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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWingnuts’ war on the troops: The ugly lesson of Bowe Bergdahl and Sarah Palin
The far right's attack on the just-released POW shows the dark inverse of their nationalist fervorELIAS ISQUITH
After nearly five years, Bowe Bergdahl, a 28-year-old Idahoan and the last remaining American POW in Afghanistan, is finally coming home. The Obama administration made the announcement during the weekend, framing the deal that swapped Bergdahl for five Taliban-affiliated Guantanamo Bay prisoners as an example of two U.S. promises: to leave no man behind and to finally, mercifully, and after nearly 13 long years, begin to end the war in Afghanistan. For Bergdahl and his family, the move is a blessing. For those who doubt the administrations commitment to ending the war, it is a reassurance. And for the loudest members of the far-right, it is a mistake, a capitulation, a disgrace.
Their argument, in brief: By agreeing to trade prisoners of war with the Taliban, Obama made the U.S. look what else? weak. You blew it again, Barack Obama, by negotiating away any leverage against the bad guys, wrote the perpetually enraged Sarah Palin on her Facebook page. The deal, argued Palin, had destroyed troop morale while causing Osama Bin Ladens partners in evil crime to joyfully celebrate. What really infuriated the half-term governor and former vice presidential candidate, though, wasnt so much Obamas actions as Bergdahls. The price the administration paid for liberating him, Palin intimated, was simply too high. He didnt deserve it. How come? Because he expressed horrid anti-American beliefs and deserted his fellow soldiers prior to his capture.
As you might expect from any Palin story, there are some issues. For one, whether Bergdahl found himself under Taliban control because of bad luck, as the administration claims, or because he decided to abandon his post is up for debate. (And keep in mind that, even if he had deserted, that hardly makes it ethical for the government to abandon him to his captors.) For another, Palins note about the deal lacks some crucial information like the fact that the men released from Guantanamo will have to spend at least a year in Qatar, or that the U.S.s impending cessation of the war in Afghanistan would necessitate the release of the Gitmo detainees anyway. But for all it lacked in terms of responding to this relatively simple news story in an informed, accurate and insightful way, Palins angry Facebook missive was great in one respect: It was a perfect example of what happens when soldiers refuse to live up to the far-rights fantasies.
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http://www.salon.com/2014/06/03/wingnuts_war_on_the_troops_the_ugly_lesson_of_bowe_berdahl_and_sarah_palin/
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Wingnuts’ war on the troops: The ugly lesson of Bowe Bergdahl and Sarah Palin (Original Post)
DonViejo
Jun 2014
OP
justgamma
(3,667 posts)1. Heck, according to the grifter
President Obama has expressed "anti-American beliefs". The righties have been pushing that one for 6 years.
Ilsa
(61,709 posts)2. FUCK SARAH PALIN. nt