Obama's Enduring Freedom 'Poster Child'
By Mark Alexander
Bergdahl
This weekend, Barack Hussein Obama announced that he traded five of the most heinous Taliban terrorists for the return of an American soldier, Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who has been held (or as many military forward operators say, "hosted") by a Taliban affiliate group for five years. This is yet another Obama political charade, this time to divert attention from his colossal VA health services scandal and his highly politicized Memorial Day and West Point commencement remarks, which were panned from Left to Right.
Obama not only violated U.S. law regarding Gitmo prisoner exchanges, but more importantly, he set a very dangerous precedent and has greatly increased the value of kidnapped Americans, both military and civilian, for Islamist groups. Additionally, he spit on the graves of those who gave their lives to capture these terrorists, and those who died attempting to find Bergdahl after he walked off post in 2009 and was captured by the Taliban.
In a joint statement, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. McKeon (R-CA) and the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, James M. Inhofe (OK), said, "Trading five senior Taliban leaders from detention in Guantanamo Bay for Bergdahl's release may have consequences for the rest of our forces and all Americans. Our terrorist adversaries now have a strong incentive to capture Americans. That incentive will put our forces in Afghanistan and around the world at even greater risk."
The five Taliban terrorists are Mullah Mohammad Fazl (Taliban army chief of staff), Mullah Norullah Noori (senior Taliban military commander), Abdul Haq Wasiq (Taliban deputy minister of intelligence), Khairullah Khairkhwa (Taliban governor of the Herat province and former interior minister) and Mohammed Nabi (senior Taliban figure and security official). They were profiled in detail by The Weekly Standard.
And what did we get in return?
Bowe Bergdahl, son of Idaho flower children Bob and Jani Bergdahl, who excelled in ballet classes at the Sun Valley Ballet School, obtained his GED, and enlisted in the Army for reasons that clearly were not associated with his "patriotic love of country."
The mainstream media reports on Bergdahl read mostly like this assessment from the editors of The Wall Street Journal: "The return of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl from the clutches of the Taliban is cause for relief for his family and all Americans." That is a fair assessment on the first count, but in the opinion of most who knew Bergdahl and the circumstances in Afghanistan, the "relief" is so that he can now be tried as a deserter, an enemy sympathizer, and, some say, a traitor.
Rather than offer armchair analysis on Bergdahl, we defer to communications we received this morning from Army Rangers -- forward operators in Afghanistan.
"Bergdahl was in my company -- Blackfoot Company, 2nd Platoon, 1-501st Airborne infantry regiment. He deserted our unit while we were in Afghanistan -- walked right off the OP. I had two close friends killed in action while looking for this piece of s--t. We endured the deployments and the ops, embraced the suck and served honorably -- but this POS was not one of us. It is a soldier's duty to survive, evade, resist and escape (SERE), and to give the enemy hell while you're in captivity. Bergdahl was compliant with the enemy. And now word is that Obama has ordered up a promotion to Staff Sergeant. He deserted his brothers, his country and now he is now being rewarded for it? Some suggest he is just a deserter, but in fact, he is a traitor. He is no hero. I have known genuine heroes and to suggest he is among them is outrageous. Let me repeat: HE IS NO HERO!"
And on the matter of exchanging terrorists for this "POS," another writes, "The blood on these terrorists' hands, and the countless man hours of intel, surveillance and costly fighting that went into their capture negates any justification for this exchange. And releasing enemy combatants effectively negates our purpose for fighting, and is horribly demoralizing. Releasing enemies of the United States in exchange for a deserter? This band of ruthless thugs just negotiated a strategic defeat of the United States without any cost."
Additionally, Col. Allen West (USA, Ret.), no stranger to Army combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, echoes these concerns about Bergdahl's status, noting, "It's not the modus operandi for Islamic terrorists to detain American troops when captured."
For his part, on June 27, 2009, in his last email to his family prior to deserting his post, according to published reports, Bergdahl wrote, "The future is too good to waste on lies. And life is way too short to care for the damnation of others, as well as to spend it helping fools with their ideas that are wrong. I have seen their ideas and I am ashamed to even be american [sic]. The horror of the self-righteous arrogance that they thrive in. It is all revolting. ... I am ashamed to be an american [sic]. And the title of US soldier is just the lie of fools... I am sorry for everything here. The horror that is america [sic] is disgusting..."
Three days later, Berdahl went missing under the cover of darkness.
Reading that final communication from Bergdahl, arguably it could have been scripted by Obama himself.
This is not a case of a POW with "Stockholm Syndrome." It is, at best, a case of desertion.
At a press conference announcing the exchange, Obama said, "Sergeant Bergdahl has missed birthdays and holidays and the simple moments with family and friends which all of us take for granted."
So have the Americans who lost their lives in operations to recover Bergdahl.
To Bergdahl's parents, Obama said, "Today, families across America share in the joy that I know you feel."
Well this American, for one, is taking no stock in Obama's diversionary charade to make Bergdahl the poster child for Operation Enduring Freedom and what is left of our campaign to thwart jihadi terrorists.
'O' had to have something to take the heat off the VA scandal, it's working for now
but it's not working as good as 'O hoped for..........
By Mark Alexander
Bergdahl
This weekend, Barack Hussein Obama announced that he traded five of the most heinous Taliban terrorists for the return of an American soldier, Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who has been held (or as many military forward operators say, "hosted") by a Taliban affiliate group for five years. This is yet another Obama political charade, this time to divert attention from his colossal VA health services scandal and his highly politicized Memorial Day and West Point commencement remarks, which were panned from Left to Right.
Obama not only violated U.S. law regarding Gitmo prisoner exchanges, but more importantly, he set a very dangerous precedent and has greatly increased the value of kidnapped Americans, both military and civilian, for Islamist groups. Additionally, he spit on the graves of those who gave their lives to capture these terrorists, and those who died attempting to find Bergdahl after he walked off post in 2009 and was captured by the Taliban.
In a joint statement, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. McKeon (R-CA) and the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, James M. Inhofe (OK), said, "Trading five senior Taliban leaders from detention in Guantanamo Bay for Bergdahl's release may have consequences for the rest of our forces and all Americans. Our terrorist adversaries now have a strong incentive to capture Americans. That incentive will put our forces in Afghanistan and around the world at even greater risk."
The five Taliban terrorists are Mullah Mohammad Fazl (Taliban army chief of staff), Mullah Norullah Noori (senior Taliban military commander), Abdul Haq Wasiq (Taliban deputy minister of intelligence), Khairullah Khairkhwa (Taliban governor of the Herat province and former interior minister) and Mohammed Nabi (senior Taliban figure and security official). They were profiled in detail by The Weekly Standard.
And what did we get in return?
Bowe Bergdahl, son of Idaho flower children Bob and Jani Bergdahl, who excelled in ballet classes at the Sun Valley Ballet School, obtained his GED, and enlisted in the Army for reasons that clearly were not associated with his "patriotic love of country."
The mainstream media reports on Bergdahl read mostly like this assessment from the editors of The Wall Street Journal: "The return of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl from the clutches of the Taliban is cause for relief for his family and all Americans." That is a fair assessment on the first count, but in the opinion of most who knew Bergdahl and the circumstances in Afghanistan, the "relief" is so that he can now be tried as a deserter, an enemy sympathizer, and, some say, a traitor.
Rather than offer armchair analysis on Bergdahl, we defer to communications we received this morning from Army Rangers -- forward operators in Afghanistan.
"Bergdahl was in my company -- Blackfoot Company, 2nd Platoon, 1-501st Airborne infantry regiment. He deserted our unit while we were in Afghanistan -- walked right off the OP. I had two close friends killed in action while looking for this piece of s--t. We endured the deployments and the ops, embraced the suck and served honorably -- but this POS was not one of us. It is a soldier's duty to survive, evade, resist and escape (SERE), and to give the enemy hell while you're in captivity. Bergdahl was compliant with the enemy. And now word is that Obama has ordered up a promotion to Staff Sergeant. He deserted his brothers, his country and now he is now being rewarded for it? Some suggest he is just a deserter, but in fact, he is a traitor. He is no hero. I have known genuine heroes and to suggest he is among them is outrageous. Let me repeat: HE IS NO HERO!"
And on the matter of exchanging terrorists for this "POS," another writes, "The blood on these terrorists' hands, and the countless man hours of intel, surveillance and costly fighting that went into their capture negates any justification for this exchange. And releasing enemy combatants effectively negates our purpose for fighting, and is horribly demoralizing. Releasing enemies of the United States in exchange for a deserter? This band of ruthless thugs just negotiated a strategic defeat of the United States without any cost."
Additionally, Col. Allen West (USA, Ret.), no stranger to Army combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, echoes these concerns about Bergdahl's status, noting, "It's not the modus operandi for Islamic terrorists to detain American troops when captured."
For his part, on June 27, 2009, in his last email to his family prior to deserting his post, according to published reports, Bergdahl wrote, "The future is too good to waste on lies. And life is way too short to care for the damnation of others, as well as to spend it helping fools with their ideas that are wrong. I have seen their ideas and I am ashamed to even be american [sic]. The horror of the self-righteous arrogance that they thrive in. It is all revolting. ... I am ashamed to be an american [sic]. And the title of US soldier is just the lie of fools... I am sorry for everything here. The horror that is america [sic] is disgusting..."
Three days later, Berdahl went missing under the cover of darkness.
Reading that final communication from Bergdahl, arguably it could have been scripted by Obama himself.
This is not a case of a POW with "Stockholm Syndrome." It is, at best, a case of desertion.
At a press conference announcing the exchange, Obama said, "Sergeant Bergdahl has missed birthdays and holidays and the simple moments with family and friends which all of us take for granted."
So have the Americans who lost their lives in operations to recover Bergdahl.
To Bergdahl's parents, Obama said, "Today, families across America share in the joy that I know you feel."
Well this American, for one, is taking no stock in Obama's diversionary charade to make Bergdahl the poster child for Operation Enduring Freedom and what is left of our campaign to thwart jihadi terrorists.
'O' had to have something to take the heat off the VA scandal, it's working for now
but it's not working as good as 'O hoped for..........
