Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, once and for all,

THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BERGDAHL - YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT BERGDAHL, THERE'S A THREAD FOR THAT ALREADY.

THIS ALSO HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH OBAMA. OBAMA DID NOT WRITE THE UCMJ. THE UCMJ PROSECUTED SOLDIERS FOR ASSAULT LONG BEFORE OBAMA CAME ALONG.

Got it?

If you again feel the urge to say "Obama" or "Bergdahl" refer back to this post until it sinks in.

Stop screaming.

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the person you are arguing with but just because you write in all caps doesn't make you right. Are you saying the department of defense runs independently of the commander in chief, that he has no sway in matters of military justice? The guy pushed the rapist, he got pulled and a poor write up, which led to his being let go from service. He was not prosecuted; however the bad write up impacted his career forever down the line. These kinds of write UPS get pulled all the time. However the military wanted to bury him and the issue, so they did. You are saying Obama can't pick up a phone and call his secretary of defense, and yet a congressman (hunter) is. But Obama cant? Has no sway?

If there is not more to the story, the Administration probably can do something. But, I would expect it to be done very quietly. To you, any action Obama took would have the headline, "Obama intervenes on behalf of Green Beret who struck child rapist". But, in Afghanistan the headline would be "Obama intervenes on behalf of Green Beret who struck an ALP commander". That second one would could have diplomatic, political, and even military repercussions. So, if something happened, it would be Obama acting publicly, but perhaps Ash Carter replying to Hunter that the military is taking a second look at things. Then, if Afghanistan's government makes an issue of it, Obama will simply claim he had nothing to do with it and, in fact, didn't even know about the case.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, once and for all,

THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BERGDAHL - YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT BERGDAHL, THERE'S A THREAD FOR THAT ALREADY.

THIS ALSO HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH OBAMA. OBAMA DID NOT WRITE THE UCMJ. THE UCMJ PROSECUTED SOLDIERS FOR ASSAULT LONG BEFORE OBAMA CAME ALONG.

Got it?

If you again feel the urge to say "Obama" or "Bergdahl" refer back to this post until it sinks in.

He's commander in chief. He's ultimatel responsible. His choices are clear

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:Has anyone considered that the Green Beret was punished to protect him and other US military members? It's possible that Afghan commanders don't like getting their asses kicked by uninvited foreigners and are inclined to administer their own justice in response. That could easily be in the form of Martland and a humvee-full of his colleagues getting blown up by a "Taliban" IED.

The bottom line is that our leadership has put winning the war ahead of protecting children from rape. It is not that far removed from putting the killing of a militant ahead of the lives of children when a missile is launched from a drone. Lot's innocent people are harmed in wars. That's one of the best reasons to avoid them.

And Jeff finds a way to, once again, exonerate Obama.

If our men were actually armed on base, those three men would have had a fighting chance. They were left sitting ducks DESPITE their pleas.

The punishment - a dishonorable discharge - goes way farther than it needs to.

Was Obama's support of Berghdal also for the protection of our men?

If Obama did nothing and allowed Bergdshl to be beheaded to all to watch on the Internet the right-wing outrage machine would have been jumping up and down while hysterically demanding retribution and blaming Obama for failing to do everything in his power to protect one of our own. Sending our enemies the message that we don't value the lives of our servicemembers has repercussions in terms of how prisoners are perceived and treated. Those we are fighting against don't draw distinctions between soldiers captured because they abandoned their duty post and those captured on patrol or kidnapped from a forward operating base.

Anonymous wrote:Look, once and for all,

THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BERGDAHL - YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT BERGDAHL, THERE'S A THREAD FOR THAT ALREADY.

THIS ALSO HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH OBAMA. OBAMA DID NOT WRITE THE UCMJ. THE UCMJ PROSECUTED SOLDIERS FOR ASSAULT LONG BEFORE OBAMA CAME ALONG.

Got it?

If you again feel the urge to say "Obama" or "Bergdahl" refer back to this post until it sinks in.

Anonymous wrote:He was NOT punished for standing up for the kid.

He was punished for assault.

One wrong does not justify another wrong.

Anonymous wrote:Look, once and for all,

THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BERGDAHL - YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT BERGDAHL, THERE'S A THREAD FOR THAT ALREADY.

THIS ALSO HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH OBAMA. OBAMA DID NOT WRITE THE UCMJ. THE UCMJ PROSECUTED SOLDIERS FOR ASSAULT LONG BEFORE OBAMA CAME ALONG.

Got it?

If you again feel the urge to say "Obama" or "Bergdahl" refer back to this post until it sinks in.

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:Has anyone considered that the Green Beret was punished to protect him and other US military members? It's possible that Afghan commanders don't like getting their asses kicked by uninvited foreigners and are inclined to administer their own justice in response. That could easily be in the form of Martland and a humvee-full of his colleagues getting blown up by a "Taliban" IED.

The bottom line is that our leadership has put winning the war ahead of protecting children from rape. It is not that far removed from putting the killing of a militant ahead of the lives of children when a missile is launched from a drone. Lot's innocent people are harmed in wars. That's one of the best reasons to avoid them.

And Jeff finds a way to, once again, exonerate Obama.

If our men were actually armed on base, those three men would have had a fighting chance. They were left sitting ducks DESPITE their pleas.

The punishment - a dishonorable discharge - goes way farther than it needs to.

Was Obama's support of Berghdal also for the protection of our men?

Anonymous wrote:Not the person you are arguing with but just because you write in all caps doesn't make you right. Are you saying the department of defense runs independently of the commander in chief, that he has no sway in matters of military justice? The guy pushed the rapist, he got pulled and a poor write up, which led to his being let go from service. He was not prosecuted; however the bad write up impacted his career forever down the line. These kinds of write UPS get pulled all the time. However the military wanted to bury him and the issue, so they did. You are saying Obama can't pick up a phone and call his secretary of defense, and yet a congressman (hunter) is. But Obama cant? Has no sway?

Anonymous wrote:Not the person you are arguing with but just because you write in all caps doesn't make you right. Are you saying the department of defense runs independently of the commander in chief, that he has no sway in matters of military justice? The guy pushed the rapist, he got pulled and a poor write up, which led to his being let go from service. He was not prosecuted; however the bad write up impacted his career forever down the line. These kinds of write UPS get pulled all the time. However the military wanted to bury him and the issue, so they did. You are saying Obama can't pick up a phone and call his secretary of defense, and yet a congressman (hunter) is. But Obama cant? Has no sway?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:Has anyone considered that the Green Beret was punished to protect him and other US military members? It's possible that Afghan commanders don't like getting their asses kicked by uninvited foreigners and are inclined to administer their own justice in response. That could easily be in the form of Martland and a humvee-full of his colleagues getting blown up by a "Taliban" IED.

The bottom line is that our leadership has put winning the war ahead of protecting children from rape. It is not that far removed from putting the killing of a militant ahead of the lives of children when a missile is launched from a drone. Lot's innocent people are harmed in wars. That's one of the best reasons to avoid them.

And Jeff finds a way to, once again, exonerate Obama.

If our men were actually armed on base, those three men would have had a fighting chance. They were left sitting ducks DESPITE their pleas.

The punishment - a dishonorable discharge - goes way farther than it needs to.

Was Obama's support of Berghdal also for the protection of our men?

I'm sorry to tell you, but yes. Let's not leave him over there, let's bring him over here and deal with him here.

jsteele wrote:Has anyone considered that the Green Beret was punished to protect him and other US military members? It's possible that Afghan commanders don't like getting their asses kicked by uninvited foreigners and are inclined to administer their own justice in response. That could easily be in the form of Martland and a humvee-full of his colleagues getting blown up by a "Taliban" IED.

The bottom line is that our leadership has put winning the war ahead of protecting children from rape. It is not that far removed from putting the killing of a militant ahead of the lives of children when a missile is launched from a drone. Lot's innocent people are harmed in wars. That's one of the best reasons to avoid them.