The US DOES negotiate / troops watch your backs

[fifth_column]

To be fair; the propagandists, spin doctors, and professional liars gotta eat too . . .

[/cynicism]

[geronimotwo]

if we starved them all, the world might get a little boring. 

[Jamisjockey]

The truth doesn't interest Americans. They want a movie plot

Like Jessica Lynch?  Not that she did anything wrong, she just was knocked the *expletive deleted*ck out from the get go in a fight that actually included honest real bravery.  And wasn't the only POW.  But she's a cute girl from a small town and all that, right? 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_P.O.W.s_in_2003_Invasion_of_Iraq#507th.27s_wrong_turn

The real hero of the 507th?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Miller_(soldier)  "Prior to his capture, Miller had stood his ground firing at the Iraqis with a malfunctioning weapon, feeding bullets into it by hand to protect two wounded comrades"
"After he was captured, he was repeatedly questioned about radio frequencies that were written on pieces of paper inside his helmet. "Thinking on his feet, Pfc. Miller told his captors that they were prices for power steering pumps," the release said. "Disgusted, the captors threw the frequencies and his helmet into the fire.""

He's the one that should have been all over the news.

[wmenorr67]

The real hero of the 507th?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Miller_(soldier)  "Prior to his capture, Miller had stood his ground firing at the Iraqis with a malfunctioning weapon, feeding bullets into it by hand to protect two wounded comrades"
"After he was captured, he was repeatedly questioned about radio frequencies that were written on pieces of paper inside his helmet. "Thinking on his feet, Pfc. Miller told his captors that they were prices for power steering pumps," the release said. "Disgusted, the captors threw the frequencies and his helmet into the fire.""

He's the one that should have been all over the news.

He was to some extent at the time but not enough.  Yes in my opinion the only one who got the award he deserved.

[roo_ster]

Like Jessica Lynch?  Not that she did anything wrong, she just was knocked the *expletive deleted* out from the get go in a fight that actually included honest real bravery.  And wasn't the only POW.  But she's a cute girl from a small town and all that, right? 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_P.O.W.s_in_2003_Invasion_of_Iraq#507th.27s_wrong_turn

The real hero of the 507th?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Miller_(soldier)  "Prior to his capture, Miller had stood his ground firing at the Iraqis with a malfunctioning weapon, feeding bullets into it by hand to protect two wounded comrades"
"After he was captured, he was repeatedly questioned about radio frequencies that were written on pieces of paper inside his helmet. "Thinking on his feet, Pfc. Miller told his captors that they were prices for power steering pumps," the release said. "Disgusted, the captors threw the frequencies and his helmet into the fire.""

He's the one that should have been all over the news.

From the wiki page:
"I'm not real worried about awards, The way I look at it, I did my job." Patrick Miller

[roo_ster]

http://pjmedia.com/jchristianadams/2014/06/02/bergdahl-they-dont-care-about-the-law-get-over-it/

It just so happens that the Obama administration seems to have broken a law in releasing five high value Islamic terrorists in exchange for Bergdahl.  Under the law, Congress was required to be notified before the release of any GITMO detainees.

Law? What law?  By now, six years into this drama straight out of James Madison’s worst nightmares, you should be used to Obama administration lawlessness.

The law is a suggestion to this crowd, and usually a nuisance.  Law is something to be twisted and reinterpreted.  When it stands in the way of progressive policies, it is something to be ignored.  The singular theme of the Obama age is lawlessness.

The craziness represented by Robert and Bowe Bergdahl are why the United States overpaid for his release.  They are why Obama broke the law to make all the wrong people happy.

[tokugawa]

 This thing stinks- Anybody see the pic or heard the statements of Bergdahls father? He looks like a muji. And Bergdahls comments?  It seems likely the entire thing was set up BY ALL PARTIES INVOLVED as an excuse to release the bad guys.

[Scout26]

...and to get the VA scandal off the news...

[MicroBalrog]

He deserted his post. He's a traitor, and deserves a firing squad not a trade of HVT's. Piece of *expletive deleted* traitorous garbage.

He's a suspect. Try him.

[Balog]

He's a suspect. Try him.

Obviously the military justice system does not execute people without a trial. 

[KD5NRH]

Obviously the military justice system does not execute people without a trial.

Send him through high threat areas on missions of questionable benefit, like looking for other defectors we can trade prisoners for.  That's obviously well within the military's bounds.

[AJ Dual]

This thing stinks- Anybody see the pic or heard the statements of Bergdahls father? He looks like a muji. And Bergdahls comments?  It seems likely the entire thing was set up BY ALL PARTIES INVOLVED as an excuse to release the bad guys.

I like to think of myself as the last person to wear the tinfoil on this sort of thing, but I agree it's awfully weird. There's some talk he "lost the ability to speak English" so they have to say stuff in Pashtun to him or whatever.

And the big weird beard and Islamic utterances of the father did give me some serious WTF-ery too. I guess playing Devil's Advocate, maybe the mother and father are just fruits and nuts, and the son, despite making a go of it in the .mil, didn't fall too far from the tree, which colored his decision to defect, desert, or engage in some half-assed attempt at solo hearts-n-minds work outside the wire.

Or maybe the Obama Admin, State Dept. or whoever's been working on the "deal", getting dad to grow out his beard, and say some Islamic stuff in the Rose Garden next to Obama was part of the "deal", some sort of Taliban ego-stroke.

Who knows?

And with the MSM covering for Obama so hard, does it matter? He'd have to stomp on puppies, or kill a baby on unedited unfiltered YouTube video from multiple random citizens recording on cell phones, or something equally drastic for it to actually be able to touch him by now.

[Jamisjockey]

...and to get the VA scandal off the news...

Leave it to the Obama administration to use a scandal to hide a scandal.....

[dogmush]

He also got promoted to SGT* while in captivity.  I'm curious how his packet got before the board.


*It would appear he got E4 as well, but that's pretty much an automatic if you haven't screwed up and have time in service.  I can see the command not wanting to admit the kid they spent months searching for might have wandered off, and giving him SPC when the time hit.  SGT on the other hand is supposed to have some merit, and schools to get.

[Perd Hapley]

Like Jessica Lynch?  Not that she did anything wrong, she just was knocked the *expletive deleted* out from the get go in a fight that actually included honest real bravery.  And wasn't the only POW.  But she's a cute girl from a small town and all that, right? 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_P.O.W.s_in_2003_Invasion_of_Iraq#507th.27s_wrong_turn

The real hero of the 507th?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Miller_(soldier)  "Prior to his capture, Miller had stood his ground firing at the Iraqis with a malfunctioning weapon, feeding bullets into it by hand to protect two wounded comrades"
"After he was captured, he was repeatedly questioned about radio frequencies that were written on pieces of paper inside his helmet. "Thinking on his feet, Pfc. Miller told his captors that they were prices for power steering pumps," the release said. "Disgusted, the captors threw the frequencies and his helmet into the fire.""

He's the one that should have been all over the news.

A co-worker and a customer were discussing this today. They observed that the aforementioned were unarmed, and that Lynch's fellow solders had told the Iraqi hostiles, "Take her. She's useless."

This kind of thing is why I do NOT believe in encouraging the masses to vote. 

[MechAg94]

He also got promoted to SGT* while in captivity.  I'm curious how his packet got before the board.


*It would appear he got E4 as well, but that's pretty much an automatic if you haven't screwed up and have time in service.  I can see the command not wanting to admit the kid they spent months searching for might have wandered off, and giving him SPC when the time hit.  SGT on the other hand is supposed to have some merit, and schools to get.

From what I heard he got the specialist promotion nearly a year after getting captured. 

[MechAg94]

http://www.ktrh.com/media/podcast-michael-berry-show-on-ktrh-michaelberry/
Today (6/2/14) in the 5PM hour, Michael Berry interviewed one of his former teammates who was in his unit when he was captured/deserted.  He said they found out after he disappeared that he had shipped his computer and other personal items home right before going on on the patrol where he disappeared. 

[Hutch]

So, was it Bowe we saw next to el Caudillo or hid dad?  I assume  it wad Bowe, and couldn't begin to imagine why his personal grooming were so bad.

[Ron]

Very little about this story adds up at all  

[Fitz]

He also got promoted to SGT* while in captivity.  I'm curious how his packet got before the board.


*It would appear he got E4 as well, but that's pretty much an automatic if you haven't screwed up and have time in service.  I can see the command not wanting to admit the kid they spent months searching for might have wandered off, and giving him SPC when the time hit.  SGT on the other hand is supposed to have some merit, and schools to get.

POW's get promoted when they hit TIG for the next rank , automatically.

It's how that one kid who was missing and later found dead ended up a SSG by the time his remains were found. I forget the kid's name.

[dogmush]

Learn something new every day.

[Fitz]

Learn something new every day.

The idea is that POWs are unable to complete the requirements to get promoted while they're captive, etc.

[TechMan]

Matt Maupin?

[Fitz]

Matt Maupin?

Yeah that's him. PFC at capture, IIRC.

[grampster]

Maybe the Democrats who have been blindly following the Marxist in the White House will begin to get a clue.