Recently when I turned on the TV morning news, there was Col. Daniel King, US Army announcing that Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl had been charged under Article 85; desertion with intent to shirk hazardous duty and Article 99; misbehavior before the enemy. Prior to standing for a General Court-Martial, a preliminary hearing, Article 32 will be held; the equivalent of a Grand Jury hearing in civilian juris prudence.
Is this the same Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl that was celebrated on TV by White House National Security Advisor Susan Rice? She told the world that he had served with ‘honor and distinction.’ Is this the same man whose parents were invited to join our Supreme Leader in the Rose Garden of the White House? Is this the same Bowe Bergdahl that was invited to leave US Coast Guard boot camp after just 26 days? Is this truly the soldier whose comrades in arms attested that he had abandoned them?
Yes, this is the soldier that was traded for five of some of the most menacing terrorists in the world. They were being held at Guantanamo (Gitmo) by our military. Prisoners are returned to their native lands when hostilities have ceased. Sending warriors home or to a ‘neutral’ country while aggression continues by either or both sides is bolstering enemy resources. Trading five highly trained radical killers for an enigmatic soldier who had been held for five years as ransom is contemptible.
These valuable prisoners were released as a way to close ‘Gitmo’ using the ruse that our prison camp in Cuba is a recruiting tool for terrorists. What evidence has anyone heard that justifies such a decision? On the other hand, the release of these five prisoners could quite persuasively deflate the interest of young US men and women who might otherwise enlist. There is reasonable concern that our own warriors could come to the realization that enemy prisoners who are released may wear the hood and hew with the sword at the next beheading.
When bombings took place in Boston in April of 2013, the President warned that we shouldn’t’ jump to any conclusions. Yet in other situations, the administration’s mouthpieces constantly make unjustifiable statements. When the German plane crashed this past week, government reports immediately stated that there was no evidence that the crash was caused by violence. The fact is that at the time that announcement was made there was virtually no evidence of any kind. Why not simply say that possible causes will be released as soon as evidence is available? In 2009 when Professor Lewis Gates clashed with police in Cambridge, the President immediately popped up on TV and referred to the Cambridge police as stupid.
Susan Rice was sent out to early morning Sunday TV shows to explain that there was no evidence of a planned attack in Benghazi on September 11, 2012 that killed four US citizens. Recently Marie Harf, a spokesperson at the Department of State mentioned that we can’t keep killing ISIS people. She added that the root causes of their economy and employment is where we should place efforts. Harf made those remarks on February 17, 2015, two days after 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians were beheaded in Libya by ISIS Muslim terrorists. The President referred to the victims as Egyptian citizens, ignoring the fact that these 21 men were slaughtered because of their Christian religious faith.
We don’t seem to understand that Christians are infidels and when we meet ISIS terrorists in a trench or at a table our choices (to them) are convert or die. Think of the situation at hand. Iranian militia is fighting ISIS just as we are. ISIS hates those who worship the Cross and all it stands for. Iranians hate Israel, the only democratic republic (or vice versa) in the Mideast. Our President worked hard to unseat Israel’s leader and has appealed directly to Iranian citizens regarding nuclear agreement.
By sailing our ship of state using the fickle winds of short term alliances, we have lost the trust of leaders on all sides of a contemptuous world, including that part of the world defined as ‘The United States of America.’
– Dick Baynton
