American POW freed

[normiss 798]

"An Army fact-finding investigation conducted in the months after his disappearance concluded that Bergdahl left his outpost deliberately and on his own free will, according to a U.S. military official briefed on the report. The official spoke to CNN Tuesday on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the information."

He walked

[Channman 2]

billvon

>The Obama administration fell on its ass and screwed the pooch big time on this one.

They should have let him remain captive. All the right wingers would have surely supported abandoning a US soldier to the enemy and given kudos to Obama for that.

Bill, lets not forget, he went over the wall...under the wire on his own free well. He left a note on his bunk that he was leaving. Radio chatter was intercepted that a young American man was looking for someone who could speak English and that he was wanting to talk to the Taliban.

Several afgan children had reported to an American patrol that was out looking for him that he was seen crawling in the brush & grass and asked for water.

Bergdahl abandoned his POST and his COMRADES, and it is being stated by those brave men that served with him that they lost brother's in arms looking for a soldier that had deserted them while in the battle field.

You can leave the Right Winger statement out of this...not necessary. I understand your somewhat pissed off that your President is under attack for "Acting Stupidly". But to give up 5 men who are responsible for hundreds if not thousands of innocent lives being lost, American and Afghani for a Soldier who deserted and sought out our enemy should be impeach and forced from office in my humble opinion.

[normiss 798]

I could swear I heard the "left note" story was debunked by the military investigators.

[SkyDekker 1,465]

Didn't army fact finding initially say Tillman was killed by enemy fire? Then the army found some other facts.

[normiss 798]

Yea, fair enough.
It's a lot of media circus at this point.

[DanG 1]

Quote

But to give up 5 men who are responsible for hundreds if not thousands of innocent lives being lost, American and Afghan...

Very much in doubt.

I'm not saying the guys were saints, but I don't believe any of them were directly tied to 9/11.

- Dan G

[SkyDekker 1,465]

normiss

Yea, fair enough.
It's a lot of media circus at this point.

I agree....the story certainly doesn't appear to be straight forward, but hard to know what is truth and what is fiction at this point.

[Amazon 7]

propblast

Any and all citizens should be recovered and expect for the government to do so.

masterrig

http://home.myhughesnet.com/news/read/article/the_associated_press-ap_exclusive_videos_of_couple_held_in_afghanistan-ap


These folks too?

Chuck

Yes Chuck.. even those dumbasses who go to a war zone to go backpacking
(The whole WTF were you thinking certainly applies though)

Edited to fix Chucks excellent attempt at markup

[masterrig 1]

Amazon

***Any and all citizens should be recovered and expect for the government to do so.

masterrig

http://home.myhughesnet.com/news/read/article/the_associated_press-ap_exclusive_videos_of_couple_held_in_afghanistan-ap


These folks too?

Chuck

Yes Chuck.. even those dumbasses who go to a war zone to go backpacking
(The whole WTF were you thinking certainly applies though)

Edited to fix Chucks excellent attempt at markup




Chuck

[jclalor 12]

Terrorism and politics are a bit hard to define in that part of the world. The US did not capture any of the five Taliban that we released, they were either captured by the Northern alliance or by Pakistan. I don't think any were tied to 911, if they were, there's no way we would have not heard anything about it. They were bad people, responsible perhaps for the deaths of thousands of Afghanis prior to 911, living under Taliban rule. I think that if they ever do anything remotely threatening to us, they'll get a Hellfire missile on the top of their head.

You can argue about the merits of the trade all day long. Arguing about the wisdom of a President taking a victory lap at the Wh with this guys parents is a whole other question. There would have been plenty of time for a WH reception after a military investigation into the circumstances of his capture.

It will be interesting to see what his poll numbers are with active duty and veterans after this.

http://www.stripes.com/news/us/files-describe-the-5-taliban-commanders-traded-for-bergdahl-1.286768

[Channman 2]

DanG

Quote

But to give up 5 men who are responsible for hundreds if not thousands of innocent lives being lost, American and Afghan...

Very much in doubt.

I'm not saying the guys were saints, but I don't believe any of them were directly tied to 9/11.

I don't believe they were involved or should I say no info if they were involved in 9/11. However they were top operative in the Al-Qaida organization and developed planning, logistic, intel...among others to communicate and execute operations through-out Afghanistan or other locations that resulted in lives lost.

[Amazon 7]

Channman

***

Quote

But to give up 5 men who are responsible for hundreds if not thousands of innocent lives being lost, American and Afghan...

Very much in doubt.

I'm not saying the guys were saints, but I don't believe any of them were directly tied to 9/11.

I don't believe they were involved or should I say no info if they were involved in 9/11. However they were top operative in the Al-Qaida organization and developed planning, logistic, intel...among others to communicate and execute operations through-out Afghanistan or other locations that resulted in lives lost.

Uh No.. They were top level members of the government of Afghanistan pre-911. They are members of the Taliban not AQ. They may have provided a place for Bin Laden and his murderers but they were still the legitimate government of Afghanistan selected by elections.

[Channman 2]

normiss

I could swear I heard the "left note" story was debunked by the military investigators.

I heard that as well, however the NOTE was first learned in an article from the New York Times. The following is intercepted communications from the Taliban.

The next morning, more than 24 hours after Bowe had vanished, U.S. intelligence intercepted a conversation between two Taliban fighters:

"I SWEAR THAT I HAVE NOT HEARD ANYTHING YET. WHAT HAPPENED. IS THAT TRUE THAT THEY CAPTURED AN AMERICAN GUY?"

"YES THEY DID. HE IS ALIVE. THERE IS NO WHERE HE CAN GO (LOL)" "IS HE STILL ALIVE?"

"YES HE IS ALIVE. BUT I DONT HAVE THE WHOLE STORY. DONT KNOW IF THEY WERE FIGHTING. ALL I KNOW IF THEY WERE FIGHTING. ALL I KNOW THAT THEY CAPTURE HIM ALIVE AND THEY ARE WITH HIM RIGHT NOW."

Then another intercept was picked up:

"CUT THE HEAD OFF"

Later that evening, a final intercept confirmed that Bowe had been captured by the Taliban, who were preparing an ambush for the search party.

"WE ARE WAITING FOR THEM."

"LOL THEY KNOW WHERE HE IS BUT THEY KEEP GOING TO WRONG AREA."

"OK SET UP THE WORK FOR THEM."

"YES WE HAVE A LOT OF IED ON THE ROAD."

"GOD WILLING WE WILL DO IT."

"WE WERE ATTACKING THE POST HE WAS SITTING TAKING EXPLETIVE HE HAD NO GUN WITH HIM. HE WAS TAKING EXPLETIVE, HE HAS NOT CLEANED HIS BUTT YET." "WHAT SHAME FOR THEM."

"YES LOOK THEY HAVE ALL AMERICANS, ANA HELICOPTERS THE PLANES ARE LOOKING FOR HIM."

"I THINK HE IS BIG SHOT THAT WHY THEY ARE LOOKING FOR HIM."

A third voice chimed in:

"CAN YOU GUYS MAKE A VIDEO OF HIM AND ANNOUNCE IT ALL OVER AFGHANISTAN THAT WE HAVE ONE OF THE AMERICANS."

"WE ALREADY HAVE A VIDEO OF HIM."

[regulator 0]

RobertMBlevins

*********
Before our friends with ODS get up in arms about Obama's signing statement, they should consider that Obama is a mere piker when compared with Reagan's and G.W.B's use of signing statements.

millercenter.org/blog/obama-administration-signing-statements-evans

So its your opinion that Barry is no better than Reagan or W? The old recess 'he started it' excuse I guess.

No it is an OFT used presidential right.... for a VERY long time. History does matter.. those who do not learn from it... you know the rest.

The Army and the DOD will get to the bottom of all this, you can bet on that.

If the greybeards Obama released (who are compromised anyway by spending 10+years in Gitmo) are dumb enough to return to terrorist activities, the US will know where to find them.

I wouldn't be too hard on the POW, unless it's proven he revealed sensitive info that cost lives. Soldiers in all wars sometimes have crisis of conscience, sometimes get brainwashed, whatever.

And excuse me...but what in the hell are we doing spending thousands of American lives from our all-volunteer force to fight in Afghanistan for more than a decade now? A volunteer force should not be asked to sacrifice their lives in futile foreign wars. Have you seen any Afghanis landing at Coney Island lately? Or even terrorists? Have we not learned the lessons the Russians learned there, or what other countries have learned about Afghanistan for a thousand years?

Quote

***'Hello...(hello)...is there anybody IN there...'

I am completely AGAINST the war. It's as simple as that. If the draft were still in place, such as it was for the Vietnam War, Americans would have demanded an end to the whole thing years ago.

The only people who benefit from these types of actions are the people who provide the bombs and the bullets. This is the 21st century. They got lucky on 9-11, but ever since then the terrorists haven't had much luck. I say we take our chances with home defense and spend more money improving our country, rather than tossing away billions a month on other enterprises.

Who knows maybe the DOD gave them a small tranquilizer and implanted a chip under their skin.

[propblast 0]

jclalor

Terrorism and politics are a bit hard to define in that part of the world. The US did not capture any of the five Taliban that we released, they were either captured by the Northern alliance or by Pakistan. I don't think any were tied to 911, if they were, there's no way we would have not heard anything about it. They were bad people, responsible perhaps for the deaths of thousands of Afghanis prior to 911, living under Taliban rule. I think that if they ever do anything remotely threatening to us, they'll get a Hellfire missile on the top of their head.

You can argue about the merits of the trade all day long. Arguing about the wisdom of a President taking a victory lap at the Wh with this guys parents is a whole other question. There would have been plenty of time for a WH reception after a military investigation into the circumstances of his capture.

It will be interesting to see what his poll numbers are with active duty and veterans after this.

http://www.stripes.com/news/us/files-describe-the-5-taliban-commanders-traded-for-bergdahl-1.286768

Have you noticed that the soldiers involved in his "disappearance" have all resoundingly have come down hard on BB. This incident has reinforced some hard feelings at least in those folk.

I haven't seen one report yet from a member of his unit that said he did anything but walk to the enemy.

Propblast

[wolfriverjoe 1,523]

Amazon

Uh No.. They were top level members of the government of Afghanistan pre-911. They are members of the Taliban not AQ. They may have provided a place for Bin Laden and his murderers but they were still the legitimate government of Afghanistan selected by elections.

The Taliban was never elected as a government. They were in control of a lot of the country, including Kabul. But they took power by force, not popularity.

They were opposed by the Northern Alliance, led by Ahmad Shah Massoud. He and the group he led were the main recipients of US military aid during the Soviet occupation (the Taliban didn't receive any - it didn't exist until the mid-90s).

Massoud was killed by the Taliban on Sept 9 2001, 2 days before the attacks in the US. But he was pretty well defeated by that time. He was good against the Soviets with US aid, but without the aid, going against the Taliban (who were backed pretty heavily by Pakistan and the Saudis) he was in trouble.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[Amazon 7]

propblast

***



Terrorism and politics are a bit hard to define in that part of the world. The US did not capture any of the five Taliban that we released, they were either captured by the Northern alliance or by Pakistan. I don't think any were tied to 911, if they were, there's no way we would have not heard anything about it. They were bad people, responsible perhaps for the deaths of thousands of Afghanis prior to 911, living under Taliban rule. I think that if they ever do anything remotely threatening to us, they'll get a Hellfire missile on the top of their head.

You can argue about the merits of the trade all day long. Arguing about the wisdom of a President taking a victory lap at the Wh with this guys parents is a whole other question. There would have been plenty of time for a WH reception after a military investigation into the circumstances of his capture.

It will be interesting to see what his poll numbers are with active duty and veterans after this.

http://www.stripes.com/news/us/files-describe-the-5-taliban-commanders-traded-for-bergdahl-1.286768

Have you noticed that the soldiers involved in his "disappearance" have all resoundingly have come down hard on BB. This incident has reinforced some hard feelings at least in those folk.

I haven't seen one report yet from a member of his unit that said he did anything but walk to the enemy.

Yeah.. never seen that kind of a reaction to someone who did not fit into a group The kid was brought up and home schooled.. a loner... I would say probably not good with group dynamics.

Upsetting the day to day apple cart tends to upset the status quo. The guy was trying to learn about the Afghani's with things like learning their language. We was probably not into calling them all the usual pet names that some groups have for those indigenous types that American GI's get to go "visit" at the behest of our government.
Not fitting in... yeah.. the greatest sin of all.

[Amazon 7]

wolfriverjoe

***
Uh No.. They were top level members of the government of Afghanistan pre-911. They are members of the Taliban not AQ. They may have provided a place for Bin Laden and his murderers but they were still the legitimate government of Afghanistan selected by elections.

The Taliban was never elected as a government. They were in control of a lot of the country, including Kabul. But they took power by force, not popularity.

They were opposed by the Northern Alliance, led by Ahmad Shah Massoud. He and the group he led were the main recipients of US military aid during the Soviet occupation (the Taliban didn't receive any - it didn't exist until the mid-90s).

Massoud was killed by the Taliban on Sept 9 2001, 2 days before the attacks in the US. But he was pretty well defeated by that time. He was good against the Soviets with US aid, but without the aid, going against the Taliban (who were backed pretty heavily by Pakistan and the Saudis) he was in trouble.

Look up the meaning of Jirga its the closest they came.. its tribal but it still is as political as 1400 year old fundamentalism allowed.

Masooud was killed by AQ... with an exploding news camera during an interview.. to curry favor with the Taliban..

[mirage62 0]

Or perhaps there anger had nothing to do with "home schooling" perhaps they were pissed because he walked off and LEFT THEM?

Naaa the poor picked on kid sounds better for your position.

Kevin Keenan is my hero, a double FUP, he does so much with so little

[Amazon 7]

mirage62

Or perhaps there anger had nothing to do with "home schooling" perhaps they were pissed because he walked off and LEFT THEM?

Naaa the poor picked on kid sounds better for your position.

Just the vibe I got from a couple of interviews I have seen.. in-group out-group dynamics.. pretty blatant.

[jclalor 12]

Just out of idol curiosity; Why is Bergdahl being kept incommunicado? I find it bizarre that his parents have not yet been allowed to speak with him.

[Anvilbrother 0]

Gotta debrief, decompress, and reintroduce. Dude prolly has some sort of stockholme syndrome or he's a traitor take your pick.

Postes r made from an iPad or iPhone. Spelling and gramhair mistakes guaranteed move along,

[propblast 0]

Amazon

***Or perhaps there anger had nothing to do with "home schooling" perhaps they were pissed because he walked off and LEFT THEM?

Naaa the poor picked on kid sounds better for your position.

Just the vibe I got from a couple of interviews I have seen.. in-group out-group dynamics.. pretty blatant.

When you go to the enemy you are in the out group. Expecting anything else is dumb. Sorry to be so blunt.

Propblast

[SkyDekker 1,465]

I read somewhere that he had left base like this before, but returned.

If that is true, that certainly raises some other questions. Would also make deserting harder to prove, since that would include the intentention to not return.

There are just so many unknowns at this point. What is known is that DOD hasn't always been that truthful about "facts", which makes this even harder to assess.

[normiss 798]

Article 93 UCMJ is easy.