One of my friends that I went to AIT with was assigned to Bowe's unit. He's saying that the Taliban refer to Bowe as the "white Talib" and that he found this out when he was sent to look for him.
I am glad they got him back, leaving Congress and Karzai out of the loop made sense as they would have screwed the whole thing up, and now I'm good with beginning court martial procedings to determine what happened and what liability falls to him.
Well, if you take the politics out of it (impossible in NCR, I know, but try to), what we have is an ethical debate. Do we negotiate with "terrorists" to possibly save an American life? If this soldier was captured during combat, would it be different? When is it okay to bend/break the law? Does it matter which law it is? Does it matter that this law was created last year and included in a defense budget bill (I won't bother debating why this was added to a yearly defense budget, but whatever) rather than something more sacred like a constitutional right?
Honestly, is this outrage simply another opportunity to attack Obama or are we actually upset over what happened? If he did get bipartisan Congressional support, would this be an issue? What if this happened a year or more ago before the law existed? Is there any chance someone will respond to these questions without political rhetoric?
To me...it comes down to the circumstances.If he was captured fighting (or just plain abducted), then trading for him is fine.If he deserted, then he can sleep in his own bed.Guess it would be a tough decision since we don't KNOW. I don't see why The President could not follow the rules and get approval either way, though. Law is law is law. "We were worried about his mental state." Yeah, FIVE YEARS in captivity can do that to you.I hate NCR...really makes you think about your ethics.
Well, I did do 8 over on the way to work today AND rolled through a stop sign. I "should" mail a check for the two tickets I "should" have gotten, but.......
You don't have to agree with the law...it's still the law. If you know the law and decide to break it, you've decided that the reward is greater than the penalty.But you're still breaking the law.Which is pretty much this situation to a T. Some people will complain for a while, but the next transgression will make us forget this. The President is not going to jail for this, he won't be fired...he knows the consequences and does not give an eff. His "penalty" is answering some questions.
Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was held captive by enemy forces in Afghanistan for five years, will be charged with desertion, a senior defense officials tell NBC News. The officials say the charges could be referred within a week.
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