Bergdahl Prisoner Swap

[guido911]

Cleaning up loose ends before the end of the year when we have to release these guys for nothing....

That'll go over like a whatever in church.

[guido911]

Todd v. Scarborough:

[heironymouspasparagus]

That'll go over like a whatever in church.

Reality is not a popular commodity, as shown by your 80% numbers before.

So, are you saying no trade should have been made?  

[guido911]

Reality is not a popular commodity, as shown by your 80% numbers before.

So, are you saying no trade should have been made?  

We had to bring our guy back. As for the trade, I am withholding judgment. I certainly am not going to celebrate this as a great national event.

[heironymouspasparagus]

We had to bring our guy back. As for the trade, I am withholding judgment. I certainly am not going to celebrate this as a great national event.

Neither am I.  Not until there is a whole lot more information.


Speaking of information - short detour - all 3 of the major Tulsa stations tout their web sites and streaming video.  Pretty much all 3 worthless tonight to watch what's going on in Talala!  'Bout what I have come to expect....

Channel 6 was streaming a storm chaser and when he got half way cross the dam on Oologah lake, they went to commercials instead of wall cloud forming a funnel.... yeah...real helpful, guys!  2 and 8 were worse....

[Conan71]

 Which side are you supporting here??  The McCain that says it was a bad deal, or the one that said - 3 months ago - that we SHOULD do the deal - in the same article??    Pick one....


As for Congress getting notified - well, they started talking hot and heavy about this with Congress in 2010, and were in direct contact through Dec 2012 - one would have to wonder why that would not be considered notification....?  And way more than 1 month ahead of time.  (Yeah, I know....that would be "off-script" for the RWRE....)

And given the fact that we are very likely to be releasing all the gitmo guys within the next 6 to 12 months - at least if we follow our own law - please give a specific idea of how it would have been better handled...I would really love to hear this!!  Especially given the fact that there would be NO leverage to bargain with after that point, resulting in the situation where all the gitmo's are gone and Bergdahl is still prisoner.

The timeline for full withdrawal from Afghanistan is by the end of 2016 (Gee, why does Obama always pick even years for milestones?).  32,000 troops are at risk of any escalation of violence from the Taliban at this point.  We essentially released five four star generals.  But we know good ol' Qatar will keep them on a very tight leash and keep them from associating with their old pals, right? 

Yet the White House managed to put Bowe Bergdahl's parents next to Obama for the Saturday announcement. They also insisted that the administration had ongoing consultations on the question of trading the five Taliban for Bergdahl. But the two chairs of the intelligence committees – Rep. Mike Rodgers, a Republican, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat – both said the last such consultation took place in 2011, and the overwhelming and bipartisan consensus opposed such a deal.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) later told Fox News that the file on Bergdahl given to the Senate Intelligence Committee when deliberating on this question never included Bergdahl's note nor the testimony of other soldiers about the nature of his disappearance.

Obama asked Americans to accept his own assurances that the five released detainees would pose no threat to the United States. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel joined him in making those assurances and said that the cases had been reviewed thoroughly. The Daily Beast's Eli Lake and Time Magazine separately reported, however, that the review had been rushed through to get the conclusion desired by the White House. Lake's sources in the defense and intelligence communities called this "forcing the consensus," while Time Magazine's source made it even clearer. "There never was the conversation," the official reported. "This was out of the norm."

Related: The Bergdahl Affair Feeds Right Into 2016

While Hagel backed Obama's story, others at the Pentagon strongly disagreed. Fox reporter Jim Angle reported that one source in the military said, "Many at the Pentagon advised the President not to make the trade." Senior officials at the Department of Defense had warned the White House that releasing these five detainees would be "like handing over five 4-star generals of the Taliban." Releasing them now, rather than at the end of US participation in Afghanistan that Obama plans for 2016, puts more than 32,000 Americans in Afghanistan at risk of these high-ranking Taliban commanders' re-entry into the war.

Nothing about Obama's performance in these scandals and debacles should give anyone confidence in his assurances -- not of security, not of competence, not even of being madder than anyone. The polling numbers suggest that Americans have finally reached a point where the incompetence and dishonesty are just too obvious to ignore any longer.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/relentless-incompetence-americans-giving-obama-100000019.html

[heironymouspasparagus]

The timeline for full withdrawal from Afghanistan is by the end of 2016 (Gee, why does Obama always pick even years for milestones?).  32,000 troops are at risk of any escalation of violence from the Taliban at this point.  We essentially released five four star generals.  But we know good ol' Qatar will keep them on a very tight leash and keep them from associating with their old pals, right? 

If you are gonna go with anything Saxby Chambliss has to say, then your credibility is just as shot as his!  This is the draft-dodging maggot who blasted a REAL live American hero (Max Cleland - Silver Star, Bronze Star, etc) who lost 3 limbs in VietNam fighting for Saxby's sorry a$$ by claiming Max was good buddies with Osama Bin Laden - showing pictures meant to associate them together.  Saxby scrambled hard to get his deferments during the time Max was getting blown to hell and back! 

And the whole ad campaign was cooked up with the help of Karl Rove, so that just puts another level of 'lack of credibility' on it.  And the entire state of Georgia went along with this, so it just goes to show you exactly where they are coming from!

[Conan71]

[heironymouspasparagus]

So truly, very sad....

[guido911]

If you are gonna go with anything Saxby Chambliss has to say, then your credibility is just as shot as his!  This is the draft-dodging maggot who blasted a REAL live American hero...

I forgot, which military service were you part of?

edited.

[guido911]

So truly, very sad....

This is.

[heironymouspasparagus]

I forgot, which military service were you part of?

edited.

I registered for the draft and did NOTHING to avoid it, even while going to school...no student deferment - unlike all these RWRE "Patriots" who had Daddy jump through every hoop possible to get their physical deferments (Rush Limbaugh for a non-condition), or student (Saxby and his ilk).


Would Salvation Army service count for you?

[guido911]

I registered for the draft and did NOTHING to avoid it, even while going to school...no student deferment - unlike all these RWRE "Patriots" who had Daddy jump through every hoop possible to get their physical deferments (Rush Limbaugh for a non-condition), or student (Saxby and his ilk).


Would Salvation Army service count for you?

So the answer is, No. You registered for the draft, which when I was eighteen was required by every male. Just saying you probably should back of the "chicken hawk" stuff.

[Ed W]

Wingnuts: Keeping it classy since 2008.

City, state, and federal authorities are investigating death threats emailed to Bob Bergdahl, father of recently released Bowe Bergdahl.

http://www.newsweek.com/bowe-bergdahls-father-gets-death-threats-253902

[guido911]

This whole story is weird.

While he spent five years in captivity after being captured by Afghan insurgents in 2009, Sgt. Bergdahl doesn't yet want to talk to his family on the phone, the official said. Details of Sgt. Bergdahl's captivity were earlier reported by the New York Times.

Sgt. Bergdahl has likely been shielded from most of the backlash his release has generated in the U.S. Some former platoon soldiers have accused him of deserting his post, and lawmakers from both parties have questioned the decision to trade America's lone prisoner of war in Afghanistan for five Taliban officials held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Local authorities canceled a homecoming celebration in his Idaho hometown because of the backlash. The celebration was canceled specifically because of threats made against the family, officials said.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/u-s-official-sgt-bowe-bergdahl-has-declined-to-speak-to-his-family-1402242356?tesla=y&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304315504579612170444661860.html