Bowe Bergdahl's bondsman

From The American Thinker:

The odds are very high that Bergdahl, if found guilty of charges filed against him, will be relieved of his punishment by Barack Obama.

The president will have a pocket full of pardons in about 12 months, and it is likely that in order to smooth out the wrinkled mess of exchanging five high-profile Guantánamo prisoners for a convicted deserter, Obama will issue a pardon to Bergdahl. Presidential explanation will clarify the complexities for the history books and in so doing attempt to exculpate himself and his administration from a chain of bad decisions, inaccurate commentary, and blatant illegalities.

In response to what must be an embarrassing situation for the president and Susan Rice and others, the pardon with a paragraph of empathy will intend to put the issue to rest in a very political fashion. The good intentions will be amplified and set up to displace what was illegal release and exchange conducted without the required legal approval of Congress.

The authorizing of the exchange and subsequent release violated a U.S. law that requires the administration to give Congress notice 30 days before releasing any detainees from the military prison at Guantánamo Bay.

"Rule of law, I am the law!," goes the thinking of the Dear Leader. I concur with the theory that Bergdahl will be pardoned. I just hope the Military draws out the pre-trial motions and such until after jan 21, 2017.

Bergdahl to be court-martialed for desertion, misbehavior before the enemy

From Instapundit:

Frankly, the only surprising thing about this is that Army General who made this decision, General Robert B. Abrams, had the courage to move Bergdahl’s case forward despite the Obama Administration’s repeated attempts to downplay the seriousness of Bergdahl’s offenses.

Obama broke U.S. law by failing to notify Congress in advance of his decision to swap Bergdahl’s freedom for five high-ranking Taliban leaders, several of whom have attempted to resume hostilities against the U.S. All five of the freed Taliban–Mullah-Norullah Noori, Mohammed A Fazl, Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa, Mohammed Nabi Omari, and Abdul Haq Wasiq–were classified by the Department of Defense to pose a “HIGH” risk the the U.S.

The Bergdahl swap is a perfect illustration of the incompetence and/or treasonous behavior of Obama. Our President released five highly dangerous Islamic radicals for one treasonous U.S. soldier. He broke the law in doing so. Is this a decision that makes you feel safe? A recent Washington Post-ABC poll shows that a majority of Americans disapprove of President Obama’s handling of terrorism, and a Gallup poll released yesterday indicates that terrorism is now the most important problem identified by respondents.

It has taken awhile to sink in for some, but most Americans are finally beginning to understand that this President does not have America’s best interests in mind.

This is a brave General, who may soon be relieved of command by the petty tyrant that currently occupies the White House.

Related: “I wonder if Barack Obama is insane enough to contemplate pardoning this guy, some time in December of 2016? It would be, in fact, insane; but at the same time, the President’s got his own reputation to protect – or, more accurately, his own self-image to pander to. God forbid that a man that the White House described as serving with honor and distinction should rot in a military jail for the next half-decade…”

Quote of the Day

From Ace of Spades HQ:

If there were a real press in this country, someone would ask Obama how it is that he became the first president to host a Rose Garden celebration for a deserter.

-- Mark Steyn

Ouch!

Lawyer -- Bergdahl to get little or no jail time

From Rick Moran at The American Thinker Blog:

The attorney representing army deserter Bowe Berghdal says that the officer who presided over his Article 32 hearing last month told him that his client will not face a full court martial, but rather a lower level court martial that will likely keep Bergdahl out of jail altogether.
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Bergdahl couldn't be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law because that would make Barack Obama look bad. The fix was in on this case from the start, as Obama not only had to justify releasing 5 terrorist leaders in exchange for a deserter, but also statements made by him and his aides that suggested Bergdahl's service was "honorable." Hence, the military adjusts their case based on the narrative that has been put out by the White House on Bergdahl.

It's always about him. There isn't a bigger narcissist out there and that's saying a lot, considering all the egos out there in politics.

Army denies appeal of Afghan child rape whistleblower

From Hot Air:

Yesterday we found out that the White House is claiming to really not know much about the whole Afghanistan boy raping thing except what they find out by watching Morning Joe. But now that the news has broken, will they be doing anything about it? If they plan to they’ll need to move quickly because The Daily Caller reveals that Charles Martland, one of the soldiers accused of beating down a child rapist, has had an appeal of the decision to kick him out of the service denied.

Just another attack on the true warriors in the Military by the political hack Generals in HQ.

Disgusting! The Army is tring to find a way to make to Bo Bergdahl Court Martial go away, while retiring honorable soldiers.

The Bergdahl Case Gets Curiouser and Curiouser

From The American Thinker:

Watching relatively inexperienced Army prosecutors blow a case against accomplished civilian defense lawyers is not entirely unusual. As a young JAG officer I was perhaps so victimized myself, and definitely saw it occur in other cases. The old saying that military justice is like military music -- not particularly good -- has some basis in reality. But it is also possible that the Army deliberately made it easy on Fidell and his team, and seeing a shadow boxing loss at the Article 32 as a political win.

Article 32 hearings are a good way for the military to dispose of cases that they don’t like, since they give the appearance of having brought the manner to a mini-trial and are comparatively fair compared to civilian grand juries. At least as reported, Bergdahl’s Article 32 doesn’t appear to have made a good case against him for anything more than an AWOL charge, which I think would suit the Army just fine. It would allow the Army to dispose of the case through something less than a General Courts Martial, preserve Bergdahl’s veteran benefits for his apparent physical and psychological disabilities, and not extend the matter into the election year, embarrassing Obama and his increasingly likely successor as Democrat nominee, Vice-President Biden. Call me cynical, but I think that is where we are headed.

Interesting, but I does make a lot of sense.

The World's affair during the Obama Regime

From Ace of Spades HQ:

I did want to take a moment and consider the live issues we're dealing with...

The administration admits ObamaCare isn't cutting health insurance costs "by $2,500/family", it's raising them.

Iraq is falling to pieces.

Thousands and thousands of children are piling up on our southern border because Obama violated the law with his executive amnesty and now everyone thinks they can come and stay here.

The Russians are still mucking around in Ukraine.

The IRS is pushing an idiotic story about losing Lois Lerner's emails. Via John Ekdahl, yep, it's a cover-up.

The administration stopped coming up with new stories about the Bowe Bergdahl swap because people stopped paying attention when Iraq flared up.

The VA still needs to be held accountable for killing vets, retaliating against whistle-blowers and oh yeah, the system needs to be fixed to serve vets.

The House Benghazi select-committee is getting going.

And the economy is shrinking.

But other than that (and a few dozen other major problems), Obama is the smartest man ever and he's doing a bang-up job!

And the Dear Leader was playing his 175th and 176th round of golf as President this past weekend.

A picture is worth a 1000 words

This defines the Dear Leader's thinking.

Why Team Obama Was Blindsided by the Bergdahl Backlash

From Ralph Peters at Nation Review:

Congratulations, Mr. President! And identical congrats to your sorcerer’s apprentice, National Security Adviser Susan Rice. By trying to sell him as an American hero, you’ve turned a deserter already despised by soldiers in the know into quite possibly the most-hated individual soldier in the history of our military. .......

Both President Obama and Ms. Rice seem to think that the crime of desertion in wartime is kind of like skipping class. They have no idea of how great a sin desertion in the face of the enemy is to those in our military. The only worse sin is to side actively with the enemy and kill your brothers in arms. This is not sleeping in on Monday morning and ducking Gender Studies 101.

Typical Liberal, which "loath" members of the military and believes the Military should only be used when it's NOT in the Strategic Interests of the United States or as an international meals on wheels program.

Senate Democrats who trumpeted Bergdahl deal go silent

From Mary Katherine Ham at Hot Air:

I want you to go over to The Weekly Standard for John McCormack’s and Mike Warren’s work on this, but here’s a taste:

“You know, I think, um, let me hold off on that,” said Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
“All I’ve heard is what I’ve read in the press,” said Vermont’s senior senator Pat Leahy.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, who crowed about the deal on the Sunday shows, is now very interested in the intel briefing she’s to receive tomorrow. That’d be the briefing she should have gotten some 32 days before she went on the Sunday shows to make grand pronouncements with no information. #YesAllWomen have to go on national news shows to laud their male party bosses’ grand accomplishments with incomplete and willfully inaccurate information, apparently.

As of now, The Reid stands alone in his continued vocal support of the Bergdahl deal.

............

But, as Phil Klein notes, it’s hard to argue Bergdahl’s status and actions shouldn’t matter to Americans when his status and actions as a hero were integral to the White House pitch for this deal. If Bergdahl’s not a hero, there’s far less political cover to get rid of the Taliban Five, which Allahpundit suspects was the whole point of this endeavor.

“Regardless of circumstances, whatever those circumstances may turn out to be, we still get an American prisoner back,” Obama said. “Period. Full stop. We don’t condition that.” Now, it’s fair to argue that whether the prisoner exchange was a good deal or not is a separate issue from whether Bergdahl was a deserter. In other words, there’s a case for bringing him back and handling evidence of desertion under American laws and procedures rather than simply letting him rot in the custody of the Taliban.

However, the argument that the nature of his service is irrelevant to the discussion was made less convincing because the White House initially attempted to turn Bergdahl’s release into a public relations victory and presented Bergdahl to the American people as a national hero.

On the bright side, at least maybe we’ve finally found something Obama knew about before the media told him about it?

I suspect The Dear Leader sold several Democrat Senators a bill of goods with regard to Bergdahl. That's why so many are backtracking. Giving up the 5 Taliban leaders for a War Hero is one thing, but a Deserter and/or possible Traitor, that's a whole other thing.

I beg your pardon

From Scott Johnson at Powerline Blog:

The ceremony in the Rose Garden celebrating the return of Sergeant Beau Bergdahl must be the most misbegotten photo op of all time. In addition to President Obama, both Bergdgahl mère and père spoke. It seemed to me bizarre beyond belief, a photo op gone wrong.

Was Mr. Bergdahl vetted? Did anyone in the White House notice that Mr. Bergdahl seems to have gone over to the other side? As Paul notes, the scene now has the Washington Post working overtime to cover for Obama.

Obama’s handlers didn’t hold it against Mr. Bergdahl that he was “still working to free all Guantanamo prisoners,” in the words of his now deleted tweet. Okay, in that respect, he’s just like Obama.

But did anyone around Obama think it problematic when the old man predicted God would “repay the death of every Afghan child, Ameen”? Actually, make that “Ameen!” That appears to be a prayer for the death of Sergeant Bergdahl’s fellow soldiers.

Did Team Obama know that Mr. Bergdahl was going to invoke Allah, quoting from the Koran in Arabic (video below)? You have to wonder what exactly that was all about. The White House wasn’t highlighting the five Taliban leaders it was giving up for Sergeant Bergdahl, but did it raise a question in the mind of anyone around Obama that that Mr. Bergdahl seemed to be striving to resemble them?

I think Scott Johnson forgot who the President is and what he believes. The Dear Leader does not believe in American Exceptionalism, does not believe we should be a super power, and does not believe in the War on terrorism. I think the Dear Leader's true feelings are closer to Robert Bergdahl's than the majority of the Country.

Graham -- Obama's Bergdahl Justification to Leave No Man Behind 'Hollow' Given Lack Of Action In Benghazi

From Breitbart's Big Government:

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham was exercised over President Obama’s explanation Tuesday for trading five Taliban detainees for Bowe Bergdahl.

During a press conference in Warsaw, Poland Tuesday Obama argued that America “has always had a pretty sacred rule and that is we don’t leave our men or women in uniform behind.”

Tuesday afternoon when asked about the president’s comments in Warsaw, Graham said Obama’s words are hollow, given his failure to act during the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, which left four Americans, including the Ambassador to Libya, dead.

Wow, Sen. Graham wakes from his sleep and makes his annual salient point.

Pentagon Official -- Why Obama Made The Taliban Trade

From the Daily Caller:

Here is the truth: The deal to trade five senior Taliban detainees to secure the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was political. It was publicly justified with lies, it breaks decades of U.S. policy, it breaks American law, it puts Americans at risk, it undermines the government of Afghanistan, and it passes responsibility on to the next administration.

But first of all, it was political.

But no, it was not to take the spot light off of the failures at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Simply stated, it was because so long as Bergdahl remained in Taliban captivity in Pakistan, the Obama administration would never be able to close the chapter of the failed Afghanistan campaign it has owned since approving — and then under-resourcing — a surge of U.S. forces in the country.

Bergdahl’s captivity served as a constant reminder of President Barack Obama’s strategic failures while U.S. forces prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan. That’s something the Democrats cannot allow going into 2014 and 2016 elections. So the president agreed to an unprecedented deal in blatant violation of U.S. law and established precedent that undermines the safety and security of the United States and her citizens, once again choosing short-term political gain over long-term security interests.

Claims of new information on Bergdahl’s deteriorating health are simply false justifications. Bergdahl’s health was in no worse shape than should be reasonably expected of someone who had been a prisoner for five years.

This argument makes the most sense of anything I have heard.

Bergdahl's comrades -- He's a deserter

From The Daily Beast via Instapundit.

For five years, soldiers have been forced to stay silent about the disappearance and search for Bergdahl. Now we can talk about what really happened.

It was June 30, 2009, and I was in the city of Sharana, the capitol of Paktika province in Afghanistan. As I stepped out of a decrepit office building into a perfect sunny day, a member of my team started talking into his radio. “Say that again,” he said. “There’s an American soldier missing?”

There was. His name was Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl, the only prisoner of war in the Afghan theater of operations. His release from Taliban custody on May 31 marks the end of a nearly five-year-old story for the soldiers of his unit, the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment. I served in the same battalion in Afghanistan and participated in the attempts to retrieve him throughout the summer of 2009. After we redeployed, every member of my brigade combat team received an order that we were not allowed to discuss what happened to Bergdahl for fear of endangering him. He is safe, and now it is time to speak the truth.

And that the truth is: Bergdahl was a deserter, and soldiers from his own unit died trying to track him down.

This is looking more and more like a debacle.

From The Hill:

Soldiers who served with Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in Afghanistan are claiming he is a deserter who walked off his base in June 2009, but the Pentagon says it still doesn’t know exactly what happened.
..................

“The truth is: Bergdahl was a deserter, and soldiers from his own unit died trying to track him down,” he said.

Soldiers were then forced to remain silent about Bergdahl’s disappearance and the search for him, Bethea added, which led to some soldiers losing their lives.

"I was pissed off then and I am even more so now with everything going on," Former Sgt. Matt Vierkant, a member of Bergdahl's platoon, told CNN. “"Bowe Bergdahl deserted during a time of war and his fellow Americans lost their lives searching for him."
..................

At least six U.S. soldiers died hunting for Bergdahl, CNN reports.

Can't wait to see how this one settles out. The Dear Leader may have landed on a second hand grenade in a month.

Bergdahl -- They Don’t Care About the Law, Get Over It

From J. Christian Adams at PJ Media via Instapundit.

When your opponent keeps running the same play and keeps beating you, you had better adjust. That’s what the Obama administration has been doing since 2009: they do something illegal that offends the Rule of Law and outrages sensible Americans, and they keeping doing it over and over again.

Outrage is an inadequate defense.

The release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is just the latest example of lawlessness. The bizarre tale of Sgt. Bergdahl’s release reads like a satire of a leftist academic American apologist ascending to the presidency and behaving like a leftist academic American apologist.

And the Regime will continue to get away with it until the Drive-By-Media starts to call him on it, so Never. Or the Republicans gain control of the Senate and CUT OFF FUNDING.

Honor, distinction, and truth in the time of Obama

From Paul Mirengoff at Powerline Blog:

The question has been asked many times: why was Susan Rice selected to appear on the talk shows to discuss the Benghazi attack? At the time, Rice was our ambassador to the U.N. There was no connection between her job and Benghazi.

Now I think I know why Rice was selected. She is willing to say anything on television.

Consider her appearance on ABC News to discuss the trade in which we released five senior Taliban commanders in exchange for American POW Bowe Bergdahl. Rice stated, among other things, that Bergdahl “served the United States with honor and distinction” and that he “wasn’t simply a hostage; he was an American prisoner of war captured on the battlefield.”

Both statements are very probably untrue. There is substantial evidence that Bergdahl deserted the Army, or at least went AWOL.

She will sacrifice all credibility to protect the Dear Leader. She is a partisan hack who should be shamed into obscurity.

Bowe Bergdahl -- Another Sunday Show Fib from Susan Rice?

From John Nolte at Breitbart's Big Government:

The last time National Security Adviser Susan Rice made a memorable appearance on the Sunday morning news shows it was on five different networks in 2012 to spread the ridiculous and untrue fable that a YouTube video had been the cause of four deaths in Benghazi, as opposed to terrorists the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton should have been prepared for. This Sunday, Rice might have been caught in a brand new fib.

Rice appeared on ABC's This Week to defend Obama's release of The Taliban Dream Team from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who had been a Taliban prisoner in Pakistan for five years. Other than setting the terrible precedent of negotiating with terrorists, the exchange has become controversial over claims that Bergdahl was a deserter who simply walked away from his post. Rice, however, said on ABC that Bergdahl had been "taken in battle."

She shall always be know in the future as Bagdad Bobbie, since she is nothing more than a partisan hack who will lie to protect the Dear LEader.

Obama and the Law

From Ed Driscoll at PJ Media:

Yes, those continue to be mutually exclusive terms, as Roger Kimball notes today:

The latest instance of presidential lawlessness concerns the Taliban’s release of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in Afghanistan in exchange for five high-level Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay. Naturally, one rejoices at the release of an American solider after nearly five years of captivity in the savage hell-hole of Afghanistan. But as Rep. Howard McKeon and Sen. James Inhofe observed yesterday, “America has maintained a prohibition on negotiating with terrorists for good reason. Trading five senior Taliban leaders from detention in Guantanamo Bay for Bergdahl’s release may have consequences for the rest of our forces and all Americans.” Prediction: you’ll see many more Americans captured and held for ransom now that the Taliban knows our policy of not negotiating with terrorists implies that, if you push a little, we will happily negotiate with terrorists.

There’s also the little matter of how the transfer was arranged. As the Washington Post reports, “Lawmakers were not notified of the Guantanamo detainees’ transfer until after it occurred.” But, the report continues, “the law requires the defense secretary to notify relevant congressional committees at least 30 days before making any transfers of prisoners, to explain the reason and to provide assurances that those released would not be in a position to reengage in activities that could threaten the United States or its interests.” “The law requires.” Ha, ha, ha.

Moe Lane adds:

Whether or not you agree with Barack Obama or not on signing statements, there’s something peculiarly amusing in the way that he keeps casually forcing his strongest supporters to do the political equivalent of eat dog feces in public and then declare it to be the finest pate. I mean, not just the signing statements: this guy campaigned on closing Gitmo. Which Barack Obama still hasn’t done. 

I know, I know: the Activist Left collectively has no shame, or self-regard.  But it still burns them when we laugh and mock.  So there you go.

So one has to ask, why exchange for this prisoner? What is Obama trying to distract the Public's attention from?

You know who else believed, "When the President does it, that means it is not illegal," some guy by the name of Nixon.

Outcry on Hill Over Swap to Free Bergdahl as Case Reveals Lacking POW Strategy

From PJ Media:

As the years of Bowe Bergdahl’s captivity wore on, two fundamental sentiments floated around Capitol Hill: the desire to bring the Army sergeant home without capitulating to the Taliban, and the frustration that the capture of one soldier revealed a lack of cohesive strategy to recover prisoners of war.

The only American POW in Afghanistan, Bergdahl wandered off his base in eastern Afghanistan in June 2009 and was captured by Taliban forces. A proof-of-life video, the first received in three years, surfaced in January, reigniting attention on Bergdahl’s case.

“To every single person who worked so hard to make this recovery possible, WE LOVE YOU! GOD IS GREAT AND HIS MERCY ENDURES FOREVER!” Bowe’s father, Robert Bergdahl, tweeted today. The family had been planning a June 28 rally in Hailey, Idaho, to lobby for his release; Carole King agreed to perform for free.
Before appearing in the Rose Garden with Bergdahl’s parents, President Obama thanked the amir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and the government of Afghanistan for helping secure Bowe’s release — one that didn’t come without a price.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he informed Congress today of the decision to transfer five detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Qatar. “The United States has coordinated closely with Qatar to ensure that security measures are in place and the national security of the United States will not be compromised,” Hagel said. “I appreciate the efforts of the Emir of Qatar to put these measures in place, and I want to thank him for his instrumental role in facilitating the return of Sgt. Bergdahl.”

The trade did seem to catch Congress off-guard.

The reason the trade caught Congress of-guard, they were not informed of the exchange as required by law.

Wait, the Regime DIDN'T follow the law? ! Again. for the 178,045,698,376th time? and this is somehow shocking?

Only American captive of Taliban released in prisoner swap

From Hot Air:

The title pretty much says it all, but it certainly came out of the blue. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has been held captive for roughly five years, but a deal was reached to trade five jihadis for him and bring him home.

The lone American prisoner of war from the Afghan conflict, captured by insurgents nearly five years ago, has been released to American forces in exchange for five Taliban prisoners held at the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility, Obama administration officials said Saturday.

The soldier, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, was handed over to American Special Operations forces inside Afghanistan about 10:30 a.m. Saturday by a group of 18 Taliban, officials said.

American officials said that Sergeant Bergdahl was in good condition and able to walk.

The five Taliban prisoners at Guantánamo were being transferred into the custody of officials from Qatar, who will accompany them back to that Persian Gulf state, where they will be subject to security restrictions, including a one-year travel ban.

This is going to be a story with many mixed emotions for those reading it. Bergdahl is one of ours, never to be forgotten, and everyone wanted him back home safely. At the same time, we’ve had a standing maxim for a long time stating that we don’t negotiate with terrorists. This left us in a bit of a rock and a hard place situation. Frankly, I’d hoped that long before this we would have not only discovered his location, but launched an ambitious special forces effort to bust him out and bring him back alive if at all possible. Of course, not being privy to the intelligence surrounding the case, I have no way of knowing if that was even possible or if I’ve just watched too many war movies.

There is something fishy about this deal. There is always some ulterior motive with this Regime.