Daily Times

Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl is in Germany. Rejoice not, America.A man who deserted his military post in Afghanistan crawled through the bushes into the waiting arms of the enemy. He now emerges from the shadows five years later. The posture he exhibited in the limited-release videos after his capture put the meat on the bone of this matter. Lil’ Bowe preached an anti-West message while filling his belly with a lovely feast. He appeared in a second propaganda video wearing his uniform and practicing karate kicks. The whole thing was surreal and the venue was definitely vaudeville. Lil’ Bowe made a final, brief appearance in a video in which he was not paraded about like prize livestock. The still image from the video is one with which we are all familiar. He looks gaunt, like someone who had fallen out of favour with his captors. When viewing the final video with the stumble-across glimpse of Bowe Bergdahl, I did not feel any sense of empathy. This man is not a kindred spirit. I kept my military oath. Mr Bergdahl walked away from his and toward individuals harbouring intent and will to kill American soldiers and citizens. In 2010 a Pentagon investigation released their findings. It was incontrovertible that a man who was tasked with the defence of our nation was AWOL (absent without orderly leave) and had deserted his unit. Members of his unit are opening up about his behaviour prior to his desertion. On one forum, the medic from his unit states that five soldiers lost their lives in the pursuit of returning him to his unit, and there was an increase in attacks on American troops in the region after he slithered off into the brush. Enter stage left, with the woman who lied about Benghazi and events preceding the death of an American ambassador. National Security Advisor Susan Rice not only describes Bergdahl as “…an American prisoner of war captured on the battlefield” but also opines on ABC’s This Week that “he served the United States with honour and distinction”.

Americans no longer trust Washington’s elite ‘Liar’s Club’. The Beltway jesters consistently deliver unbelievable whoppers. Captured on the ‘battlefield’? Bergdahl was not captured due to superior Afghan firepower and ground support. He was not taken by the enemy after firing the last bullet, throwing a grenade, or slicing the liver out of the enemy with his K-bar. This fictitious American hero crept away from his combat outpost in Paktika province with a compass and a water bottle. Call me a calloused and cynical journalist. My gut tells me that the release of Bowe Bergdahl is not really about bringing a soldier home. Surely, a military deserter is not worth the high ransom paid for his return. On a basic and reasonable level, the exchange of prisoners would presume a similar rate or rank structure. Since when do we offer a Taliban deputy intelligence minister, a former Taliban interior minister with ties to Osama bin Laden and another individual linked to mass genocide of Shiite Muslims in Afghanistan in 2000 and 2001? Throw in two more individuals, to sweeten the deal. The lawbreaker-in-chief coughed up five highly valuable intelligence targets for the ransom of a military deserter. Again, the blather: “We always bring our boys home” is not credible. Bowe ceased to be one of the boys in June 2009. And that boy was a lowly private first class (PFC) when he abandoned weapon and flag to make his slap-yo-mama dash across the terrain. Here is the real question. Who benefits from this deal? The United States military does not benefit. This eviscerates morale within the ranks. There are no yellow ribbons tied around the old oak tree, no veterans clamouring to line up and shake Bergdahl’s hand. New York City will not host a parade. The man is darn tootin’ lucky to find a few welcome home signs posted in his hometown. Bergdahl is a modern day Benedict Arnold with half the IQ. So who benefits? Why did President Obama execute an illegal order to release five highly dangerous operational strategists? This abuse of official capacity, skirting the legal requirement of a thirty day notification to Congress, is an unlawfully executed order.

There could have been no release of the five prisoners minus running a false flag operation that involved ‘bringing our boy home’ and stoking the fires of American patriotism. Unfortunately, Bowe is not Jessica. We felt that surge of patriotism when images emerged of a severely injured Army PFC Jessica Lynch being loaded onto an aircraft. But the release of Bergdahl has fallen flat. Nobody gives a flip. The spin on the story is a complete flop. The man is a military deserter. This latest foreign policy cluster is not really about Bergdahl. He is just a convenient pawn used by the Obama administration to pull off an illegal prison break. Obama wielded the shovel and dug the escape tunnel. Five lucky bastards: Mullah Norullah Noori, Abdul Haq Wasiq, Mohammed Nabi, Khairullah Khairkhwa, and Mullah Mohammad Fazi emerged. Hugs all around! What has the administration gained in terms of a future memorandum of agreement, security assurances, and so on? President Obama ran on a platform of transparency in government but the drawbridge went up the day he walked into the White House. He has consistently worked to actively deny Americans basic truths regarding his ill-clad foreign policy endeavours. Bowe Bergdahl? He should receive a court martial and pick up a new uniform. It is called prison garb. As for Bowe’s daddy, Robert: I suspect he is on a no fly list. Why has the man not made a mad dash to Germany to reconnect with his son? He has made mad dashes to agit-prop websites, sent out bizarre tweets, and claims to work toward the release of all prisoners in US custody at Guantanamo Bay. Bowe’s mother is not exactly gushing with gratitude. Is she afraid of her son?

American mourns.

The writer is a freelance journalist and author of the novel Arsenal. She can be reached at tammyswofford@yahoo.com