Wednesday, January 28, 2015

What's For Deserter?

According to news reports (denied by the Pentagon), US Army Sergeant Bowe Berghdahl, who was swapped for five (count 'em!) high-value Taliban terrorists in a prisoner exchange last year, is soon going to go on trial as a deserter. Of course, when Barack Obama secretly made the deal for Bergdahl's release - without consulting the military - there was absolutely no way he could have known this.

Only kidding! Everybody knew it! But Barry made the deal anyway because he mostly just wanted an excuse to put terrorists back on the battlefield, and also to show that he'd leave "no man in uniform behind" in the midst of his VA scandal.

Here are some samples of what Hope n' Change had to say at the time...

June 2, 2014 - Another Big Effing Deal

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(Excerpt) the POW, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, may actually have been a military deserter at the time he was captured (or conscripted) by the enemy - and at the very least was a man who held a singularly low opinion of the United States even before his alleged capture.  According to Bergdahl, our nation is "the most conceited country in the world" and "I am ashamed to be an American. And the title of US soldier is just the lie of fools. I am sorry for everything. The horror that is America is disgusting.”

Sentiments which, of course, match those of his commander in chief - the Great Liberator of Guantanamo Bay.

June 4, 2014 - Let's Fake A Deal

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Bowe Bergdahl's father offers Islamic victory prayer in Rose Garden

 (Excerpt) Susan "I'll Say Anything" Rice made the rounds of news shows claiming that Sgt. Bergdahl served "with honor and distinction," which doesn't seem to quite square with the impression given by every other soldier who served with him. Then again, perhaps Ms. Rice has simply been misinformed by a Youtube video.

Meanwhile, James Clapper, then director of National Intelligence, said in 2012 that the "Gitmo Five" were unquestionably too dangerous to release...

June 6, 2014 - Suit First, Ask Questions Later

obama, obama jokes, political, humor, cartoon, conservative, hope n' change, hope and change, stilton jarlsberg, bowe bergdahl, taliban, gitmo five, susan rice, jay carney
(Excerpt) The White House is now asserting that anyone who voluntarily puts on the uniform of the United States has accomplished all that is necessary to be given the "served with honor and distinction" label to wear a lifetime, no matter what circumstances occur later.

And Hope n' Change can't help but wonder: will Nidal Hassan continue to rot in jail here in the United States, or will his service with "honor and distinction" allow him to be bundled with the Blind Sheikh, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and other jihadists for Barry's next prisoner swap?

21 comments:

Geoff King said...

re·vul·sion
rəˈvəlSH(ə)n/
noun
1.
a sense of disgust and loathing.
synonyms: disgust, repulsion, abhorrence, repugnance, nausea, horror, aversion, abomination, distaste
None of the above words accurately describe my feelings when I realize that he is still drawing breath (Øbama, not Bergdahl) and that his popularity rating has actually risen from the upper 30's around last year's Midterms to the upper 40's now. How can almost half of this country possibly still like this lying piece of crap communist traitor?
We, as a nation, are doomed.

Joseph ET said...

Army deserter Bowe Berghdahl has claimed that he was badly treated and kept in a cage for a great deal of time. As far as I know we only have “his word” on that. I do not believe him! His original plan was to hike out of that country and could have attempted that at anytime after he was no longer caged. It is possible that he got Stockholm syndrome at some point. I haven’t heard anyone in the military suggest that yet.

For robbing a bank, with the Symbionese Liberation Army, Patty Hearst had Stockholm syndrome and was still given the maximum sentence possible of 35 years' imprisonment pending a reduction at final sentence hearing. William Horsley Orrick, Jr. decided on Hearst's sentence, he gave her 7 years imprisonment. President Jimmy Carter's commutation of her sentence to the 22 months served freed Hearst 8 months before she would have had a parole hearing. The 1979 release was under stringent conditions. President Ronald Reagan reportedly gave serious consideration to pardoning Hearst. She recovered full rights when President Bill Clinton granted her a pardon on January 20, 2001. (Credit wikipedia)

I question whether or not deserter Berghdahl should be a Sergeant. I even e-mailed Colonel Allen West my question about when the Army started providing automatic promotions. I have sent my question to media folks too. I have yet to receive an answer. When I served in the Army 1963-1967 a solder had to actually earn each promotion! One also had to be present and doing their duty efficiently of course.

For most veterans it is important that Berghdahl face a court martial, serve some hard time and be stripped of all benefits!! If this guy walks away from this with a slap on the wrist it will crush moral in the military for decades. In the military we can find ourselves in a difficult position and want to go home. But, most people will stay and complete their assigned mission and their obligation.
Deserter Berghdahl should NOT get five years of back pay, or VA benefits including POW benefits.

TrickyRicky said...

He's a traitor. Try him, pass sentence, execute sentence. Bergdahl too.

Grumpy Curmudgeon said...

To paraphrase from the linked NY Post Article "Bowe, I'm your father...come to the Dark Side, we have cookies...they're halal".

From the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice):

885. ARTICLE 85. DESERTION
10. Punitive Articles

(a) Any member of the armed forces who–

(1) without authority goes or remains absent from his unit, organization, or place of duty with intent to remain away therefrom permanently;

(2) quits his unit, organization, or place of duty with intent to avoid hazardous duty or to shirk important service; or

(3) without being regularly separated from one of the armed forces enlists or accepts an appointment in the same or another one of the armed forces without fully disclosing the fact that he has not been regularly separated, or enters any foreign armed service except when authorized by the United States; is guilty of desertion.

(b) Any commissioned officer of the armed forces who, after tender of his resignation and before notice of its acceptance, quits his post or proper duties without leave and with intent to remain away therefrom permanently is guilty of desertion.

(c) Any person found guilty of desertion or attempt to desert shall be punished, if the offense is committed in time of war, by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct, but if the desertion or attempt to desert occurs at any other time, by such punishment, other than death, as a court-martial may direct.


I served in Vietnam, and we had bug outs there as well, but unless they were in the cities, they soon tired of a diet of rice balls and fish heads. The military didn't actively pursue them as they figured they would surface somewhere over the years and would be dealt with then, and why waste the resources. Even so, I have a hard time understanding why Bug-Out Bergdahl (I refuse to call him by his 'rank' as it was awarded under the 'time in grade' provisions for the period served as a supposed POW) ever joined the volunteer military, and since he seemed such a non fit from the beginning, why the Army didn't purge him out.

As far as Bergdahl being a POW, my brother-in-Law enjoyed the luxuries of Stalg Luft III in Romania for years after being shot down over Polesti - that's a POW.

Colby Muenster said...

The fact that The Pentagon has not announced they are pursuing charges against Bergdahl tells me that O'Liar will likely make them back down using the tried and true "Smurf" tactic (holding his breath until his face turns blue). I'm expecting to hear a big "never mind... false alarm" any day now.

But, perhaps we can hope against hope that somebody at The Pentagon actually has the balls to stand up to O'Jackass.

American Cowboy said...

@Joseph ET said, "If this guy walks away from this with a slap on the wrist it will crush moral in the military for decades."

And THAT is exactly what the agenda behind this revolting swap was. IMO.

American Cowboy said...

@ TrickyRicky

Agreed! The only thing I can add is my opinion that the sentence for desertion should be the same as it was years ago.

Bruce Bleu said...

Well, by lamont's logic there is NO SUCH THING as desertion, sedition, unpatriotism, treason or defection any more IF you have worn our military's uniform. Is there need for any more evidence that lamont is completely batsh*t CRAZY? I think when he gets his bony ass kicked out of MY White House he should be given a show on MSNBS called "More on Politics", (nudge nudge, wink wink).

Rob said...

If Bergdahl is ashamed of his country, does this mean he and Barry can get married?

John the Econ said...

The only surprises about the shameful Berghdahl episode are that they're actually going to go through with a court marshal for one who served so well "with honor and distinction" to the embarrassment of the administration, and that the media even bothered to report on this embarrassment in the first place. I don't often toss the "treason" allegation about, but knowingly trading 5 Taliban terrorists (all of whom have long since slipped away into the shadows I understand) for a worthless deserting loser may qualify. It's still befuddling to see what the upside might have been, for anybody other than our enemies.

John the Econ said...

I so wish running a blog was more profitable, since the absurdities of this age simply demand more than 3 cartoons a week. Here's what else is happening:

Yesterday, I had to read this in the British press because the American press clearly isn't interested, but the CBO reports that Obamacare is going to cost us $50,000 per person who gets health insurance, the government is going to spend almost $2-trillion ober the next decade while only taking in $643-billion to cover it, which will actually increase the number of uninsured by at least 24-million, and ultimately will leave just as many people uninsured after than as before ObamaCare.

So basically, we're going to go another $1.3-trillion into debt for absolutely nothing. Only in Obamaland would this be considered a "success".

The IRS will be punishing you for voting incorrectly: The IRS said it expects to be unable to answer half of taxpayer calls this year, threatens to hold back on its efforts to combat Identity Theft, and will be taking longer to process refunds.

As I predicted with last year's "sequestration theater", the Federal bureaucracy is going to be getting more and more bold with punishing America for not voting "correctly" for Progressive Democrats and denying them ever expanding budgets. Unfortunately, instead of getting a leaner, meaner, more efficient government, all you're likely to get with a GOP Congress is just a meaner government that will continually be throwing temper tantrums for not getting what they want, and will be punishing you at every opportunity. And as government continues to get bigger and encroaches on more and more aspects of your daily life, this will become more and more of a problem for ordinary Americans.

...to be continued...

John the Econ said...

...continued...


So I guess we're going to let Iran finish their nuke. That's the only take-away possible from Obama's negotiation agenda with Iran, which refuses to ratchet up economic sanctions, contrary to what Obama said he'd do a mere 6 months ago. Of course, after Obama's Syrian "Red Line", nobody takes him the least bit serious on such matters; He'll always be willing to kick any issue 6 months down the road if it involves making a hard decision or commitment.

Speaking of Sanctions: Anyone remember pre-9/11 when Iraq was the subject, and the Democrats pleaded with Bush to impose sanctions over threatening war? That was back when we still somewhat "spoke softly and carried a big stick". "Sanctions" were considered the "benign solution" because everyone knew Bush was serious. Now, the Democrats can't even bring themselves to endorse "benign", and nobody takes Obama the least bit seriously.

And finally, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists says Earth is now closer to human-caused doomsday than it has been in more than 30 years. But it's not because fascist Mullahs of Iran are about get their own nukes and have expressed glee at the thought of using them, but more so because of "global warming".

I've always been amused by the "Doomsday Clock", because it's more accurately tracked how Progressives have felt about conservative policy than it has actual threats to our well-being.

So now that it's been moved up as close to midnight as it's been since the administration of Ronald Reagan, it's amusing to note that it's not because the worlds most unstable (in every sense of the word) regimes are now nuclear-capable, but it's because of "global warming"; something that isn't likely going to kill us in a flash, or at all.

Somehow, I doubt the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists would have moved their clock up 3 minutes had the Democrats retained Congress last fall.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Geoff King- I'm appalled by B. Hussein, too. And how his popularity ratings can be rising is beyond me. They might as well call it the National Stupidity Index.

@Joseph ET- It will be interesting to see if Bergdahl really is prosecuted, or if the White House manages to give him safe haven somehow.

I agree with all of the points you make, but will add that for all of his failings, Bergdahl is still just a pawn in Obama's larger plan to aid and assist Islamic radicalism. Bergdahl offends me; Obama scares me.

@TrickyRicky- I see what you did there (grin).

@Grumpy Curmudgeon- I agree that we only have Bergdahl's word for the conditions of his captivity, and his "word" got a little tarnished when he violated his oath of service.

Recall, too, that one of the reasons Obama said he had to make the dramatic (and illegal) swap in a hurry because a video theoretically showed a drastic degradation in Bergdahl's health, making it life-and-death to get him back. Funny that we haven't heard much about those supposed health issues since then...

@Colby Muenster- I'm not sure how Barry could make this go away, but I'm sure he's trying everything possible. But the Pentagon can't cave without paying a terrible price in terms of troop morale - not to mention having their stature and seriousness diminished in the eyes of our enemies.

@American Cowboy- Considering Barry's anti-American goals, he can turn almost any situation into a win-win for himself. The Taliban gets its terrorists back, Barry can claim he retrieves soldiers, military morale is harmed, and the precedent for negotiating with terrorists is set. He's a busy guy, this president.

Regarding potential punishment, I believe the death sentence is on the table, but that will never happen. My bet: even if convicted, his sentence will be reduced to time served as a (possible) "prisoner."

@Bruce Bleu- You're right; how can there be "desertion" when Barry himself as demonstrated that an oath is meaningless, that military protocol can be ignored, and there are no such things as "borders."

@Rob- Absolutely!

Shelly said...

Anyone with a pea-sized brain (Obama supporters excluded) could see the motive behind this deal. Primarily, Obama wants to empty Gitmo and this was a good start. Secondly, he wanted to strut his stuff and prove he loves the military, hence, the Rose Garden ceremony. I don't buy the progressives rant about bringing all soldiers home. If that were true, he would have done something about Sgt. Tameroosi (sp) languishing in a Mexican jail. Of course, there was no upside for Obama to do that, so he didn't. I read this morning the White House is begging the Army not to charge Bergdahl. If that happens, desertion will have no meaning in the future.

Colby Muenster said...

I'm not versed in the ins and outs of the military, but do know that O'Liar is the so called Commander in Chief. So, doesn't that mean he outranks pretty much everybody in the military? It's not a stretch to imagine Barry using his magic pen to save that Taliban scrotum licking asswipe, Bergdahl from court martial.

It's kind of funny, when you think about it. Barry's really painted himself into a corner on this one. Too bad the morons who support O'Liar won't hear about it. The story won't be on DWTS or Survivor.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@John the Econ- Addressing your comments in order...

No, the Bergdahl swap presented no benefits to anyone other than our enemies. Including those in the White House.

You wish a blog was "more" profitable? Ha! I don't even break even. I'd declare myself non-profit, but a member of ISIS might think I was speaking heresy and behead me.

I saw the article on the $50k per Obamacare enrollee. Think how much easier/cheaper it would have been to simply give each potential enrollee a $20k credit to get peachy insurance with. But nooOOoo.

The IRS is definitely in "punishing the peons" mood. Not that they were really ever good about answering questions or doing so accurately. But now it's a flat out adversarial (and still incompetent) beureaucracy. Time for a universal flat tax, and an opportunity to dump 95% of tax regulations and the worker drones who enforce them.

Re: Iran, like you I can see no endgame here other than Iran having their nuke weapons soon. Nor do I see any reason to doubt that this is exactly what Obama wants. My belief is that Obama thinks "peace" can be achieved in the Middle East only one way: with the destruction of Israel and the establishment of a continent-wide caliphate. I can think of a lot of clues that this is his goal...and almost no evidence to the contrary.

On a news show the other day, someone said that "sanctions" should more properly be called "leverage" for negotiations. Pity that the White House doesn't see it that way. Or again, maybe they do - but Barry's goals aren't our goals.

And finally - who knew that the Doomsday Clock was actually a sundial?

@Shelly- Great summary. I agree completely.

@Colby Muenster- The only tricky bit for Barry will be pulling Bergdahl's ass out of the fire (and view of the press) without his involvement being too closely scrutinized. I'm guessing he'll be giving some triple-secret orders to the top brass soon.

Grumpy Curmudgeon said...

@Stilton: I agree on the flat tax or federal sales tax or something that would replace the IRS, however, that will never happen despite all the politician's chest thumping. Why? Two reasons: 1) Tax Lawyers and 2) CPA's - think how many would be put out of work and couldn't have the pols in their pockets.

Still, I can Hope 4 Change

Pamecon said...

Troops' lives were lost searching for that creep. That's not the crime here. They would search for any missing man, deserter or not.
The vile tragedy is Obola's release of tangos for thus asshole.
The paradox (NOT) is how this disgusting swap happened before the investigation was completed. Why no media outcry? either this guy's stupid, careless, or impeachable.

Judi King said...

@ Grumpy, think about how many people would be out of work with ANY reform or change that would be good for America! Tax reform, term limits, government worker's cut backs, cure for cancer...etc., etc., etc. I doubt if any of it will happen. @ John the Econ...I wish you or Mr. Jarlsberg were running for president!

John the Econ said...

@Grumpy Curmudgeon, I can think of 2 other constituencies who'd object even more venomously than lawyers and accountants: Congress and the IRS itself. Congress gets most of it's power over us (and campaign cash) from manipulating the tax code, and those who wish the tax code be manipulated on their behalf. Nobody gives up that kind of power voluntarily.

And interestingly, I consult for a fair number of accountants who actually do favor a non-IRS "flat tax" or "fair tax" regime. The more enlightened ones realize that less money and resources spent on accounting and compliance means more money spent on investment and expansion, which they'd much rather be involved with then being buried in tens-of-thousands of pages of IRS drudgery.

@Judi King, you flatter us. But unfortunately, too many Americans would find a Econ-Jarlsberg Administration lacking in concern for their personal problems. We wouldn't even pretend to have the answers most people misguidedly want from Government today. My answer to most "What are you going to do about..." questions would be "Nothing. You are going to do something about it." Free people coming together of their free will and out of common interest to solve problems will always be more powerful and efficient than action promulgated by coercion.

Unfortunately in America today, too many people have been bred to think of "free will" only in hedonistic terms, and not ways that benefit themselves and society.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Judi King & John the Econ- I'll second John's opinion that a lot of the American people wouldn't be too tickled with my insights or leadership. I have a wide Libertarian streak, and am also likely to say inappropriate things at potentially inappropriate times (note: it's a privilege of age, not an actualy illness).

That being said, I wouldn't mind being a speechwriter (or joke writer) for the right leader.