It’s Wednesday, June 3rd, 2014…and here’s The Gouge!
First up, Hope ‘n Change‘s take on what is truly…
Another Big Effing Deal
As the storm surrounding the VA medical scandal continues to build, Barack Obama is suddenly very, very interested in pretending that he cares about our military personnel. Which is why he’s recently made two highly-publicized efforts to demonstrate his compassion…both of which are complete disasters.
He began with a “surprise” visit to our service people in Afghanistan. Which would have been nice if he hadn’t spoiled the surprise by having his press people send out a PR release which accidentally (?) outed our top CIA operative in Afghanistan.
Undaunted, Barry then secretly negotiated an an entirely illegal deal to release five top Taliban terrorists from Guantanamo Bay (including one with direct ties to Osama bin Laden) in order to secure the return of one US prisoner of war from Afghanistan, thereby proving “The United States does not ever leave our men and women in uniform behind.”
The deal, however, is more than a little problematic – and not just because it required Congressional approval which B. Hussein dismissed with a wave of his imperial pen and sets a rather nasty precedent for negotiating with terrorists to free other terrorists.
Because the POW, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, may actually have been a military deserter at the time he was captured (or conscripted) – and at the very least, was a man who held a singularly low opinion of the United States even before his alleged capture. According to Bergdahl, our nation is “the most conceited country in the world” and “I am ashamed to be an American. And the title of US soldier is just the lie of fools. I am sorry for everything. The horror that is America is disgusting.”
Sentiments which, of course, match those of his commander in chief – the Great Liberator of Guantanamo Bay.
In a related item, the WSJ‘s Bret Stephens details what he deems…
The Bergdahl Dishonor
The sergeant should request that every file about him be published.
Take a good look at the six brave soldiers who gave their lives to save the polar opposite of Private Ryan
I spoke Monday with a highly decorated former Special Forces operator and asked what he thought about Bowe Bergdahl, the Army sergeant who was released over the weekend after five years of Taliban captivity in exchange for five hard cases out of Gitmo.
The former operator suggested a firing squad might be appropriate.
His view is widely shared in the community of warriors who risked—and, in at least six cases, lost—their lives searching for a soldier who wrote his parents that “the horror that is america is disgusting” before vanishing from his post in Afghanistan in 2009.
Whether Sgt. Bergdahl was taken by the enemy, deserted the Army or defected to the Taliban remains to be established. But just to be clear where the former operator is coming from, Article 85 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice states: “Any person found guilty of desertion or attempt to desert shall be punished, if the offense is committed in time of war, by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.”
But wait: We are not “in time of war.” We are in Time of Obama.
In Time of Obama, dereliction of duty is heroism, releasing mass murderers with American blood on their hands is a good way to start a peace process, negotiating with terrorists is not negotiating with terrorists, and exchanging senior Taliban commanders for a lone American soldier is not an incentive to take other Americans hostage but rather proof that America brings its people home.
In Time of Obama, we may get the facts about the circumstances of Sgt. Bergdahl’s disappearance and captivity. But first his parents are going to get an invitation to the White House so Mr. Obama can milk the occasion for his own political purposes. First Sgt. Bergdahl will be welcomed home by Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Who should be facing his own firing squad!). First “senior defense officials” are going to prejudge a potential verdict by a military court because, as one such official averred, “five years is enough.”
In Time of Obama it has become impossible to credit claims by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and National Security Adviser Susan Rice that a prisoner exchange had to be made because Sgt. Bergdahl was in dangerously declining health. This assertion was instantly contradicted by eyewitness accounts that the sergeant was “in good condition” when he was released by his captors. “Freed U.S. soldier Bowe Berghdal developed a love for Afghan green tea, taught his captors badminton, and even celebrated Christmas and Easter with the hardline Islamists,” the AFP reported Sunday, citing a Pakistani militant commander.
In Time of Obama, the testimony of the Pakistani militants regarding Sgt. Bergdahl’s health is at least as credible as anything Susan Rice has to say, on any subject, on any Sunday talk show.
At a minimum, Americans should demand precise answers from the administration about the circumstances of Sgt. Bergdahl’s capture before he’s given a hero’s welcome. At a minimum, Americans also deserve to know the precise costs we have incurred before congratulating the administration for obtaining his release.
But in Time of Obama, that’s not what Americans are going to get.
“Frankly, we don’t give a sh—why he left,” the late journalist Michael Hastings quoted one White House official on the subject of Sgt. Bergdahl’s potential desertion in a June 2012 story in Rolling Stone. “He’s an American soldier. We want to bring him home.” I understand the second sentiment, and understand also that there’s a powerful moral case to be made for the redeeming of captives, which the Jewish philosopher Maimonides said was one of the greatest mitzvahs.
I have trouble, however, understanding the first sentiment.
Actually, I do understand it. I understand how a presidency with such a faint sense of American honor would not much care—or “give a sh—” in its own blunt phrase—whether the captive for whom America gave so much had or had not worn his uniform with honor.
Honor is a difficult concept, particularly for modern-day progressives. It is archaic, elusive, unquantifiable, profoundly personal, stubborn, indifferent to public opinion, beyond the grasp of economic incentives, social norms and government coercion. Taken to an extreme it can be wicked—think of honor killings in Muslim communities. But people who lack a sense of honor are people who easily crumble. That’s true of nations, too. Think of France in 1940.
Sgt. Bergdahl is now free, and life and liberty both being precious, perhaps that’s a good thing. Whether he is free with his conscience clear and his honor intact is another question; if he cares about either, he should request the publication of every government file regarding his capture and detention.
We’ll see. In the meantime, think of what it says about the administration’s concept of honor that it considers Sgt. Bergdahl’s release a point for political boasting. Consider what that says to enemies who, say what you will about them, care about honor, and suspect we have none.
And lest we forget the nature of the creatures The Dear Misleader has just loosed on the world, Marc Thiessen, writing at the WaPo via AEI, reminds us:
“If anyone doubts that the five senior Taliban leaders President Obama released this weekend will return to the fight and kill more Americans, they need only look at what happened when the George W. Bush administration released a Taliban leader named Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir (a.k.a.Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul) in 2007.
Unlike the terrorists Obama just set free, Zakir was assessed by our military as only “medium risk” of returning to the fight. At Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Zakir pretended to be a low-ranking conscript and told officials he simply wanted to “go back home and join my family” and promised “I [have] never been America’s enemy and I never intend to be.”
But when he returned to Afghanistan, he quickly became one of America’s fiercest enemies, directly responsible for the deaths of U.S., coalition and Afghan forces. In 2009, Zakir was appointed as the Taliban’s “surge commander” in charge of countering Obama’s new strategy to deny the Taliban safe haven in southern Afghanistan. According to the Times of London, Zakir instituted a campaign of “increasingly sophisticated [roadside] explosives attacks” that killed British and U.S. forces as well as many Afghan civilians. He waged relentless war on the United States and presided over unspeakable atrocities before stepping down from military command in April. To this day, he remains a top member of the Taliban leadership council.
The five Taliban leaders Obama released will now take up where Zakir left off. According to our own military, they are all “high risk” to return to the fight. How dangerous are these men? Here is what the U.S. military says about them, according to their leaked assessments from Guantanamo Bay…”
Unacceptably dangerous; but only to ordinary Americans, particularly overseas, be they troops, tourists or expatriates. They pose no danger whatsoever to the First Marxists, the Pentagon Brass or any other of the Progressive pustules who made their release possible…though we wish it were the opposite.
This reminds us of the curious case of one Major Jill Metzger, as detailed in MilitaryCorruption.com:
The formerly-missing Ms. Metzger was quietly recalled to active duty, though not in a security-sensitive slot. The Military covered-up the true circumstances of her…”disappearance”…just as they will attempt to do with Bergdahl’s.
From everything we’ve been able to learn, we’re in line with the recommendation of the “former operator” quoted by Bret Stephens above: Bergdahl should be facing a firing squad. And Susan Rice, Chuck Hagel, Martin Dempsey and Bowe’s Commander-in-Chief should be standing right beside him when it happens.
Since we’re on the subject of patent Progressive prevarication, here’s the latest whopper from the organization dedicated to the unrestricted slaughter of the unborn, almost born and/or recently born:
Planned Parenthood Points to BIBLE to Justify Abortions
If there are levels to Hell…!!!
Speaking of lies and other high crimes and misdemeanors, courtesy of George Lawlor, the Weekly Standard offers an update on…
“One of the ironies of the Affordable Care Act is that many of the governors who zealously supported the bill failed spectacularly in its implementation. Oregon, Maryland, and Minnesota are among the most prominent failures. The Massachusetts exchange, the primary inspiration for the ACA exchanges, collapsed entirely, and state officials lack a plan for fixing it in time for this fall’s enrollments…”
And complete, utter and absolute failures at that!
On the Lighter Side…
Finally, this photo from Jim Gleaves demonstrates why some become firemen rather than rocket surgeons:
Magoo
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