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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsVery powerful response to the Bergdahl nonsense by a retired US Navy Chief Warrant Officer
I have never read any of this blogger's work until today, when a friend shared it with me on Facebook. The blogger's name is Jim Wright, a retured US Navy Chief Warrant Officer who lives in Alaska and writes the Stonekettle Station blog. The utter disgust and contempt he feels towards those who suggest Sgt. Bergdahl should have been left behind is positively palpable in this piece. I've posted an excerpt below, but do yourself a favor and go to the link to read the entire piece, because a 4-paragraph excerpt doesn't begin to capture it..
[font size=5]Negotiating With Terrorists[/font]
< . . . . >
I didnt think these people could dishonor the spirit of this country any more than they already had, but I was wrong.
Oh, I get it. I understand that frightened people become more and more irrational, especially when they are allowed, encouraged, to feed incestuously on each others fear. And I get that they are afraid. I can see it in their faces, I can hear it in their voices. I get that theyre afraid of change. I get that theyre afraid of the future. I get that theyre afraid of the past. And I get that theyre afraid of the present. I get that theyre afraid of losing power and privilege and prestige. I get that theyre afraid of their capricious and childishly vengeful god. I get that theyre afraid of different races and different cultures and different accents and different religions and different sexual orientations and different viewpoints and different politics. I get it, theyve screamed their small fears over and over and only a dead man could possibly miss it.
I get that they are so consumed with rage and so filled with naked hate and so programmed with their diseased ideology that it poisons their minds like a computer chip submerged in acid.
I get that they are so utterly terrified of the world that they piss themselves in abject fear at the mere thought of going to the grocery store without a goddamned gun stuck in their pants like an extra oversized prick.
< . . . . >
.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)MadrasT
(7,237 posts)Last edited Wed Jun 4, 2014, 07:08 AM - Edit history (1)
... thats the one promise that must never be broken."
It is as simple as that for me.
Thanks for posting this, it was a great read.
Edit to add: I have had my fill of keyboard warriors who wouldn't last a day in the actual military armchair quarterbacking this.
Response to MadrasT (Reply #2)
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SunSeeker
(51,504 posts)Shameful.
GOP talking points are not welcome here.
Oh, and although we may not have traded nukes as far as I'm aware, we know GOP hero Ronald Reagan gave 1,500 TOW missiles to Iran in exchange or a few hostages.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/31/1303494/-GOP-Hero-Reagan-Gave-Iran-1-500-Missiles-for-Hostages-Obama-Trades-Five-Guys-GOP-Heads-Explode#
Response to SunSeeker (Reply #31)
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SunSeeker
(51,504 posts)randys1
(16,286 posts)I bet if the soldier in question was your son or grandson, you would be pretty damn emotional too...
While I would not trade a nuke or vial of disease for my own son either, I would hope the trade that was made would be made
I bet you would too
whathehell
(29,026 posts)when he gave Iran over a thousand missiles to get the hostages back?
Were you ok with that?
As to what you would or would not "recommend", I really don't think you
should imagine that any here takes the advice of a 6 post Newbie all that
seriously.
uppityperson
(115,677 posts)Response to uppityperson (Reply #35)
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uppityperson
(115,677 posts)is worth more than a life to you.
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A Simple Game
(9,214 posts)Response to A Simple Game (Reply #40)
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klook
(12,151 posts)Response to klook (Reply #45)
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uppityperson
(115,677 posts)Was the "cost" of this trade too high for you?
Response to uppityperson (Reply #56)
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uppityperson
(115,677 posts)than a life, specifically a photo that doesn't exist of a president burning a flag.
You are quite the addition to DU.
klook
(12,151 posts)used in a righteous screed, and tried to make it seem like a fatal flaw.
Kind of a curious way to expend your energy in your first few posts on DU.
Looking forward to more substantive posts from you in the future, Mr_Adams. Welcome to DU!
uppityperson
(115,677 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,272 posts)The sooner they can close Guantanamo Bay detention camp, the better, it should never have been opened in the first place.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_detention_camp
Although the Bush administration said most of the men had been captured in fighting in Afghanistan, a 2006 report prepared by the Center for Policy and Research, Seton Hall University Law School reviewed DOD data for the remaining 517 men in 2005 and "established that over 80% of the prisoners were captured not by Americans on the battlefield but by Pakistanis and Afghans, often in exchange for bounty payments."[28] The U.S. offered $5,000 per prisoner and distributed leaflets widely in the region. A perfect example would be Adel, a Chinese Uighur and dissident who had been sold to the US by Pakistani bounty hunters.[29]
(snip)
In 2010, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, a former aide to Secretary of State Colin Powell, stated in an affidavit that top U.S. officials, including President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, had known that the majority of the detainees initially sent to Guantánamo were innocent, but that the detainees had been kept there for reasons of political expedience.[46][47] Wilkerson's statement was submitted in connection with a lawsuit filed in federal district court by former detainee Adel Hassan Hamad against the United States government and several individual officials.[48] This supports numerous claims made by former detainees like Moazzam Begg, a British citizen who had been held for three years in detention camps in Afghanistan and Guantanamo.The Prisoner - Moazzam Begg
A 2013 Institute on Medicine as a Profession report concluded that health professionals working with the military and intelligence services "designed and participated in cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment and torture of detainees". Medical professionals were ordered to ignore ethical standards during involvement in abusive interrogation, including monitoring of vital signs under stress-inducing procedures. They used medical information for interrogation purposes and participated in force-feeding of hunger strikers, in violation of World Medical Association and American Medical Association prohibitions.[49][50][51][52][53]
(snip)
On 13 January 2009, the Pentagon said that it had evidence that 18 former detainees have had direct involvement in terrorist activities.[222] The Pentagon said that another 43 former detainees have "a plausible link with terrorist activities," according to its intelligence sources.[222] Peter Bergen, a national security expert and CNN analyst, says that DOD has classified some former detainees of the latter category as suspected of having returned to terrorism because they made statements against the United States; Bergen noted "that's not surprising if you've been locked up in a U.S. prison camp for several years."[223] If all 18 people on the "confirmed" list have "returned" to the battlefield, that would amount to 4 percent of the detainees who have been released. This is much lower than the recidivism rate of the general U.S. prison population (>65%).[223]
(snip)
European Union members and the Organization of American States, as well as non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have protested the legal status and physical condition of detainees at Guantánamo. The human rights organization Human Rights Watch has criticized the Bush administration over this designation in its 2003 world report, stating: "Washington has ignored human rights standards in its own treatment of terrorism suspects. It has refused to apply the Geneva Conventions to prisoners of war from Afghanistan, and has misused the designation of 'illegal combatant' to apply to criminal suspects on U.S. soil." On 25 May 2005, Amnesty International released its annual report calling the facility the "gulag of our times."[9][225] Lord Steyn called it "a monstrous failure of justice," because "... The military will act as interrogators, prosecutors and defense counsel, judges, and when death sentences are imposed, as executioners. The trials will be held in private. None of the guarantees of a fair trial need be observed."[226]
uppityperson
(115,677 posts)Next thing you know they'll be demanding separation of church and state!!!!1111
seriously, wtf
bluesbassman
(19,358 posts)I guess there would have to BE a photo in the first place, not that ANY POTUS would do that, right?
uppityperson
(115,677 posts)maybe the one with the chimpanzee?
randys1
(16,286 posts)accomplished ...
They didnt give him credit for Osama, they sure as hell wont give him any credit for this...
Why should they, they HATE Obama and about half of the American people, after all...
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)I can think of to a president actually burning it.
ejpoeta
(8,933 posts)amazing. exactly what I was thinking.
Cha
(296,780 posts)snip//
"When these capering lunatics stand in front of the nation, the world, and without a single shred of decency, without the tiniest modicum of self-conscious shame, without any apparent awareness of their own boundless hypocrisy, and loudly protest the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl from the clutches of our sworn enemies, I have to say no more."
snip//
"Nevertheless, Bergdahl has been condemned by the popular media, by social networks, by pundits and politicians, not because they know more about the situation than you or I do, but solely because they hate the president. If Obama was behind Bergdahls release, then Bergdahl is a traitor, Q.E.D. because the president must never, ever, be allowed even the slightest acknowledgement of patriotism.
This condemnation isnt about Bergdahl, its about Obama."
Rec reading the whole piece.
ChazInAz
(2,556 posts)The best description, yet.
This article says it all, for me.
malaise
(268,668 posts)100% correct
Rec
billhicks76
(5,082 posts)I thought the entire piece was excellent except for bringing Swowden into it...Snowden is not a political blowhard...he is an activist now who I bet wouldn't vote for Bush or Clinton. But this guy nailed it...everything is about Hate...remember "The Hate" in 1984? These are Orwellian times where universal deceit is the norm in every institution or way of life. Republicans are against Democrats because of racism and cultural bigotry. BUT remember to remind the republicans that hate us who aren't racist that their prejudice is the same...they hate hippies, gays, anarchists and whatever Left-like stereotypes they feed off of.
druidity33
(6,444 posts)"The staggering hypocrisy of this becomes immediately apparent when you realize that the very same folks who would grant an unconditional pardon to the traitorous Edward Snowden, a man who provably and self-admittedly gave aid and comfort to our adversaries during time of war and who continues to do so to this very day, these same people would proclaim Snowden a hero and leave Bergdahl to die unlamented in a Taliban cave solely because they despise Barack Obama and for no other reason. "
I haven't seen any Republicans calling Snowden a hero and i haven't seen any Liberals calling Bergdahl a traitor...
B Calm
(28,762 posts)cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
LisaLynne
(14,554 posts)Wow, does he have their number.
barbtries
(28,756 posts)one thing that has me feeling pretty distressed about this bullshit meme is the way the mass media has apparently latched on. i'm so frustrated at this point.
longship
(40,416 posts)So am I.
The GOP piss me off something horrible.
But a very well written blog post.
IronLionZion
(45,380 posts)No one gets left behind. For any reason.
Support the troops. Bring them home. Give them health care and jobs. I'd really like to see the party registration of employers who hire veterans.
gussmith
(280 posts)Thanks for the sensical clarity.
genwah
(574 posts)MsLeopard
(1,265 posts)that there are bona fide war criminals walking free right now, right here! And never will a word be uttered about it by the crazy right wing lunatics. Disgusting.
blackspade
(10,056 posts)Katashi_itto
(10,175 posts)rabid animals.
pacalo
(24,721 posts)Obama & Hagel made the correct, ethical decision to get Bergdahl home.
It should be stressed over & over that the U.S. does not leave its service members behind, most particularly with deliberate intention by the government. The Republicans will try their best to guide the direction of this argument out of pure hatred for Obama, but as Mr. Wright pointed out:
If so, then the sooner America collapses of its own maggot-ridden gangrenous rot, the better.
niyad
(113,029 posts)handmade34
(22,756 posts)just wow!
heaven05
(18,124 posts)Chairborne Div. veterans beware of real vets.
The Wizard
(12,534 posts)to discuss anything of importance with those who watch Pox News.
UtahLib
(3,179 posts)They are the most vile example of the ills of America.
ReasonableToo
(505 posts)As a person who watched c-span before the first guns were fired and saw that the intelligence community was saying that Cheney was guiding the conclusions of the "intelligence" reports, I have been vehemently opposed to both wars from the beginning.
Officer Wright is absolutely correct that it doesn't matter what Sgt. Bergdahl is accused of, the country's duty is to get all soldiers and sailors home.
So what of the desertion charge?...I have absolutely no inside knowledge and we may never know...but do I know that...
MANY soldiers became aware of the atrocities that the US committed and did not want to take part. The tales told by returning soldiers are horrifying. Just imagine that you are there and are aware of these atrocities. Imagine that your group had just done something horrifying and illegal or you've been told of your next orders. Imagine that it is another horrifying atrocity. What do you do? Just go along with it? Argue with your chain of command? Self-inflicted wound? Suicide? Refuse to participate? Walk away?
Would you walk away?
CrispyQ
(36,413 posts)Lets say for the sake of argument that Bergdahl is indeed a deserter, that his capture by the Taliban was a result of his own cowardly actions.
So?
So what?
Last time I checked, the punishment specified for violation of UCMJ Article 85 (or Article 86 depending on Bergdahls intentions) isnt to throw him to our enemies!
samsingh
(17,590 posts)sheshe2
(83,637 posts)Thank you.
JNelson6563
(28,151 posts)TygrBright
(20,753 posts)abakan
(1,815 posts)EnviroBat
(5,290 posts)Thanks for posting this. I am sharing it with everyone I know.
What a powerful rant! It totally blew me away. I'm going to keep an eye on this guy's writings - just amazing.
riverwalker
(8,694 posts)and dropped the mic. Masterful, magnificent writing. Hope it goes viral.
Welcome home soldier, welcome home.
The Blue Flower
(5,432 posts)The very best commentary on the sickness of the other side that I've ever read. I posted it on my timeline as soon as I finished reading.
And absolutely K&R.
Edit: I just posted it as a message on McCain's fb page.
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)sarge43
(28,940 posts)Well said, sir. Well said. It would have been an honor to serve with you.
hue
(4,949 posts)frylock
(34,825 posts)this is going on FB when I get home tonight. knr
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Hekate
(90,538 posts)They are afraid all the time, every waking moment, and fear haunts their dreams.
I can't add anything to it -- I am in awe at his righteous, righteous anger. I'd like to shake this man's hand, I really would, but in lieu of that
Hekate
(90,538 posts)Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(107,711 posts)If hard core types had the attitude McCain carries now back then McCain would still be in the Hanoi Hilton.
Mr Dixon
(1,185 posts)Could not have said it better
Uncle Joe
(58,272 posts)Thanks for the thread, markpkessinger.
copperearth
(117 posts)Well, I think he is a skulking coward. He sold his fellow soldiers so he would be released from Prison Camp. Tell me what could be more cowardly? Yes, he suffered but not like those he left behind did. He was a traitor and now he is a great hero? Thank God he was not elected to the Presidency!
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)Moonwalk
(2,322 posts)....
"If our people arent worth four or five terrorists sitting in a Gitmo prison cell, then you tell me why weve spent the last twelve years in two wars, why we traded the lives of six thousand servicemen and why we killed hundreds of thousands Iraqis and Afghans to avenge three thousand Americans. Go on, tell me why it was okay for the previous administration take a hundred enemy lives for every one of ours, but its not acceptable for the current administration to trade five terrorists for the life of one American soldier especially when we gave six American lives as a down payment looking for him after his disappearance. Why were the Americans who died on 911 any more valuable than Bowe Bergdahl?
And if Bergdahl is guilty of desertion, then dont we owe it to those six dead soldiers to bring him home and make him account for his cowardice?"
Whoah! This fellow is amazing and I'm going to keep an eye on him. In fact, I hope some site picks him up and makes them their chief political critic. He is sharp and unflinching.
Thank you for posting this.
life long demo
(1,113 posts)more people should see it and read it.
blackspade
(10,056 posts)Disagree on the Snowden part, but otherwise right on.
Welcome home Sgt.
and for President Barack Obama.
Dark n Stormy Knight
(9,760 posts)Too bad the R's aren't swayed by facts and reason, no matter how righteous.
Maedhros
(10,007 posts)Obama did the right thing here.
Tommymac
(7,263 posts)As the son of a deceased Marine who fought in both WWII and Vietnam, I learned early on the philosophy of "We never leave Our own behind. Ever."
Keep on challenging the crazy, and thanks for pointing this article out.
wyldwolf
(43,867 posts)tblue37
(65,215 posts)Thank you. You've articulated everything I was feeling as well. I'm so angry at friends and the media who are jumping on the bandwagon to trash this guy without giving him his day in court. We had a soldier walk off post and kill 16 Afghanis in cold blood - including 9 children, then proceed to try to burn their bodies. He got less shit than this guy is getting. They're calling for Berghdahl's death - yet they were anxious to get Sgt Bales home so that the Afghanis didn't kill him. I'm a bit confused by our warped values.
This point should be made whenever and wherever possible!
RussBLib
(9,002 posts)Especially liked the words on McCain and Cruz.
(Meant to post under the main topic)
mountain grammy
(26,598 posts)and the extremely stupid. Thank you for this excellent post.
ismnotwasm
(41,956 posts)And needed
WillyT
(72,631 posts)Zorra
(27,670 posts)Enoki33
(1,587 posts)For renewing my faith in the goodness of America that is endangered by the Ted Cruz political gangs attacking from within.
russspeakeasy
(6,539 posts)Thanks for posting this.
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(107,711 posts)I clicked on the link and read his piece.
He starts out slow and meandering but you can tell he's pissed off. Once he get's going he overwhelms the haters with facts.
Those who are bad mouthing Bergdhal's release are not patriots and probably never served in the military.
Duval
(4,280 posts)WinstonSmith4740
(3,055 posts)Jim Wright is my new hero. I wonder how long its gonna take Faux Noise to start jumping on him. Thanks for posting it.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)mikekohr
(2,312 posts)Karma13612
(4,538 posts)Thanks to the OP for providing the link.
niyad
(113,029 posts)3catwoman3
(23,943 posts)...writing chops, he also has some real stones, to go right along with the name of his blog - Stonekettle Station.
(And he apparently likes cats too, as he warns potential readers about his site containing not ony profanity, but pictures of cats.)
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Iwillnevergiveup
(9,298 posts)and will surely make the media rounds quickly. I would love to hear McCain answer this question:
"So, Senator, are you saying you don't support our troops?"
K&R
defacto7
(13,485 posts)for a righteous rant.