Well if you walk away from your country I would consider that a revocation of citizenship. I have no problems targeting people who declare war on my country. I don’t get your argument about not wanting Bergdahl held captive.
If he’s standing on a street corner in Pakistan I’d invite him over for a chat regarding desertion. That’s an easy call. Since it appears he voluntarily left for parts unknown I don’t see value in rescuing him. I just don’t. He lied in his own video from his captors. He didn’t lag behind his fellow troops, he left them. So unless he’s some kind of agent on a secret mission then he gave up any expectation of rescue at the expense of the people he abandoned.
I honestly thought that it started as butthurt over TARP, which is still earlier than 2009. Libertarians were pissed about W’s spending like a drunken sailor much earlier, but no one listens to them anyway.
Do you have a link or two showing that the Tea Party was up and running around, say, the Part B Medicare Bill?
We can bicker about the arcane details of this case, but my own personal opinion is:
The sooner we get out of Afghanistan and the sooner we shut down Gitmo, the better. My main regret is that we’re still leaving 10,000 troops over there. If Congress thinks Obama overstepped his bounds wrt the current law, then they can deal with that. If they don’t, then that pretty much says it all.
I don’t really care if this guy was a hero or a traitor. We can work that out later. I just want us OUT OF AFGHANISTAN.
It leaves a bad taste in the mouth but I guess it had to be done. What should not be done however is to ignore the circumstances of this guy’s capture. There should be a thorough investigation and the results should be made public. It’s clear that even if he was derelict in his duty this soldier will not be prosecuted and that’s probably the right decision. But we do need to know what happened.
On another note many reports suggest that Bergdahl has forgotten how to speak English. That sounds totally absurd to me. Either the reports are wrong, Bergdahl is lying or he’s demented.
Totally missing my point. Accusations of desertion are serious, and should be treated seriously, but they have nothing to do with whether we try to get a US soldier back. Critical statements by his fellow soldiers should have nothing to do with whether we try to get him back.
Seriously – do you think that because he was accused of desertion, we should have just said “Taliban, you can keep him”? If so, I’m very, very glad you were not in a position of leadership when I served.
We try to get him back, and then, if warranted, we can try him for desertion.
This is just over the top. No matter the cost? One of our criminal soldiers is worth more than hundred of them? Such thinking puts us in a terrible negotiating position for one thing and reeks a little too much of soldier worship.
Some people (not saying you are among them) take the view that the US should not target it’s own citizens, even going so far as to decry the death of Anwar al-Awlaki even though there was plenty of evidence that he did a lot worse crimes against America than Bowe Bergdahl.
If you make a Venn Diagram of people who feel we shouldn’t have killed Awlaki and people who feel we should have left Bergdahl to rot with his Taliban captors, there is undoubtedly some overlap. And the people who are in that overlap are, in my view, being inconsistent with their views.
Let’s say he was convicted of desertion, escaped custody and was captured by Taliban. Still worth a hundred Taliban to get him back? How about if the ransom demand was withdrawal of all American soldiers overseas? Any cost, right?
I phrased that poorly; of course in this thread we’re talking about a suspected criminal, not a convicted criminal. Yes, to me it’s worth 100 Taliban prisoners to retrieve a suspected criminal, because he may not actually be guilty. If he is in fact guilty, it’s on us to determine that, we don’t outsource our military justice system to the Taliban.
His desertion trial would have been in the US. He would be in Levenworth Kansas. Not much chance that after his escape he would be captured by the Taliban.
I defy anyone to read these statements and reasonably conclude the GOP in general and Senator McCain in particular are not shamelessly exploiting this issue for political gain. That’s why I just don’t take any GOP criticisms of this deal seriously.
:rolleyes: Like one Senator is indicative of the thought patterns of the whole party. Logic FAIL on your part. Not only that, I fail to see the problems with McCain’s statements that you evidently see. Perhaps you could offer more—make that SOME—explanation.