of war, either, because of the odd, formally undeclared status of the war with Afghanistan, thats what they were. As President Obama said Tuesday morning, This is what happens at the end of wars. Imagine the outrage if the president brought the troops home from Afghanistan but left Bergdahl behind.
http://www.salon.com/2014/06/03/the_rights_unhinged_bergdahl_hypocrisy_the_ultimate_way_to_savage_obama/
former9thward
(31,970 posts)This is not the "end of wars".
flpoljunkie
(26,184 posts)All troops will be out at the end of 2016. Troops will be reduced to 9800 at the end of 2014. That said, many would agree the surge in Afghanistan was a mistake. Count me among them.
abakan
(1,819 posts)Finally somebody who makes sense..I only hope the guys with the torches and pitchforks pay attention..
Cha
(297,119 posts)libodem
(19,288 posts). [img][/img]