Was U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl a Traitor?

[sana8410]

This soldier has chances of facing prosecution primarily because he was unhappy with the war??? and he could not justify to himself insulting attitude of US soldiers towards ordinary Afghans; means he committed an offense or probably a crime by being humane and sensitive or for not being biased. This is totally insane.

[umair127]

It is strange how the only Obama administration trade involves 5 of the most deadly taliban leaders out there for a guy who from what I am gathering deserted his platoon.  Maybe I am watching a little too much Homeland but could this guy be our Sgt. Brody

[bryant.coleman]

It is strange how the only Obama administration trade involves 5 of the most deadly taliban leaders out there for a guy who from what I am gathering deserted his platoon.  Maybe I am watching a little too much Homeland but could this guy be our Sgt. Brody

I have already posted that trading five of these terrorists for just one US soldier was a grave mistake. They should have got at least two dozen American soldiers. But still I believe that it is too early to call Bergdahl a deserter.

[Wilikon]

Taliban Video Shows Handover of Sgt. Bergdahl to U.S. Forces

http://online.wsj.com/articles/taliban-video-shows-handover-of-former-pow-bergdahl-to-u-s-forces-1401866517

[5flags]

Anyone who doesn't support America's brutal war on Afghans is a traitor. Without this war, the US would not be able to create enough terrorists to warrant the huge sums of money it wants to give to arms manufacturers.

[blumangroup]

Was he a trator? No he was not. He served in the military, at least in a somewhat loyal way.

Was he a hero? No he was not. From what I can tell he left his post at least one time prior to being captured. He also appeared to have left his post a 2nd (or more) time when he was captured. This may or may not have caused his capture, but it certainly increased the chances of him being captured.

Should he serve time in jail (or the military equivalent)? No, he was already held for over 5 years in conditions that are likely worse then what jail would have been. He has served his sentence.

What should we do with this person? We should give him a discharge from the military. The discharge should be neither honorable, nor dishonorable. He should not receive any pay/benefit above what he earned when he was actually serving.

Just my .02 BTC

[Ron~Popeil]

Anyone who doesn't support America's brutal war on Afghans is a traitor. Without this war, the US would not be able to create enough terrorists to warrant the huge sums of money it wants to give to arms manufacturers.

The Afghan war should have never been a war. We could have accomplished what we needed to with purely covert ops. Now even more people hate us and our drone diplomacy is just making it worse. 

[bryant.coleman]

The Afghan war should have never been a war. We could have accomplished what we needed to with purely covert ops. Now even more people hate us and our drone diplomacy is just making it worse. 

Backlash will be there in any nation, if the foreign troops try to station there for a long time. Afghanistan is no different. The US military presence in Afghanistan should have been a temporary and limited one, rather than stationing the troops there permanently.

[Ron~Popeil]

The Afghan war should have never been a war. We could have accomplished what we needed to with purely covert ops. Now even more people hate us and our drone diplomacy is just making it worse. 

Backlash will be there in any nation, if the foreign troops try to station there for a long time. Afghanistan is no different. The US military presence in Afghanistan should have been a temporary and limited one, rather than stationing the troops there permanently.

I really think we could have accomplished a lot of what we needed to do with air strikes and covert special ops. The backlash also has a tragic habit of following our troops home after the fact.   

[JohnnyLightning]

Nobody I have spoken to has thought this trade was a good idea.

[5flags]

The Afghan war should have never been a war. We could have accomplished what we needed to with purely covert ops. Now even more people hate us and our drone diplomacy is just making it worse.  

To this day I have no idea what the war in Afghanistan was fought for. The punishment of Afghans for the second 9/11 was immediate, and brutal, even though the crime had nothing to do with them - most of the hijackers were Saudi, why weren't we bombing the house of Saud again?

I wrote to my MP here in the UK to try and discern what the war was being fought for. I had a response from the Foreign Secretary, and it was abundantly clear that the cabinet had no idea either.

[beetcoin]

It is strange how the only Obama administration trade involves 5 of the most deadly taliban leaders out there for a guy who from what I am gathering deserted his platoon.  Maybe I am watching a little too much Homeland but could this guy be our Sgt. Brody

i was thinking of homeland as well.. kind of interesting how fiction imitates life (or not).

anyway, i'm going to go crazy conspiracy here.. maybe the U.S. wants terrorism to exist, so they have an excuse to invade other countries.

[5flags]

anyway, i'm going to go crazy conspiracy here.. maybe the U.S. wants terrorism to exist, so they have an excuse to invade other countries.

You have to bear in mind that the "War on Terror™" has precisely nothing to do with combating terrorism. The "War on Terror™" is a propaganda framework. Nothing more.

[MaxwellsDemon]

anyway, i'm going to go crazy conspiracy here.. maybe the U.S. wants terrorism to exist, so they have an excuse to invade other countries.

I find it both hilarious and terrifying that so many people still think of that as a conspiracy theory.
If the mainstream media told you that objects fall upwards, would you believe gravity is a conspiracy theory?

The CIA armed and trained the Taliban to begin with. This is not a secret, it's just what the US always does.

[bryant.coleman]

maybe the U.S. wants terrorism to exist, so they have an excuse to invade other countries.

Two of America's most trusted allies (Saudi Arabia and Qatar) are funding and sponsoring various terrorist organizations in every nook and corner of the world. Rather than invading Afghanistan, they should have invaded Saudi Arabia.

[5flags]

Two of America's most trusted allies (Saudi Arabia and Qatar) are funding and sponsoring various terrorist organizations in every nook and corner of the world. Rather than invading Afghanistan, they should have invaded Saudi Arabia.

Yup. And Al Qaeda was set up by the US. Maybe they should have bombed themselves.

But bombing Afghanistan? Made about as much sense as bombing Luxembourg.

[Lethn]

I'm still convinced we went to war in Afghanistan for precious metals, of course, you'll never get politicians to admit this and the media barely report on it as with anything that's important.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jun/18/afghanistan-mineral-deposits

Unlike other people I think religion is just something used as an excuse to rouse the fanatics against a particular group that isn't being co-operative. I don't think it's an actual cause of war, I think resources are the main thing, Afghanistan is also a large supplier of the world's illegal drug market, another way for corrupt officials to make a shit ton of money, think about it, what's better for a criminal organisation than to be backed by the army of the very country you're operating in?

In traditional sense I suppose you could call him a traitor, but the problem is the U.S is far from innocent and they wouldn't have has many soldiers going AWOL or committing suicide if they were doing the right thing like they claim, you have had U.S soldiers taking refuge in Germany as well because they fear going back to the U.S.

[5flags]

Unlike other people I think religion is just something used as an excuse to rouse the fanatics against a particular group, I don't think it's an actual cause of war, I think resources are the main thing.

Undoubtedly. The fact that Muslims sit on top of massive oil reserves has nothing to do with their demonisation in the West. Really.

Even when the British and the French were divvying up the Middle East between themselves after WWI, the British insisted on maintaining control of Mesopotamia because, and they were very upfront about it, they wanted the oil.

[Rampion]

I'm still convinced we went to war in Afghanistan for precious metals, of course, you'll never get politicians to admit this and the media barely report on it as with anything that's important.

Do not forget heroin - CIA funds its blacks ops by, among other things, trafficking with all kinds of drugs, among which heroin. Afghanistan was the first producer of opium in the world (the "precursor" of heroin) until the Taliban arrived and destroyed all the opium camps precisely to fuck with CIA interests, luckily enough for the US they bombed the country killing hundreds of thousands to restore their profitable businesses - now opium cultivation is at an all time high in Afghanistan thanks to CIA money pouring into it.

Just check this BBC graph, it speaks for itself:



Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24919056

As soon as the Talibans destroyed all the fields (early 2001) 9/11 happened and oh, Talibans were crushed and opium cultivation fields restored. If you watch the opium fields on satellite images you will see that they are all in US controlled areas.

[Lethn]

Thanks, I didn't have much information on the opium trade in Afghanistan, I did mention drugs, but I haven't done that much research into it.