AP has an article headlined, "Bergdahl Charged Despite Torture, Attempts to Escape Taliban" (italics added):
"Bergdahl's lawyer Eugene Fidell said the sergeant has already suffered more than enough." Okay, consider that in sentencing, but he is still a deserter, and his military record needs to reflect that.
Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl says he was tortured repeatedly in the five years he was held captive by the Taliban: beaten with a copper cable, chained, held in a cage and threatened with execution after trying to escape.Despite? Nevertheless? Is desertion any less desertion because it is followed by bad consequences for the deserter when the enemy he places himself in the hands of turns out to be (surprise, surprise) the enemy?
Bergdahl described his captivity in a note his lawyer made public Thursday after sharing it with the Army in an attempt to avert a court martial.
The Army charged Bergdahl nevertheless on Wednesday, accusing him of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy for leaving his post in Afghanistan in June 2009.
"Bergdahl's lawyer Eugene Fidell said the sergeant has already suffered more than enough." Okay, consider that in sentencing, but he is still a deserter, and his military record needs to reflect that.
The Obama administration is standing by the prisoner swap.
"Was it worth it? Absolutely. We have a commitment to our men and women serving overseas, or in our military, defending our national security every day, that we will do everything we can to bring them home, and that's what we did in this case," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told Fox News.
We have a commitment to those who serve honorably. To those who walk away from their duty we owe nothing. Someone who is so oblivious to the difference between honorable service and dishonorable desertion ought not be commander-in-chief.
I guess we had a "commitment" to Benedict Arnold, too.
Not that a single word this deserter now says is to be taken as truthful. His lawyer releasing some self-praising, self-serving "letter" should be taken as a joke.
The disingenuousness of this Administration knows no bounds, but here I think they are being truthful. They just don't care about honorable service or, for that matter, American servicemen (Musa Ali Daqduq shows that.)
They want to close GTMO, and this is what it took. Of course, they have no regrets. And they don't regret smearing his platoon mates.