Honor, Distinction...and Desertion
Topic: Politics & Elections
Even for the pratfall-and gaffe-prone Obama Administration, the lies, confusion and incompetence surrounding the prisoner swap that returned Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl to US custody was breathtaking.
It was obvious from Obama’s demeanor during his Rose Garden appearance with Bergdahl’s parents that he expected praise for closing the deal that brought home an American soldier captured in Afghanistan in exchange for five high-level Taliban leaders imprisoned at Gitmo. But the President surely knew that Bergdahl was no hero, having very likely deserted his post and given himself up to the Taliban after growing disillusioned with the Army and America. Surely he knew that Bergdahl may even have collaborated with the enemy. Surely he knew that Bergdahl father was a Taliban sympathizer. And knowing all that, he must have realized that the dog-and-pony show in the Rose Garden was, essentially, a cover-up—and a poorly engineered one at that.
That Bergdahl’s actions were, to put it at the lowest, questionable is not some new revelation. From the day of his disappearance stories that he deserted to the Taliban have been circulating. The Army tried to silence these whispers by ordering the soldiers who served with Bergdahl to keep their mouths shut, even making them sign non-disclosure agreements. But now that he’s back in US hands, they’re speaking out. And to a man, they say that Bowe Bergdahl is a deserter who must be held accountable for his actions.
So why was Susan Rice (of Benghazi infamy) permitted to go on a Sunday talk show and declare that Bergdahl had served with “honor and distinction”? Of all the people who could have been tapped to defend the Administration’s, she was the worst possible choice. Then there was Propaganda Barbie—State Department spokesperson Marie Harf—saying essentially that the soldiers who served with Bergdahl don’t know what they’re talking about.
But if Bergdahl was a deserter, how can his exchange for five of the most senior and bloody-minded Taliban leaders in US hands possibly be justified? Congress—many Democrats included—are angry about the Administration’s high-handed actions, which appear to have violated a law requiring prior notification to Congress before Gitmo detainees are released. Veterans and serving soldiers of all ranks are furious with the President and his people. In short, the prisoner swap that brought Bergdahl home is a policy and public-relations disaster for the Obama Administration.
And this debacle can be pinned on Barack Obama personally: the product of his arrogance, disdain for the press and contempt for the American people. Certainly he believed that his fellow Democrats would carry his water one more time. Undoubtedly he believed that the servile mainstream media would run interference for him as they have so often before. Clearly he believed that the optics—triumphant Rose Garden announcement, beaming parents, hometown euphoria—would beguile the credulous American people and smother the unlovely truth. Wrong on all counts, Mr. President.
Well, at least Bergdahl knocked the VA scandal off the front page…kind of like treating cancer by shooting yourself in the head…
Posted by tmg110
at 10:04 AM EDT