USA Soldier released, but controversy swells

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I'm a bit hesitant to post this, as I don't want to seem critical of the USA. But this is all rather odd. The Government traded inmates from Guantanamo for this bloke, and at first everyone was happy to hear the news, but now some troubling questions are being asked.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/01/us/bergda ... ?hpt=hp_t1

and now this....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... HMENT.html

Last edited by Prof_Pretorius on 02 Jun 2014, 4:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

And while we are on the subject:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/wor ... e18943090/

We can't very well call the Taliban a terrorist organization when we plan to hand them Afghanistan when we're finally tired of being there.

the united states made them big in the 80s by funding and training them too
they are also activly funding al Qaeda in syria

Why can't we? There is a long tradition of revolution or independence emerging from terrorist action, with the victors taking power in their new state.

Irgun in Israel, the Sinn Fein in Eire, the ANC in South Africa... All used terrorism to achieve political ends, and all rose to participate in the political life of those countries.

Correction: Sinn Fein are not all that active in Eire (the Irish Republic), they are however VERY active in Northern Ireland which is still part of the United Kingdom.

The guy should be courts martial when he gets back, 6 soldiers died looking for him when he deserted and he should face the consequences for it. It doesn't seem like a fair deal to me, 5 Taliban leaders for this guy that left on his own. I sympathize with him personally for not believing in his mission but you can't walk away and put your squadmates at risk. Also, what type of precedence does this set? I'm not even opposed to negotiating with the Taliban but this just seems like they're asking for more soldiers to be held ransom. Our 12 going on 13 years in Afghanistan seem like a total waste.

And families of Veterans are very upset about this chap:

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/06/02/2 ... tment.html

Unless he was convicted of desertion in a Court Martial under the Uniform Code of Military Justice you should not call him a deserter. That has to be established by a legal process.

ruveyn

This was just wrong. The guy deserted his duty, was taken alive by the Taliban and traded for 5 High ranking captured Taliban members? --If he deserted his duty, the US should have just let the Taliban have him, and hang onto the Taliban detainees.

An investigation in 2010 determined he left the post on his own but did not go so far as to make charges for desertion.

A new investigation has been ordered by Army Chief of Staff I believe.

There were unusual events like this during the Vietnam War also and looking at those can give some backround on how these have been handled in the past.

Prisoner of War swops have been done for ages and is not what bothers me really about this. It is that he may have been a deserter and the loss of six soldiers in efforts to locate him gives this story a rare intensity. But I want to know the whole story.

Heart breaking article about the mother of one of the soldiers who died looking for this bloke.

http://www.militarytimes.com/article/20 ... on-s-life-

Say what you will about Bergdahl - I can understand the outrage directed at him over the possibility that he's a deserter - but it's low when the man's family is also targeted. Fox Noise has been taking shot at his father's beard, claiming how it makes him look Muslim, and suggestively asking why his father hadn't shaved it off yet. Gosh, I recall reading how back during the Red Scare, guys with beards were associated with communists (Karl Marx and Fidel Castro both being bearded, I suppose), but now you seemingly can't wear a beard without being called a Muslim.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/were-laughin ... o-tv-hits/

It really sounds like this guy was suffering from mental problems as a result of PDS. Our military should really do more thourough mental health checks in its soldiers.

war will do that to you. You cannot prescreen how this level of carnage is going to affect someone. Mental problems are a natural consequence of war.