Posted on 06/05/2014 5:32:07 AM PDT by Kaslin
The trade of five of the vilest human beings on the planet for an alleged Army deserter may well have been a necessary evil – Americans don’t leave soldiers behind – but the lies behind it were not. The swapping of terrorist prisoners for a soldier would’ve been a simple story had the President of the United States not needed a distraction from his latest problem – the nearly forgotten Veterans Administration health care scandal – and to feed his ego. The President’s arrogance has hurt him yet again.
You can debate all you want over the virtue of the deal, others have and will, but the way it was handled was a failure of near Obamacare proportions.
The deal was awful, but it was also probably the only one the Taliban was going to accept. They had time, Bowe Bergdahl allegedly did not. Had the President simply announced the deal with a statement along the lines of “I understand this deal is a bad one for America, than it’s likely these men will return to their terrorist ways. But it’s the best deal we could make and we have a moral obligation to get him back. Sgt. Bergdahl has some questions to answer, and may well face charges for his actions. But he’s coming home because the United States does not leave any soldiers behind.”
If that was all the President said, or better yet in a written statement, this wouldn’t have been a story. But political reality and his ego could not allow that to be the narrative.
The President announced the deal not only personally, but in a Rose Garden ceremony with Bergdahl’s parents there for maximum emotional impact. The reality of Bergdahl’s service was not only ignored, it was lied about.
National Security Advisor Susan Rice was once again dispatched to a Sunday show to inflate the President’s actions and quell any controversy, saying Bergdahl “served the United States with honor and distinction.” Much like her last Sunday show appearance meant to quell controversy, it only made things worse.
Why was Rice or anyone dispatched to sell the swap of five terrorists for one military deserter? Because the President needed a victory of some sort and a distraction from the VA scandal. He got the later, veterans suffering and waiting for promised health care is gone from the front pages and nightly newscasts, but the former didn’t work out so well.
The problem, as seems to always be the case, is the administration over promised and under delivered. Bergdahl was a hero in need of rescue, not simply an American held by our enemy. He served with honor, not a man who walked away from his duty and cost the lives of his brothers in arms in a desperate search to find him.
The truth wouldn’t have reflected well enough on Barack Obama, so it had to be finessed, massaged, bastardized into an unrecognizable story worthy of Hollywood.
The lie that Bergdahl was simply a soldier being held by our enemy, a hero who, through no fault of his own, found himself a prisoner of war, was too much for our soldiers who knew the truth to stand. They had to speak.
Had those who served with Bowe Bergdahl kept silent, the twisted lies of the Obama administration would only have been told on conservative blogs and in passing mockery on MSNBC. But because those soldiers, our best and bravest proving that title once again, refused to stay silent, the media can’t ignore this story. And progressives, as much as they’d love to, can’t attack them. It’s an election year, and it’s now a very public rebuke of the White House’s narrative; to attack soldiers who lost friends searching for a possible deserter wouldn’t bode well for Democrats come November.
MSNBC is doing its best. Rachel Maddow trotted out unrelated Iraq war veteran, former Democratic Congressman and, totally coincidentally a fellow MSNBC host, Patrick Murphy to defend Barack Obama from “Republican attacks,” but they couldn’t dispute the fact that the White House lied.
That this is the best progressive Democrats could muster tells you just how absurd the lie was. Which returns us to the question of why make it in the first place? Especially when the truth would’ve sufficed. The only answer is arrogance – the legacy must be padded. If this lie is the length to which the President’s minions will go to pad his legacy, well, that tells you just how bad they know it to be.
I hope that phrase lasts in colloquial speech; those words should be Obama's only surviving legacy.
His Macaca moment is coming. He is used to receiving adulation wherever he goes. He won't be able to handle derision. It will push him over the edge.
That's a wonderful philosophy but it cannot be implemented without boundaries. Suppose the Taliban asked for a Stealth Bomber armed with nukes? Or the state of Hawaii?
Yes, as a general rule, we try to get back our dead, our wounded, our captured, and even our deserters. But, if bin Laden himself had been at Guantanamo and his release was the only way to get Bergdahl back, would Obama have done it? Why not? Americans don't leave soldiers behind.
You can feel his arrogance radiating out of this picture. He and his staff thought we'd embrace this half-islamic traitorous family and he would be their godhead.
We were supposed to praise him for executing this exchange. What an ungrateful, disrespectful bunch of jerks we turned out to be.
The “American Electorate” continues to elect adolescent, psychotic, junior-high-schoolers to represent them, time and time again.
IMHO
His “Macaca moment”?
Obama could say something blatantly racist, like “typical white person”, and the left would defend him.
He could have a top official in his administration openly declare that he would stop any prosecution of “his people” if the victims were white, and the left would defend him.
Oh... wait... yep, already happened.
We should have never lowered the voting age it should be 25 but 18 for active duty military.
Agree completely. But there’s also the time-factor. The U. S. “left [Everett Alvarez] behind” for close to NINE years, and almost no NV-held American prisoner-of-war was brought home in fewer than five years. AND the deal involved the end of hostilities. (And it might even have been a good deal if Congress hadn’t betrayed SV.)
Even so, I’m wondering about the weasel wording in “Americans don’t leave soldiers behind.” “Soldiers” has meaning, and “deserter,” much less “collaborator,” just isn’t part of that meaning. It’s also interesting that the quote isn’t “America doesn’t leave soldiers behind.” The only “Americans” responsible for leaving behind or retrieving a “soldier” are other soldiers or the CIC with the help of soldiers. And a minimum of six American soldiers lost their lives trying to retrieve Bergdahl. Doesn’t that put paid to the bill?
Obama and his flying monkeys don’t have to triagulate public opinion. They don’t care and will do as they damned well please, because....who’s gonna stop them at this point....? Boehner? SCOTUS?
We expect the White House press secretary to lie. It goes with the job.
Susan Rice is not the press secretary. She does however advise the President, so there is a conflict of interest whenever she appears on television. Tell the truth, or lie to protect the President. There is no longer any doubt her choice will always be to lie when the truth is damaging.
The double standard of the media is only spotlighted when they allow the Democrats come out with their daily “talking points” that more often then not simply deny, delay, or deflect from this administration and attempt to shift responsibility to someone else.
This administration lies even when telling the truth would be better.
Liars lie. There should be no doubt. If you trust anyone in government (especially this current Clown Car administration) you are seriously naive.
The President’s arrogance has hurt him yet again.
i have yet to see how his arrogance has hurt him even once...
We don’t leave soldiers behind, just ambassadors.
Don't forget post-turtle Mitch, the soon-to-be former Senator from Kentucky.
Good Ol’ Shoe.
Could this be the shot that Starts CIVII.
The US Solders swears to obey the orders of the POTUS.
But now every American solder has just saw the POTUS release 5 of our deadliest enemies in exchange for what appears to be a traitor. And when allah was praised at the WhiteHouse the POTUS was caught smiling.
I bet alot of US solders are questioning today just who is their enemy.
When the Democratic Senator and Congress realize the extent of Obama treachery. They will turn on him like a pack of angry wolves.
It may very well be the time to stick a fork in it;
it’s done.
IMHO
US soldiers swear to obey the LAWFUL orders of those appointed above them. Soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines all know this. They are much better trained in the laws of armed conflict than previous generations including my own were. This is why a lot of servicemen are questioning who their real enemy is today.
The military does not swear fealty to the president or any general, colonel, etc, but to the Constitution.
Point taken.
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