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Op-Ed: Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl charged with desertion, not treason

In the beginning

Ten months ago, President Obama brokered a deal with the Taliban for U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. The deal included five high-ranking Taliban terrorists for a suspected American military deserter. America’s 44th President touted the swap with Bowe’s parents in the White House Rose Garden.

Barack Obama and his administration fully expected the country to stand up and cheer over the recovery of a captured American soldier. The reaction was quite the opposite. This story quickly flourished into a debacle of a scandal.

The reaction

Bowe’s fellow platoon mates spoke out in anger about this trade. They considered him a traitor that wanted to fight alongside the Taliban and kill Americans. These men risked their lives trying to locate the missing man and learned from interviewing civilians that he had sought out the Taliban.

Bergdahl’s squad leader Justin Gerleve spoke to CNN about the military men that died while searching for him, “I can’t really say I blame Bergdahl to the fullest extent, but if he wouldn’t have deserted us, these soldiers very well could have been in a different place at a different time, rather than the place at the time of their death.”

The Administration stated that prisoner of war swaps are commonplace at the end of a war. Republicans and Democrats alike pointed out that the war was not over, and this was not a prisoner swap. The GITMO detainee’s and Bowe were not prisoners of war. The Sergeant was kidnapped by the Taliban and the detainees were just that – detainees.

This deal put a greater price on all Americans’ heads now that the world knows that the U.S. bargains with terrorists. Former Rep Mike Rogers (R-MI) said that, “This fundamental shift in U.S. policy signals to terrorists around the world a greater incentive to take U.S. hostages.” At the time of the quote, Rogers was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

The politics

At the time of the swap, there were at least two other options to retrieve the wayward American soldier already under way. One way was to pay off militants and another was to release an Afghan warlord for the captive American. The Taliban-Five trade was the most attractive choice for the President.

It was the proverbial ‘kill two birds with one stone’ scenario. America would get their man back, and Obama would clear out more detainees from GITMO. The plan backfired when the rumors of desertion hit the media. Soon thereafter, the White House claimed that the Taliban are not terrorists.

The Taliban was placed on the terrorist watch list in 2002 under the Bush Administration. They were never taken off the list. The White House spokespersons simply said that they were not terrorists and that is all. Like ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and the Taliban, terrorist groups are wealthier, more dangerous, and growing faster than ever before.

Three of the Taliban-Five have reportedly already contacted old ties with their terrorist group. They are free to roam the Earth at the end of May this year. These men have rock-star status in the Taliban and will undoubtedly return to their quest of killing Americans.

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