Here’s what Loathsome bastard Lt. Col. Ralph Peters had to say about captured soldier Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl:
He is an apparent deserter. Reports are indeed that he abandoned his buddies, abandoned his post, and walked off. We’ll see what the ultimate truth of it is, but if he did … he’s a deserter at wartime ….
On that video, he is collaborating with the enemy. Under duress or not – that’s really not relevant – he’s making accusations about the behavior of the military in Afghanistan that are unfounded, saying that there are no rules, he’s lying about how he was captured, saying he lagged behind the patrol. … So we know that this private is a liar. We’re not sure if he’s a deserter. But the media needs to hit the pause button, and not portray this guy as a hero. … He’s making anti-American statements, I mean, he wants to investigate Islam, blah blah blah. …
If he walked away from his post and his buddies at wartime … I don’t care how hard it sounds, as far as I’m concerned, the Taliban can save us a lot of legal hassles and legal bills.
I didn’t comment within the post, since no comment seemed inadequate; but here I’ll note that Ayn Rand once recommended somewhere (anyone remember where?) that the u.s. military should have a standing order to all its personnel, to the effect that in the event of capture by the enemy they are commanded to sign or record any statement that their captors require — on the grounds that such a policy would both decrease the risk of soldiers’ being tortured to extract statements, and negate the propaganda effectiveness of such statements.
(Of course, captors sometimes negate the credibility themselves when they dictate wording that sounds inauthentic — as when POW John McCain admitted “I am a black criminal and have performed the deeds of an air pirate.”)
We also have Ann Coulter’s remarks on the 9-11 widows and Max Baucus, Limbaugh on the “fake soldiers,” etc. The people most prone to fake moral outrage whenever the left shows improper respect for “The Troops” are themselves quite enthusiastic in their willingness to throw them under the bus when they stop being pious stage props and express actual opinions. Compare also the Republican outrage over Pelosi’s remarks about the “heroes” in the CIA to Cheney’s, Libby’s, et al’s treatment of Valerie Plame. See also the the mischaracterization of events by Bill O’Reilly, Mr. Disingenuous himself, as a president honestly misled into Iraq by bad intelligence from the CIA, rather than an OSP systematically pressuring the CIA to alter and stovepipe intelligence.
I’m not usually a fan of the state’s prison system, but I’d really love to see Cheney, Gonzales and Yoo die in it.
I’ve never been able to figure out which of its servants the state treats well and which it throws to the wolves. You’d think veterans would have red carpet treatment for risking their lives for “the nation”, “the country”, but they make up a large % of homeless. On the other hand I know people whose relatives served in the military and got cushy jobs in the private sector afterward (of course it’s a “free market”, haha).
Despicable. Whether or not he is a deserter should be irrelevant. He is an American citizen, and should be treated as such. He volunteered to fight for his country, and something made him change sides (if that is even true). I have a personal connection to this story, since I am an ex-infantryman and a deserter (although, since then I have cleared everything up and no longer have any affiliation with the U.S. Army; and no, I did not go to prison).
In any case, I applaud him if he did in fact desert. It takes more courage to walk away than it does to continue fighting.
what would the US military look like if enlistees could leave willingly? perhaps not much different.
…but what really prompted me to write a comment was the Lt Col.’s vitriol:
“as far as I’m concerned, the Taliban can save us a lot of legal hassles and legal bills.”
for me, this frames an institutionalized mentality perfectly. seeing humans as farm animals is bad enough. but reducing his sympathy to the level of mundane paperwork?