Five Against One …

SHOCK POLL: Americans say Obama less competent than Bush…

Let’s examine this:
Prez Obama will trade 5 enemy soldiers for a guy who just walks away but we have a Marine in Mexico, who has been beaten, stripped and is being held in a country that American dollars are spent. Absolutely nothing is being done at this point ???
I guess he has no “value” to the administration. Perhaps Susan Rice can explain that…

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/05/1304556/-The-GOP-is-Heading-for-a-World-iof-Hurt-on-Bergdahl-here-s-why?detail=facebook

As the actual FACTS start coming out about Bowe Bergdahl, here is what we know:

1. Bergdahl had left his base without permissions on at least one prior occasion, and had come back! This is according to a report in the Army Times. In fact, his fellow soldiers failed to report it at the time. The implications of this are huge. It means that it would be impossible to prove desertion under UCMJ Article 85, because you cannot prove he intended to leave permanently. Specifically, that article states:

(a) Any member of the armed forces whoâ??

(1) without authority goes or remains absent from his unit, organization, or place of duty with intent to remain away therefrom permanently;

(2) quits his unit, organization, or place of duty with intent to avoid hazardous duty or to shirk important service; or

(3) without being regularly separated from one of the armed
forces enlists or accepts an appointment in the same or another on of
the armed forces without fully disclosing the fact that he has not been
regularly separated, or enters any foreign armed service except when
authorized by the United States; is guilty of desertion.

The only two provisions that remotely could be applicable to Bowe
Bergdahl are subsections (1) and (2). The first one is eliminated by the
fact that he had done this before. Given that he returned on the prior
occasion, it would be extremely difficult to prove an intent to “remain
away….permanently.” The second subsection is also difficult to prove
if he left his base at night, when he was not otherwise on duty. So, as a
consequence, you can pretty much rule out Bergdahl being charged with
“desertion.” At worst, he can be charged under Article 86: Absence Without Leave.
That is a far less serious charge, and “time served” as a POW of the
Haqqani network would probably be deemed sufficient punishment. Which,
incidentally, would also considered an extenuating circumstance under
that article.

UPDATE: The 35 page classified Army report (as reported to the New York Times)
that was compiled 2 months after Bergdahl disappeared, concluded that
he had left his unit twice, not once. And the Army blamed lax security
practices and a lack of discipline. Moreover, the supposed letter he
left confessing to everything was not mentioned in the report at all.

2. According to the now famous article by Michael Hastings about Bergdahl,
his unit was basically a bunch of undisciplined fuck ups who went out
on patrol without helmets, lost weapons, totally lacked morale and
respect for military authority, etc. At least two commanders were
actually demoted! So, you have to take with a grain of salt the
accusations being made against Bergdahl by these people. Especially now
that we know they failed to report Bergdahl left the base without
permission on a prior occasion, and are still telling the media that he
is a “deserter” when they know damn well that’s not true.

3. The New York Times has also reported
that it is almost impossible to attribute the losses the unit suffered
to Bergdahl, or looking for Bergdahl. Given the lack of unit discipline,
etc. One wonders whether Bergdahl is being scapegoated by these people,
who were drummed up by GOP political operatives. You don’t want to
minimize the pain of the families of the lost soldiers. But, frankly,
there is a tremendous amount of misinformation being pushed. And, a lot
of speculation. It’s just an unprovable allegation.

4. And, finally, Bergdahl’s apparent heroism while in captivity has been almost completely ignored and glossed over. The Daily Beast originally reported
that Bergdahl lulled his captors into believing he was sympathetic to
them, and when they let their guard down he escaped for 3 days. When
they finally found him in a hand-dug trench he covered with leaves, he
was nearly naked an exhausted. Yet, it took 5 Taliban to subdue him as
he fought back trying to avoid being recaptured.

Just last night, we found out that he escaped not once, but twice! Because of this, his captors kept moving him around and kept him under tight wraps. This made it exceedingly difficult and risky to attempt a rescue mission.

And, finally, the infamous “ashamed to be an American” e-mails that
numbnuts like Sarah Palin keep using to attacking Bergdahl, were
actually quite patriotic in context. He was complaining about the low
caliber of person he had to suffer through in his unit, and how crappily
they treated the Afghans (In one case, he said they indifferently ran
over a child with a truck!). He was ashamed of the way the military
operated there.

He was not expressing a desire to join the Taliban. He felt sympathy
for the Afghan civilians who were being mistreated and abused by both
sides. (These e-mails were reported in Michael Hastings’ profile
pieces).

When all is said and done, and Bergdahl is allowed to give his side
of the story, the Republicans and Conservatives who were attacking him
are going to regret it.

One other point on this that I didn’t address in my comment. All of
the crazy rightwingers who are suggesting that Bergdahl be executed for
desertion are even more batshit crazy than it might seem at first. Even
if he WAS guilty of desertion (a proposition which is extremely doubtful
at this point), only one U.S. service member has been executed for the
offense since the Civil War! That man was Pvt. Eddie Slovik during World War II.
In his case, he signed a confession — over the objections of his
commanders! – and was defiant of military authority. Eventually, Dwight
Eisenhower authorized his execution to set an example.

Moreover, in 1974 President Gerald Ford signed a conditional amnesty for Vietnam War deserters, if they agreed to two years of public service in some other capacity.

And, finally, the lone soldier convicted in connection with the My
Lai massacre of Civillian Vietnamese villagers during Vietnam — Lt.
William Calley — had his sentence reduced to House arrest and then finally commuted to time served by President Nixon after 3 years.

And, to make this even more pertinent, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who
plead guilty to murdering 16 Afghan Civilians in their homes, was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

In other words, the batshit rightwingers want to impose a sentence on
Bowe Bergdahl that is a) unsupported by any evidence; b) hasn’t been
imposed on a US Soldier in 70 years, and only once in 140 years; and c)
more harsh than what was imposed on convicted mass murderers of
civilians.

Bergdahl”s statement from above sounds familiar , Must have taken traitor lessons from John, Benedict Arnold, Kerry.

Meanwhile, the gates are wideeeeeeee open to illegal cockroaches to waltz right in from Mexico into the USA. And Graham condones this.

Expound upon it all, Sic. Its a good time to get the people more awaken to everything going on both on a national level, and state level.

I’m glad we have the DIQ (Deserter In Question) back in US custody -so we can convene a court martial.

I’m getting the biggest kick out of watching the usual libturd suspects running around in this forum trying to stamp out fires. Stop toting water for such an embarrassing President. Please, you look really dumb.

But we’re not talking about the V.A. scandal, right?

Ummm. Congress does not have to authorize jack shit here. The right is complaining about no notification. The commander in chief can do whatever he pleases in the course of running a war. At least that was the talk during W’s day.
I ain’t saying it’s good policy. But it wasn’t illegal by any stretch to DO it.

Obama is a dumbfuck.

Freaking Hilarious…but I doubt the uptight liberals can laugh….Beats the CRAP out of the tired and worn out Jon Stewart or Colbert…
Rush: Obama Sings ‘You Didn’t Build That’ Parody

Read more at http://www.laughright.com/4548/rush-obama-sings-didnt-build-parody/#HjP6u8RdvwYdBhV8.99