Bowe Knows

Yesterday, Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier who was exchanged by the Taliban in Afghanistan for five Talban generals and other high-level military types, was charged with having deserted his post as a prelude to being picked up by our enemy and subsequently being incarcerated by them.

Heck of a trade, eh?  Bergdahl was so desperately needed by the USA to be returned to service and his homeland that he was worth the exchange of five very senior Taliban military leaders?

Well, no.  Bergdahl's return months ago was desperately needed, not by his country, but by his president.  Yes, Barack Obama, already desperate to give back all the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and wherever else we are holding enemy combatants to uphold a campaign promise, also needed to look good a few months before the midterm elections he was facing a big rebuke on -- which he got anyway.

Sitting squarely in the midst of a huge scandal involving the Department of Veterans Affairs, forced to fire a distinguished general he put in charge of VA, he needed a domestic victory.  Just listen to his speech at the time, standing next to Bergdahl's parents, announcing what a wonderful thing it was that we managed to avoid leaving a soldier behind.  It's as though he did something somehow that was good.

Now, however, we can confirm through the investigation by the Army Forces Command what we came to know as a country shortly after the swap, and what his former comrades already knew -- Bergdahl was a deserter, an affront to those who wear the uniform and those who wore it defending the country.

As important in this is the fact that the military were allowed to conduct the investigation into Bergdahl's desertion at all, given that the result was so expected, and would be so much a slap in the face to the president -- who, of course, runs the military.  That pretty much tells you how widely known in the Army the facts of his desertion were. 

I know that we will spend a lot of media time talking about Bergdahl himself, his treachery (or stupidity), desertion and what his fate will be.  We will talk about the eight or more Americans who lost their lives trying to find him.

But far, far more important is that five high-ranking Taliban are walking free over in Qatar or have returned to Afghanistan; far, far more important is that their return threatens the lives of actual patriotic military members serving there; far, far more important is that the Taliban Five's freedom was made a cause célèbre in Afghanistan and a feather in the cap of the evil-doers there.

And more important even than that, is that the swap itself ever happened.  Once again, Barack Obama, who moaned that "Sgt. Bergdahl missed birthdays and anniversaries" while imprisoned, took a step that jeopardized the security of the USA for his own political ends.  Awwwwww.  "I speak for all Americans", he said in the speech to his parents, "when I say that we cannot wait for the moment when you are reunited and your son Bowe is back in your arms."

I, for one, cannot wait, as an American, until their son Bowe is in prison for his crimes, and the five generals Obama traded to get him back meet an inglorious end on the battlefield.  I can't wait until that political beast in the White House is retired to past-presidents' pasture where he can no longer jeopardize the lives of his fellow citizens.

Other than that, I'm a reasonably happy guy today.

Copyright 2015 by Robert Sutton