Bowe Bergdahl

[Anonymous]

Question: Is a deserter considered a POW?

[Anonymous]

The Taliban was the controlling government in Afghanistan when the US went in and removed it. Because they were the government, these guys are not "terrorists". They were part of the armed forces and government we fought in Afghanistan. One of the five we exhanged was a governor under Taliban rule. As such, they are POWs. POWs are exchanged for other POWs. Now Al Qaeda is a stateless terrorist organization, a different animal all together. The Taliban let Al Qaeada operate in their country. Terrorist and POWs are not the same. Just as US civilians being held captive vs US POWs are different(we do not exchange POWs for civilians).

The Taliban was not recognized as the legitimate government of Afghanistan except by Saudi, Pakistan, and one other.

[Anonymous]

How do you get promoted when your disappearance is unexplained at best and most likely considered a deserter . Anyone out there in the military who can explain this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought we didn't negotiate with terrorists. I guess now we do--5:1. Wow, great job with negotiations...

Puhleeze. We have always negotiated with our enemies. We exchanged POWs during WWiI and Vietnam. Ronald Reagan negotiated with Iran to release the embassy hostages. We sold weapons to Iran via the Iran-Contra scandal. I am sure you remember that little bit of history.

Do you know of a time when we exchanged 5 killers of Americans and innocent Afghanis for 1 American? And, the 5 we exchanged were identified by the Taliban as the ones they wanted. So, who is really calling the shots here?

Can you tell me what Americans these individuals killed? As far as I can tell, they were captured before they had a chance to kill anyone.

These four are implicated directly or indirectly with the deaths of Americans. Not to mention, other innocent people. Pertinent parts are bolded. Copied from WaPo and Fox. Yep, these terrorists are really stand up guys. Just the kind we want wandering the streets.
Mullah Mohammad Fazl
Also 47, Fazi was a senior commander in the Taliban army during the 1990s, eventually becoming its chief of staff. He is thought to have personally supervised the killing of thousands of Shiite Muslims near Kabul between 1998 and 2001. His Guantanamo case file also describes him as being present at a 2001 prison riot that led to the death of CIA operative Johnny Michael Spann, the first U.S. citizen killed in the Afghan war. "If released, detainee would likely rejoin the Taliban and establish ties with ACM elements participating in hostilities against US and Coalition forces in Afghanistan," his case file reads.

Mullah Norullah Noori
Noori, 47, was a provincial governor in several areas during the Taliban regime. He is also believed to have been present during Spann's death and may have also been involved in the Shiite massacre. His Guantanamo case file says that he "continues to be a significant figure encouraging acts of aggression.”

Abdul Haq Wasiq
Thought to be in his early 40s, Wasiq served as the Taliban deputy minister of intelligence and “had direct access to Taliban and Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin leadership,” according to an internal memo that assessed risk at Guantanamo. He reportedly used his office to support Al Qaeda “and to assist Taliban personnel elude capture.” He also reportedly arranged for Al Qaeda personnel to train Taliban intelligence staff. Wasiq belongs to the Khogyani Tribe and began his religious training under his father, Muhammad Saleem, who died in 1981.Three years later, he went to study Islam at Warah, a school located on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border near the Khyber Pass. When the Taliban assumed control in Afghanistan, a number of Islamic students, including Wasiq, went to Kabul. Wasiq has been accused by Human Rights Watch of mass killings and torture. According to a report by the Joint Task Force Guantanamo, Wasiq “arranged for Al Qaeda personnel to train Taliban intelligence staff in intelligence methods.”Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa

Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa
Khairkhwa is the former governor of the Herat province and has close ties with Usama bin Laden and Mullah Omar. According to the Joint Task Force Guantanamo file, Khairkhwa “represented the Taliban during meetings with Iranian officials seeking to support hostilities against US and coalition forces.” Khairkhwa and his deputies are suspected of being associated with an extremist military training camp run by the Al Qaeda commander Abu Musab al Zarqawi, who was killed in 2006. U.S. authorities have also accused Khairkhwa of becoming a powerful opium trafficker.

Huh? When a prisoner is present at a riot, it's not like he has any choice in that matter. He's there because the guards have put him there.

[Anonymous]

How do you get promoted when your disappearance is unexplained at best and most likely considered a deserter . Anyone out there in the military who can explain this?

POWs get promoted. I guess Bergdahl was considered a POW because he had not been tried. The question is why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And maybe he will go to jail for deserting. But that's a separate issue. The first issue was that he was an American citizen who was being held captive by terrorists, and whose life was in immediate risk

You do know that there are other Americans being held? Exchanging terrorists for a deserter just doesn't make sense to me.

I thought he was the only American being held? http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/us/bowe-bergdahl-american-soldier-is-freed-by-taliban.html?_r=0&referrer=

[Anonymous]

If he got promoted twice, then the army obviously didn't consider him a deserter. But apparently some bloggers posted something on that doggone internet and then a Facebook page was created and misinformation was spread online and now that it's on the internet it MUST be true!

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:
Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa
Khairkhwa is the former governor of the Herat province and has close ties with Usama bin Laden and Mullah Omar. According to the Joint Task Force Guantanamo file, Khairkhwa “represented the Taliban during meetings with Iranian officials seeking to support hostilities against US and coalition forces.” Khairkhwa and his deputies are suspected of being associated with an extremist military training camp run by the Al Qaeda commander Abu Musab al Zarqawi, who was killed in 2006. U.S. authorities have also accused Khairkhwa of becoming a powerful opium trafficker.

There is an issue with the so-called "evidence" against this guy. I'm not sure when Khairkhwa was captured, but according to Wikipedia he arrived at Gitmo in May 2002. Zarqawi was not involved in attacking Americans until we invaded Iraq which was in 2003 -- after Khairkhwa was already at Gitmo. Zarqawi apparently had a camp in Herat for a year or two before the US invasion of Afghanistan. But, I don't see any evidence that those at the camp did much of anything (Wikipedia says they were infiltrated by Jordanian intelligence). I don't think you can tie Khairkhwa to the killings of any Americans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If he got promoted twice, then the army obviously didn't consider him a deserter. But apparently some bloggers posted something on that doggone internet and then a Facebook page was created and misinformation was spread online and now that it's on the internet it MUST be true!

The men who served with him, who were forced to sign non-disclosure agreements until he was rescued, are now speaking. I have not heard 1 NOT say he deserted. In addition, our intelligence community has evidently been investigating not only his possible desertion, but the possibility that he was collaborating with the Taliban.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/06/02/sources-intelligence-community-investigated-bergdahls-conduct/

[Anonymous]

There is a reason these 5 were HAND PICKED by the Taliban. They don’t go for the low-level captives. The Taliban are not exactly a “peace loving” group.

[Anonymous]

To 22:20 - well if Fox News is reporting that, then it MUST be true. Eyes rolling. Spin. They spin everything. I can't imagine Obama would jeopardize his presidency for a deserter.

[Anonymous]

Maybe they chipped the guys before letting them leave gitmo?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a reason these 5 were HAND PICKED by the Taliban. They don’t go for the low-level captives. The Taliban are not exactly a “peace loving” group.

What special skills do you think five people locked up for a decade possess, that they can be so much more deadly than the thousands who aren't? And for that matter, the people who should care are the Afghans. The Taliban doesn't conduct terrorist attacks on the US.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:There is a reason these 5 were HAND PICKED by the Taliban. They don’t go for the low-level captives. The Taliban are not exactly a “peace loving” group.

Yes, I am sure they had a reason. I don't know that reason and I doubt that you do either. But, you said they killed Americans. It appears that you were wrong. I appreciate that you are now backtracking. But, do you at least feel a bit of shame for having been misled and attempting to mislead about this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If he got promoted twice, then the army obviously didn't consider him a deserter. But apparently some bloggers posted something on that doggone internet and then a Facebook page was created and misinformation was spread online and now that it's on the internet it MUST be true!

he certainly deserves a trial before he is found guilty, but the facts are pretty bad. to leave your rifle, but take your compass after asking the questions he asked his CO and then after his email to his family, ....