Bowe Bergdahl- POW or Deserter?

"The Embarrassing Bush Memos That Could Let Obama Off the Hook for Freeing the Gitmo Five"

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2014/06/stop_saying_that_the_exchange_of_prisoners_for_bergdahl_was_illegal_the.html

Should be plenty of fun hypocrisy watching on both sides. Obama could use a Bush memo to defend his actions (a memo that he undoubtedly disagreed/disagrees with). The GOP will continue to attack Obama's lawlessness/imperial presidency while continuing to tacitly endorse W.'s actions.

Awesome.

 
darkhorse85 said:
I don't think this was staged. I think it was poorly thrown together in haste. Unfortunately they had us by the balls and they set the terms. We probably had half a dozen drones above the drop ready to blow these guys to hell had anything gone wrong. Also, these men were not Taliban. They were Haqqani.
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If this operation was thrown together in haste the person who planned it needs demoted and removed from their position immediately. One of the first things you don't do is give up the high ground. Now I understand what you're saying about the drones, that's a real possibility. However; our guys not only wave like, "Have a good Sunday!" they then turn their backs to the enemy and don't even bother to pat him down well for explosive devices before they get to the helo. I'm not a military guy, but I'm a tactics guy and all of those are red flag warnings to me that something else is going on there. At a minimum I hope to hell there were a couple Apache's right above them with all their weapons trained on the enemy. This whole situation stinks to high hell and if the guy deserted that's a choice he made, see ya dude. When our military does medivac operations they send gunships with the Rescue Blackhawk for christs sake! We wouldn't send several in a situation like this?

 
BIGREDIOWAN said:
darkhorse85 said:
I don't think this was staged. I think it was poorly thrown together in haste. Unfortunately they had us by the balls and they set the terms. We probably had half a dozen drones above the drop ready to blow these guys to hell had anything gone wrong. Also, these men were not Taliban. They were Haqqani.
Click to expand...
If this operation was thrown together in haste the person who planned it needs demoted and removed from their position immediately. One of the first things you don't do is give up the high ground. Now I understand what you're saying about the drones, that's a real possibility. However; our guys not only wave like, "Have a good Sunday!" they then turn their backs to the enemy and don't even bother to pat him down well for explosive devices before they get to the helo. I'm not a military guy, but I'm a tactics guy and all of those are red flag warnings to me that something else is going on there. At a minimum I hope to hell there were a couple Apache's right above them with all their weapons trained on the enemy. This whole situation stinks to high hell and if the guy deserted that's a choice he made, see ya dude. When our military does medivac operations they send gunships with the Rescue Blackhawk for christs sake! We wouldn't send several in a situation like this?
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This situation is unprecedented. I'm sure more of the operational schematics will come out in the following weeks. And take this into consideration: the more people (and equipment, aircraft, etc.) we send into this dangerous situation, the more people we put at risk. That's ORM there. That "wave" was likely a signal for snipers to begin their egress or something similar. And blackhawks actually fly unescorted fairly often but I'm sure there was air on station in the vicinity.

 
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BIGREDIOWAN said:
If this operation was thrown together in haste the person who planned it needs demoted and removed from their position immediately. One of the first things you don't do is give up the high ground. Now I understand what you're saying about the drones, that's a real possibility. However; our guys not only wave like, "Have a good Sunday!" they then turn their backs to the enemy and don't even bother to pat him down well for explosive devices before they get to the helo. I'm not a military guy, but I'm a tactics guy and all of those are red flag warnings to me that something else is going on there. At a minimum I hope to hell there were a couple Apache's right above them with all their weapons trained on the enemy. This whole situation stinks to high hell and if the guy deserted that's a choice he made, see ya dude. When our military does medivac operations they send gunships with the Rescue Blackhawk for christs sake! We wouldn't send several in a situation like this?
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I can't +1 that enough.

I still think that was staged. Why would you give a ransom to these douchebags when you could spend less than $100 in shells and rectify the problem in less than 30 seconds. The lack of planning, security, and willingness to give up the tactical advantage is exactly the opposite of how Special Operations (spek ops) would handle this. I'm not sure what the end game is, but this definitely stinks.

 
I'm just assuming you guys didn't see the entire uncut video. It's 8 minutes long. Here's a link and a short description for those that can't watch the whole thing. The guy talking at the beginning is just talking about his armament on the hill. Needless to say they were as loaded for bear as the Taliban could be.


There are two planes visible patrolling overhead before the helos arrive. The silhouettes are hard to make out, but they don't a appear to be an AC 130s. There are two Black Hawks visible and they circle the exchange point for about 2 minutes before one descends to make the pick up. The exchange helo fly's inbound over the highest bluff and lands where a quick exit won't require an ascent. Then the exchange takes place.

My first thought was these guys are ballzy flying into a valley full of PKMs and RPGs, but if anybody would do it it would probably be the Night Stalkers. The operator on the left of the screen never turns his back till they're about 20 feet from the helo and his right hand never leaves his side the entire time. The guy in the black is just out of place, I would guess he's either a doctor or translator. He hangs back walking to the exchange, doesn't have a headset on like the other two, does his stupid wave, runs across the line of sight/fire of just about everyone, cowers under the rotors, and is helped into the helo by the operator on the left.

I just hope someone was smart enough to track these guys back and monitor them for at least a couple of days, if not the next month so when can get some serious intel on them. But I suppose this becomes a tricky thing when you're trying to improve your image in that part of the world, you don't want guys you just made a deal with showing up dead anytime soon. That might not be good for business later on down the road.

 
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HUSKER FREAK said:
I think Obama is trying to do about anything he can to win some votes for the dumbocrats in the next election.
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Hey, the system currently administered by the dumbocrats in the White House is based on the Bible . . . so bite your tongue.
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HUSKER FREAK said:
He actually was patted down quickly right away and then a little more thoroughly when they reached the Helo. I have to agree that this whole thing doesn't add up. I think this is a huge disgrace to all of them men and women who serve and have served. This administration should be held accountable for their actions as well as Bergdahl. IMO
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Thanks Obama

 
I don't believe our leader is even a democrat. More like a socialist communist Nazi.

Can we go back to badly debating military strategy based on a 30-second grainy video?

 
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