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Former POW Bergdahl set to return to active duty [W:159]

What I find strange is that so much emphasis is being put on Bergdahl himself by most of the posters in this thread. From my last two American Legion meetings and a VFW one, the emphasis is on whom was released and not on Bergdahl. Among these retired and active duty veterans, the fate of Bergdahl is divided between those who want a court martial to either clear him or convict him, those who want him just discharged thinking he has suffered enough and those who go along with the discharge as long as it is a dishonorable one.

But most vets at all three meetings were against the swap, one does not increase the risks, the dangers to your fellow soldiers, to our allies, to the Afghan people the military was charged with protecting by releasing and swapping 5 hard core Taliban leaders which will surely come back and bite us and our allies in the butt. The focus is on these 5 by the American Legion and the VFW members, not Bergdahl. The name of the soldier is irrelevant. This is viewed akin to having Himmler and Goering in our POW camp and releasing/swapping them for the release of a single enlisted man. It is against military protocol and the standards ingrained in the military to do something like this regardless of how much you want our man back. It all goes to what these 5 released hard core Taliban leaders will likely do, the fact their released has increased the dangers to American military, their allies, to the Afghan people of having more of them die, being wounded, being kidnapped for more prisoner releases.

Perhaps the focus is on Bergdahl for the civilian sector, not he is just a minor player in the military one, it is the release of the 5 hard core Taliban leaders that worry us. Then too what hasn’t been addressed is how soldiers lost their lives or were wounded, how many Afghan military were killed in apprehending these 5 to begin with. Apparently they do not count as soon those still over in Afghanistan will have to go capture these 5 once again or kill them. I suspect it will be kill them, capturing them seems not to work too good.

So a bunch of retired vets that have "fought for our freedoms" wishing to deny Bergdahl due process, have already decided he's guilty and should be court martialed and or dishonourably discharged!
 
Is this brain dead on arrival brain fart all you have? You should probably fall back on your previously delivered ad homs at this point, rather than just illustrating a lack of cerebral activity. But sure, why not? Brilliant reply! Completely masks your previous contributions as equally brain dead. Why not?:lamo

Due process buddy.
 
Excellent post! You are correct - the media has put all the attention on Bergdahl. While they aren't exactly down-playing the terms of the swap, they have put the emphasis on the feel-good part of Bergdahl's release. They will not openly criticize Obama, even this this may not have been one of his more brilliant moves, but the public seems to wonder why the trade wasn't one for one, instead of five terrorists for one soldier. There didn't seem to be a whole lot of negotiating going on - they set the terms, and Obama acquiesced. Did Obama ask for any military advice at all, or did he just decide on his own? If those terrorists now do what they said they would do, Obama will be totally responsible for any deaths that will occur. Didn't he realize that?

Greetings, Pero. :2wave:

Morning Pol, I really do not know. For every prisoner we have a threat assessment done on them. Some take longer than others. But you can bet on was done on all the hard core leaders. I really wonder if these were looked at and if so, totally ignored. Could the desire for some good news to over ride all the bad at the time, IRS, NSA, VA overcome common sense or did the president just receive some very bad advise. I do not know.

If this were a book, Bergdahl would be a minor character. A character that makes his appearance in the beginning as a reason for the release of the 5 Taliban hard core leaders to include a commander which is the equivalent of a general. The rest of the book would be about the exploits these 5 do and Bergdahl would not make another appearance until perhaps the epilogue to let the reader know what happened to him. I am sure what we have seen so far is only the first chapter, more chapters to come.
 
What I find strange is that so much emphasis is being put on Bergdahl himself by most of the posters in this thread. From my last two American Legion meetings and a VFW one, the emphasis is on whom was released and not on Bergdahl. Among these retired and active duty veterans, the fate of Bergdahl is divided between those who want a court martial to either clear him or convict him, those who want him just discharged thinking he has suffered enough and those who go along with the discharge as long as it is a dishonorable one.

But most vets at all three meetings were against the swap, one does not increase the risks, the dangers to your fellow soldiers, to our allies, to the Afghan people the military was charged with protecting by releasing and swapping 5 hard core Taliban leaders which will surely come back and bite us and our allies in the butt. The focus is on these 5 by the American Legion and the VFW members, not Bergdahl. The name of the soldier is irrelevant. This is viewed akin to having Himmler and Goering in our POW camp and releasing/swapping them for the release of a single enlisted man. It is against military protocol and the standards ingrained in the military to do something like this regardless of how much you want our man back. It all goes to what these 5 released hard core Taliban leaders will likely do, the fact their released has increased the dangers to American military, their allies, to the Afghan people of having more of them die, being wounded, being kidnapped for more prisoner releases.

Perhaps the focus is on Bergdahl for the civilian sector, not he is just a minor player in the military one, it is the release of the 5 hard core Taliban leaders that worry us. Then too what hasn’t been addressed is how soldiers lost their lives or were wounded, how many Afghan military were killed in apprehending these 5 to begin with. Apparently they do not count as soon those still over in Afghanistan will have to go capture these 5 once again or kill them. I suspect it will be kill them, capturing them seems not to work too good.

You hit the nail on the head, well done.

Perhaps the focus is on Bergdahl for the civilian sector,not he is just a minor player in the military one

I believe this is what the administration wants the public to focus on, he is one of us.

it is the release of the 5 hard core Taliban leaders that worry us

This is what the administration wants us to over looks and forget, but intelligent concerned people will never forget. They know what potential harm can become of this trade deal.
 
Due process buddy.
Hey buddy, literally everyone in the thread is a fan of it. Except you, you know you? The guy contradicting himself every other post? The guy who screams due process in the face of a crowd who already are fans of the principal. Whereas you? While screaming "due process" like an idiot, extend nothing even approaching the concept of due process with regard to Bergdahl's fellow company members. Not only are they all part of a conspiracy to defraud Bergdahl of his day in court, they have motive to do so. Well if you just keep things really stupid that is. And you are doing a bang up job of it too! Bravo.
 
Hey buddy, literally everyone in the thread is a fan of it. Except you, you know you? The guy contradicting himself every other post? The guy who screams due process in the face of a crowd who already are fans of the principal. Whereas you? While screaming "due process" like an idiot, extend nothing even approaching the concept of due process with regard to Bergdahl's fellow company members. Not only are they all part of a conspiracy to defraud Bergdahl of his day in court, they have motive to do so. Well if you just keep things really stupid that is. And you are doing a bang up job of it too! Bravo.

Sometimes you can only make things so clear. Thankfully you aren't in charge of Bergdahl's fate, or anything for that matter.
 
So a bunch of retired vets that have "fought for our freedoms" wishing to deny Bergdahl due process, have already decided he's guilty and should be court martialed and or dishonourably discharged!

Take it however you want, but at least a third of our membership is active duty. Now how plainly do I have to state this isn't so much about Bergdahl as about the 5 hard core that were released. The conscientious was if 5 fighters were released for Bergdahl no big deal. Heck release 20 normal soldiers, enlisted, fighters, etc and no one would have thought anything about it. everyone probably would have stood up and cheered. But releasing 5 hard core leaders, at least one with a general's rank if not three of them for one PFC does not cut it.

For those attendees, this isn't about Bergdahl although that seems to escape you. It is about having to do your job twice, putting how many people in harms way to capture these guys in the first place, who knows how many were killed, injured, harmed in doing so which gets no attention what so ever. Then now having increased the risk, the danger to our fellow military still in Afghanistan, to our allies and to the Afghan people, we will probably have to try to capture or kill these guys once again and who knows what these guys can and will do in-between.
 
Sometimes you can only make things so clear. Thankfully you aren't in charge of Bergdahl's fate, or anything for that matter.
Things have been crystal clear for a day or so now. Like the way you dodged and ran, offering ad homs instead, from obvious problems with your increasingly contradictory posturing. Obviously you are a big fan of poorly written legal mellow dramas. Which is how you arrived at your idiotic conspiracy theory that Bergdahl's fellow company members threw him under the bus. Sadly for you, due process is likely to make as big a monkey of your brain dead imaginary bus as you have.:screwy
 
You hit the nail on the head, well done.



I believe this is what the administration wants the public to focus on, he is one of us.



This is what the administration wants us to over looks and forget, but intelligent concerned people will never forget. They know what potential harm can become of this trade deal.

Finally someone who understands. Bergdahl could be Joe Snuffy, he is unimportant to the overall scheme of things. It is the 5 released hard core Taliban leaders. Bergdahl can do us no harm, but the 5 released Taliban certainly can. I would love to read the threat assessment on the 5 released Taliban leaders.
 
Take it however you want, but at least a third of our membership is active duty. Now how plainly do I have to state this isn't so much about Bergdahl as about the 5 hard core that were released. The conscientious was if 5 fighters were released for Bergdahl no big deal. Heck release 20 normal soldiers, enlisted, fighters, etc and no one would have thought anything about it. everyone probably would have stood up and cheered. But releasing 5 hard core leaders, at least one with a general's rank if not three of them for one PFC does not cut it.

For those attendees, this isn't about Bergdahl although that seems to escape you. It is about having to do your job twice, putting how many people in harms way to capture these guys in the first place, who knows how many were killed, injured, harmed in doing so which gets no attention what so ever. Then now having increased the risk, the danger to our fellow military still in Afghanistan, to our allies and to the Afghan people, we will probably have to try to capture or kill these guys once again and who knows what these guys can and will do in-between.

Oh yeah, I get your point about the price tag for his release and the angst about that. However some of those boys have been setting down in Gitmo since the beginning, some were renditioned, few of them ever had any due process, just CIC's word that they were enemy combatants. At any rate, soldiers tend to lean conservative and like precious little about this president.
 
Oh yeah, I get your point about the price tag for his release and the angst about that. However some of those boys have been setting down in Gitmo since the beginning, some were renditioned, few of them ever had any due process, just CIC's word that they were enemy combatants. At any rate, soldiers tend to lean conservative and like precious little about this president.
Hey Perotista, did you know that Montecresto gets your "point"? Which was about how the poor inmates at Gitmo never had any due process and soliders lean conservative! Next thing you know your "point" will have also morphed into an abjectly stupefied diatribe about how soldiers have "motives" to throw not only Bergdahl, but Gitmo detainees under da bus!:stooges
 
Oh yeah, I get your point about the price tag for his release and the angst about that. However some of those boys have been setting down in Gitmo since the beginning, some were renditioned, few of them ever had any due process, just CIC's word that they were enemy combatants. At any rate, soldiers tend to lean conservative and like precious little about this president.

It is about the 5 released Taliban leaders that can do us, our allies and the Afghan people harm. I can't speak for the rest who attended the meetings, but for me I do not care what they do with the non-leaders. Hold them, set them free, do whatever. They are no consequence to this situation. They are the subject of another thread for another time and another day. There is one fact though, of all those released from Gitmo, 30% of them have returned to the battlefield. At least that is the figure that is being reported. That figure is high enough to give those still remaining a double checking and a more through investigation.

Perhaps if there were more prisoners held by the Taliban one could exchange those non-leaders for them. But the Taliban really do not take prisoners. I really would have no objections for them being used to trade the Taliban for Afghan prisoners if the Taliban held them. But not their leaders, their generals and commanders. No way, we are just asking for repeats here.
 
Things have been crystal clear for a day or so now. Like the way you dodged and ran, offering ad homs instead, from obvious problems with your increasingly contradictory posturing. Obviously you are a big fan of poorly written legal mellow dramas. Which is how you arrived at your idiotic conspiracy theory that Bergdahl's fellow company members threw him under the bus. Sadly for you, due process is likely to make as big a monkey of your brain dead imaginary bus as you have.:screwy

"Motive" is not conviction. I don't think you know much about the legal process.
 
It is about the 5 released Taliban leaders that can do us, our allies and the Afghan people harm. I can't speak for the rest who attended the meetings, but for me I do not care what they do with the non-leaders. Hold them, set them free, do whatever. They are no consequence to this situation. They are the subject of another thread for another time and another day. There is one fact though, of all those released from Gitmo, 30% of them have returned to the battlefield. At least that is the figure that is being reported. That figure is high enough to give those still remaining a double checking and a more through investigation.

Perhaps if there were more prisoners held by the Taliban one could exchange those non-leaders for them. But the Taliban really do not take prisoners. I really would have no objections for them being used to trade the Taliban for Afghan prisoners if the Taliban held them. But not their leaders, their generals and commanders. No way, we are just asking for repeats here.

If indeed they were/are leaders, I agree with you. But I don't think I'll ever know that.
 
Morning Pol, I really do not know. For every prisoner we have a threat assessment done on them. Some take longer than others. But you can bet on was done on all the hard core leaders. I really wonder if these were looked at and if so, totally ignored. Could the desire for some good news to over ride all the bad at the time, IRS, NSA, VA overcome common sense or did the president just receive some very bad advise. I do not know.

If this were a book, Bergdahl would be a minor character. A character that makes his appearance in the beginning as a reason for the release of the 5 Taliban hard core leaders to include a commander which is the equivalent of a general. The rest of the book would be about the exploits these 5 do and Bergdahl would not make another appearance until perhaps the epilogue to let the reader know what happened to him. I am sure what we have seen so far is only the first chapter, more chapters to come.

Excellent analogy about this being a book we are currently reading, and don't yet know how it ends. :thumbs: However, I haven't read about any terrorists being known as cocky braggarts - they usually mean what they threaten to do! That's bad news, because they really do hate us. :afraid:
 
"Motive" is not conviction. I don't think you know much about the legal process.
Says the poster who can't even explain what "motives" supposedly exist that would lead Bergdahl's fellow soldiers to throw him under the bus. Or not throw him under the bus, as you have managed to argue both contradictory postures. Clearly your study of poorly written legal mellow dramas may yet pay off and result in a semi cognizant yet still lacking, tortured contortion of a empty posture. Hey why not repeat the mantra about "due process" again? For the imaginary crowd on your imaginary bus that is supposed to be calling for no due process. That would be even more brilliant than when you did it the last 6 times.:eek:uch:
 
Says the poster who can't even explain what "motives" supposedly exist that would lead Bergdahl's fellow soldiers to throw him under the bus. Or not throw him under the bus, as you have managed to argue both contradictory postures. Clearly your study of poorly written legal mellow dramas may yet pay off and result in a semi cognizant yet still lacking, tortured contortion of a empty posture. Hey why not repeat the mantra that "due process" again? For the imaginary crowd on your imaginary bus that is supposed to be calling for no due process. That would be even more brilliant than when you did it the last 6 times. :inandout:

I've explained the motive to you half a dozen times. Bergdahl was very critical of the military, accused them of murder and criticised US FP, in the region. If you can't see where the motive comes into play, I can't help you any further. Btw, again, having the motive doesn't necessitate guilt. That's for the investigation to determine. Wait and see.
 
I've explained the motive to you half a dozen times. Bergdahl was very critical of the military, accused them of murder and criticised US FP, in the region. If you can't see where the motive comes into play, I can't help you any further. Btw, again, having the motive doesn't necessitate guilt. That's for the investigation to determine. Wait and see.
You have not explained anything. You've done a lot of shuck jive talking, ad hom flinging instead. Along the way you accidentally exposed that you are not even familiar with the Bergdahl timeline. Which is OK, that was obvious the second you started acting like you were. In order for Bergdahl's fellow company members to actually be aware of his stances on the military? You have to ignore when where and with whom he shared his beliefs and feelings. Something you obviously have no clue about or you would not be arguing such a vacuous and lacking position. But again, why don't you share with us the "source" for your mangled understanding of events surrounding Bergdahl's desertion? Or is the real crux of the matter that you realize your imagination is not going to be recognized as realistic or accurately informed?:lol:

The good news is that furious yet empty little postures like yours won't have much play when it comes down to actual due process. Rather the facts of the matter and the actual timeline of events will, which leaves your sad fantasy shtick exposed for the shuck jive it is.
 
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So a bunch of retired vets that have "fought for our freedoms" wishing to deny Bergdahl due process, have already decided he's guilty and should be court martialed and or dishonourably discharged!

They haven't said they deny Bergdahl due process. You made that up. Of course they have decided he's guilty. They were there. They are witnesses. Bergdahl won't get due process. He won't get anything but a military career where he will be considered a cretin until he leaves. There won't be an investigation or a court martial. The White House has seen to that.
 
They haven't said they deny Bergdahl due process. You made that up. Of course they have decided he's guilty. They were there. They are witnesses. Bergdahl won't get due process. He won't get anything but a military career where he will be considered a cretin until he leaves. There won't be an investigation or a court martial. The White House has seen to that.
Oh this one is positively fixated on acting as if someone, anyone, is calling for the end of due process. While you may (hopefully not) be correct about what happens to Bergdahl ultimately? It won't have anything to do with Bergdahl not getting his day in court. Nor the non existent calls by non existent participants in this thread to deny Bergdahl "due process" or his day in court. It gets pretty stupid having to strike poses and fling strawmen around the thread, but as demonstrated Monecresto is up for it anyway!
 
They haven't said they deny Bergdahl due process. You made that up. Of course they have decided he's guilty. They were there. They are witnesses. Bergdahl won't get due process. He won't get anything but a military career where he will be considered a cretin until he leaves. There won't be an investigation or a court martial. The White House has seen to that.

Oh, the old guys at the VFW hall were witnesses to this. If they have decided he's guilty, before an investigation and trial, then they are denying him due process. Why is everybody afraid of giving this guy his day in court. If he's guilty as you all insist, a trial will bear that out and we can court martial him and be done with this.
 
Oh this one is positively fixated on acting as if someone, anyone, is calling for the end of due process. While you may (hopefully not) be correct about what happens to Bergdahl ultimately? It won't have anything to do with Bergdahl not getting his day in court. Nor the non existent calls by non existent participants in this thread to deny Bergdahl "due process" or his day in court. It gets pretty stupid having to strike poses and fling strawmen around the thread, but as demonstrated Monecresto is up for it anyway!

Wow, you've really got your knickers in a knot. Careful not to break your keyboard.
 
Wow, you've really got your knickers in a knot. Careful not to break your keyboard.
Actually knowing the Bergdahl timeline does not leave one with their knickers in a knot. It does lead to some laughter at the expense of ignorant and less than artful dodgers like you though. Quick, better get back to calling out all the non existent posters in the thread calling for an end to due process! :doh
 
Oh, the old guys at the VFW hall were witnesses to this. If they have decided he's guilty, before an investigation and trial, then they are denying him due process. Why is everybody afraid of giving this guy his day in court. If he's guilty as you all insist, a trial will bear that out and we can court martial him and be done with this.

Nobody is against his having his day in court. We're mostly angry because that won't happen.
 
Nobody is against his having his day in court. We're mostly angry because that won't happen.

Considering that there are a number of his fellow servicemen claiming he went AWOL (even though they have potential motive, which may or may not have been acted upon) an investigation is necessary. And if you are correct and there is no investigation, then I agree with you and will be angry with you. However, I suspect that if an investigation brought him exoneration, you wouldn't accept that either.
 
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