Category Archives: The Media

July 23, 2014 · 10:37 pm

Excellent info on the border mess

The Conservative Tree House blog offers information on this border mess that you won’t find in the mainstream media. They’re doing investigative reporting over there and here’s a must read on the non-profits cashing in on the illegal immigrant debacle, receiving huge grants from Obama’s DHS and HHS. Here’s the link:

http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2014/07/22/one-media-outlet-catching-on-to-massive-governmental-non-profits-housing-the-unaccompanied-alien-minors-southwest-key-under-review/

High Noon at the border

Lest you all think I wandered off into lalaland about caring for these illegal immigrant children in my last post, well I haven’t. The truth is that until some politicians get their heads out of their patooties, these children are here and more are surely on the way. And whether they get deported in a day or month or never, they still need to be sheltered, fed and supervised in a humane manner – this is required, because we are civilized human beings, not because of politics. Of course, Glenn Beck does everything for publicity and to sell more books, but that aside these children need to be cared for until the politicians decide on a solution. President Obama clearly does not have any coherent plan to deal with this escalating crisis, so here is an opportunity for governors and private citizens to band together and act. Sure, “immigration” is a federal function, but a humanitarian crisis within a state certainly is a state and local issue. Time to rise to the occasion and deal with these children’s immediate needs first.

At the same time a real, permanent solution must be found to quell this tide of illegal immigration and anyone hoping this President changes his cowardly, mealy-mouthed response at this late date is either a complete moron, a hopeless ideologue or insane. President Obama does not know how to solve real problems, there you have the truth. He never really worked doing real stuff in his life; he lives in the world of political theory, not real world problems. He thinks his political ideology will solve real problems, when the truth is you have to roll up your sleeves and get down in the ditches and dig long, hard hours to resolve most real world problems. It usually means you end up leaving the political ideology at home and turn to basic moral tenets (our religious faith, for many of us) to make it through the rough times each day. A political solution must be reached; expecting President Obama to craft it is delusional. So, that leaves us with the horde in Congress to act responsibly and reach a consensus to quell the flow of these children from Central America, compose a comprehensive law to deal with securing the border, how illegal immigrants will be processed, and allocating funding to accomplish this. Securing the border must be the primary objective, because short of that, everything else rests as photo-op politics, not real solutions.

Russ Vaughn over at the American Thinker wrote an interesting piece, “Militarize Our Border? O’Reilly, Here’s Your Plan”, on policing the border using US Armed Forces. He states:

“Now comes the rub: liberals will scream to high heaven that our federal military cannot be used to police law violators on American soil, a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. However, troops in federal service have sworn an oath to protect this nation from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Consider if you will that some of those poised on the south side of the U.S.-Mexican border intent on illegal entry into this country, in violation of clearly promulgated immigration laws, are foreign enemies determined to cross that border, subject to military capture and incarceration. Whether or not our military has legal standing to determine illegal border crossers to search for terrorists embedded within their masses is a legal issue that will no doubt rise to the level of our Supreme Court.”

The problem in America is that the States and American people too often turn to Washington for leadership, awaiting solutions that never come, when The Constitution does not tie our hands to act on many issues confronting us. Immigration, per se rests in the federal purview, but “we the people” and the States, rarely exert ourselves to carve out bold swaths left for us to decide within our constitutional framework. States boldly acting in regards to the humanitarian crisis unfolding would give the States public support and clout when challenging President Obama’s political reactionary responses, which rest upon endless gauging poll numbers, consultations with focus groups and other political groups. If State and local leaders could come up with real solutions for the humanitarian crisis and demonstrate a real ability to act, the political support would start to shift dramatically away from the President. People gravitate toward real leadership, it’s human nature. In those border states, the real leaders need to start banding together and quickly coming up with plans of action and then act.

A federal response must be reached and at this point securing the border should be of paramount importance, to quell flow of illegals. How quickly that can be reached might be dramatically impacted by States acting to take charge of the humanitarian crisis and forcing a showdown at High Noon with the lame Obama response. Rick Perry should spearhead a plan for Texas quickly, then demand federal dollars for this emergency. He should invite the press in and make them cover this chaos the Obama administration instigated and continues to encourage.

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Filed under Culture Wars, Foreign Policy, General Interest, Military, Politics, The Constitution, The Media

July 5, 2014 · 12:39 pm

Bad news updates

The Dream Act, Part II (alternatively known as “Suffer the little Hispanic children”):

Here are a few of my thoughts today, take them or leave them, but here’s what I think. The illegal immigrant children flooding our southern border rests as a disgusting sideshow deliberately instigated by President Obama and his female handlers in the White House to expand his DREAM act vision. We have more Americans than ever in need of federal assistance to meet their basic needs and the President thinks it’s applause worthy to encourage tens of thousands of unchaperoned children to be shoved into America? Nancy Pelosi, a mother, rushed to the border for a photo-op to welcome these poor children, who are merely political pawns for the left and she should be roundly condemned!!! NO SANE MOTHER would encourage little children to be USED as political props like this! IT IS REPREHENSIBLE and the HEIGHT OF SELFISH, BLIND, PARTISAN POLITICS!!! NO MOTHER should praise these poor children, many sick being pushed across the border, with no adults to protect them. That is one of those home truths, that his sycophantic supporters won’t recognize or acknowledge, but it’s the truth nonetheless. What a thoroughly despicable, lying megalomaniac we’ve got in the White House and less you be confused, Barack Obama is only the puppet, the person I refer to is Valerie Jarrett, who is the one pulling all the strings. In fact, this President has surrounded himself by a bunch of dangerous, decidedly lawless women, who pull his strings and prod him to follow their dictates. Without these women directing the White House activities, Obama would drift away and golf away the remaining time of his Presidency. These biddies refuse to allow their far-left plans to moulder away, so hence you can expect more executive orders, more lawlessness, more ratcheting up of factional fighting, more chaos. It is their plan. Doubt me, if you wish, I am just putting forth my analysis and my predictions, so feel free to call me a kook, because I’ve been called worse before.

A Bergdahl Update (and you thought UCMJ mattered?):

Now, here’s a Bowe Bergdahl update, courtesy of CNN. In case you were wondering, Bergdahl was released from in-patient care and is being treated as an outpatient. His reintegration team ha been assisting him go off post to shop, etc. according to this article. And here’s the part I found interesting, that despite the copious files compiled from the investigations when he walked away from his base, the reported letter he left behind, and extensive interviews given by his fellow soldiers who were there when he disappeared, now CNN reports this:

“An Army fact-finding investigation conducted in the months after his disappearance concluded he left his outpost deliberately and of his own free will, according to an official who was briefed on the report.

But there was no definitive conclusion Bergdahl was a deserter because that would require knowing his intent, something officials couldn’t learn without talking to him, a U.S. military official told CNN last month.”

So, it requires talking to him to make this determination, really??? He also has no lawyer assigned to him, so whatever he is saying will not be allowed in any legal proceedings. Well, I am not a JAG lawyer, so I’ll leave that to the poor Major General put in this unenviable position of determining whether to pursue a prosecution.

Watching the Rose Garden circus with President Obama and the Bergdahl parents, I will stick to the political and tell you that this White House is waiting until some other events capture the public’s attention and then they will make their move and force the Department of the Army to drop the investigation and exonerate Bergdahl. Perhaps, Bergdahl needs more drugs and therapy (a new brainwash) to be ready for the prime time roll-out, with, you can be sure, a fully rehearsed far-left legal eagle to watch over him. They may conjure up some fictitious mental health issue or something to sugarcoat this bitter pill the Army will be forced to swallow, but nothing in the way they have forced military officials to handle Bergdahl should lead anyone to believe he is considered a deserter by this Commander-In-Chief; no, he is Obama’s type of soldier – dubious loyalties to America, convert to Islam and turned his back on his fellow soldiers. Yes, I am making radical predictions today, lol. Time will bear out the truth.

How many more assaults on our vital institutions can America withstand and still remain a Republic, that’s what I have been pondering lately. When does the Constitution become irrelevant due to executive criminality and legislative malaise, with a court decidedly tepid about making any bold moves? Time to go read some Livy and think about our fate…

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Filed under Culture Wars, Foreign Policy, General Interest, Military, Politics, The Constitution, The Media

June 25, 2014 · 4:22 am

The Meaning of IS, at long last….

Courtesy of National Review Online: The Devil’s Dictionary

3 Comments

Filed under American History, Culture Wars, Food for Thought, Foreign Policy, General Interest, Politics, The Constitution, The Media

June 24, 2014 · 5:59 am

Almost Ripley’s Believe It Or Not

http://cnsnews.com/mrctv-blog/craig-bannister/obama-proclaims-hurricane-intensity-increase-climate-continues-warm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/10916086/The-scandal-of-fiddled-global-warming-data.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/10920198/Greenpeace-executive-flies-250-miles-to-work.html

http://dailycaller.com/2014/06/23/feds-research-breeding-sheep-with-lower-methane-emitting-flatulence/#ixzz35UsNihN1

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/isis-hoodies-t-shirts-sale-online-islamist-brand-goes-global-1453715

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/06/22/Exclusive-Sen-Jeff-Session-Pro-Amnesty-Elites-Treat-People-as-Commodities

http://www.theguardian.com/law/2014/jun/23/senate-reaffirms-decision-scotusblog-press-pass

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Filed under Culture Wars, Foreign Policy, General Interest, History, Islam, Politics, The Constitution, The Media

June 21, 2014 · 9:12 am

Update — see: IRS contracted with email archiving company in 2005I have been listening all week to TV pundits lamenting that Lois Lerner’s hard drive has been destroyed, and therefore her e-mails are lost. This is simply not th…

Update — see: IRS contracted with email archiving company in 2005I have been listening all week to TV pundits lamenting that Lois Lerner’s hard drive has been destroyed, and therefore her e-mails are lost. This is simply not th….

Being a computer-illiterate type, perhaps someone can fact check this little gem of a story.

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Filed under General Interest, Politics, The Media

June 8, 2014 · 9:46 am

Spin continues

So, an unnamed senior U.S.official leaks details of Bergdahl’s condition and captivity. With this administration and Bergdahl health updates, wow, pass the salt shaker on that one, need more than a grain (courtesy Huffington Post):

“The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss what Bergdahl has revealed about the conditions of his captivity.”

What official – a Obama flunky or a US Army official – that is what I want to know? And also the official spoke anonymously, because he was “not authorized” to discuss what Bergdahl has revealed – yet the official still released this “information” anyway – what do rules mean to these people. Bergdahl’s fate needs to be decided by the respective command authority – not Obama spinners. The investigators should be allowed to investigate and make a determination on the case. It’s time for people to learn to follow the rule of law. Everyone in the chain of the command, to include the President, has a DUTY to follow the rules and not try to influence the investigation or outcome.

Decided to add a bit more. The “Bowe Bergdahl war hero” trial balloon deflated, next was an attempt to smear his teammates as psychos and blame the command. An attempt to spin Bowe Bergdahl “the victim/ traumatized captive” is the next casting. He walked away from his post to find the Taliban, because from his history we can deduce the French Foreign Legion mercenary dream didn’t pan out, his father said Bowe envisions himself as Bear Grylls the British survivalist. From there he joined the US Army, but that didn’t suit, so he walked away looking for the Taliban. That is the intelligence a Special Forces Commander, Rusty Bradley, said they received when they were sent to search for Bergdahl, last night on Fox News. MAJ Bradley was there, so I believe his first-hand account of the information they received over the radio when Bergdahl went missing. I believe his teammates too.

That is what people will have to decide – who is lying about the information they release (anonymously mostly – hiding like snakes in the grass). I am forming an opinion that this troubled young man had dubious loyalties, lived in a fantasy world and was selfish and only concerned about his thirst for adventure. He reminds me of a young man who came to work at my store a few years ago. On day one he told me that we don’t know anything about management when I calmly told him what tasks he needed to do. He was a wanderer (we get lots of those), so I tracked him down and told him that he needed to go to the furniture department and zone (clean up the side counters in the department and put away returned merchandise). He told me he had been in the Army and we don’t know anything about management. I told him, “That’s nice, I was in the Army long ago too, but this isn’t the Army and these are the tasks you need to work on.” He got indignant and told me his sister works at another store and she told him all about how things are supposed to be. This young man, like many we get, did not follow the rules, thought he knew everything, did not complete his tasks, was an attendance problem and ended up fired quickly. Bowe Bergdahl walked away from his unit more than once and I am wondering if he was held accountable for the previous incidents and if that might have led to his disillusionment. Just something I wondered.

I don’t know yet, that is why I am weighing the credibility of the sources of the information, the facts that have been corroborated by more than one source, and then assessing them. I haven’t made a full judgment yet, because I am “analyzing” the information . Here is something I learned from an excellent little booklet:

“When we deal with information, we sometimes see through prisms – not real ones, made of glass, but “intellectual” prisms, in our minds. In other words, we approach an issue with a distorted view of it.”

he adds:

“In politics, the word for these intellectual prisms is “ideology.”

Meyer, Herbert E. (2010-10-10). How to Analyze Information: A Step-by-Step Guide to Life’s Most Vital Skill (Kindle Locations 86-87). Storm King Press. Kindle Edition.

Meyer, Herbert E. (2010-10-10). How to Analyze Information: A Step-by-Step Guide to Life’s Most Vital Skill (Kindle Locations 79-80). Storm King Press. Kindle Edition.

To get the correct information you have to leave the partisan politics aside and start learning how to analyze information. This little booklet I found at Amazon.com – kindle edition is $1.99. Mr. Meyer’s bio frombusinessweek.com includes this information:

” Mr. Meyers is widely credited with being the first senior US Government official to forecast the collapse of the Soviet Union–a forecast for which he later was awarded the U.S. National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, the Intelligence Community’s highest honor.”

I found his booklet very informative and helpful.

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Filed under Culture Wars, Foreign Policy, General Interest, Military, Politics, The Constitution, The Media, Uncategorized

June 7, 2014 · 11:46 am

Enemies, both foreign and domestic

SGT Bergdahl walking away from his post is the public embodiment of President Obama’s annnounced date to “end the war” in Afghanistan and a bone he tossed to his left-wing, anti-war, close Gitmo base. The fixation on optics with releasing Gitmo prisoners using the PR cover of “securing the release of an American war hero” backfired. The Obama administration wanted to use SGT Bergdahl as a political prop – nothing more. This follows the continuing disrespect this President has shown our military – they are props for photo ops – just like they tried to use his West Point speech, the visit to Afghanistan and every other time he has ever bothered to visit the troops as image-builders to make him look like the CINC.

That this PR stunt should end up mired in controversy and inflame another public partisan firestorm isn’t surprising. President Obama came into office still blasting President Bush on the Iraq war, but he proclaimed Afghanistan the “good” war, announced a surge to “win that war”, with the stated goal of bringing enough stability to the Afghan government, whereby we could end our US presence there. He never fully deployed the full number of troops for his surge policy. The push to get the Afghan National Army and security apparatus up to snuff became a priority too. During this phase, attacks on US forces increased: Threat from within, “U.S. military braced for surge in ‘insider’ Taliban attacks” (May 21, 2013):

“Taliban insurgents recently vowed to carry out new “infiltration” attacks aimed at killing and demoralizing U.S., allied, and Afghan military forces as part of the spring military offensive, according to U.S. officials.

The expected increase in what the Pentagon calls “insider” attacks by Taliban sympathizers or infiltrators followed an April 27 statement by the Islamist terror group

It was the first time the Taliban identified insider attacks as a key tactic.”

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/21/threat-within-us-military-braced-surge-taliban-ins/#ixzz33x56F4Hx
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

The mission wasn’t going well and US casualties in Afghanistan increased, the efforts to ready Afghan security forces floundered too. We may have a recruit problem in America finding recruits who meet standards, but the Afghan recruit problem is much worse. I can pull up reports later, but here are some of the recurrent problems with getting the Afghan security forces up to snuff, in no particular order – high percentage of drug addicts (especially opiates) in recruits, illiteracy in recruit pool, dubious loyalty to the Afghan government, a culture of corruption, discipline problems among others. Getting the Afghan security forces trained has been a huge challenge.

This White House thinks you can just write a narrative and sell it to the American public, irrespective of the facts. This is a President who thinks his date to end the conflict in Afghanistan ends the war. He may have the power to withdraw troops, but our enemies haven’t conceded defeat, agreed to a ceasefire or ended this conflict in any way resembling an end to a war. This isn’t Vietnam where we pulled out – end of war for us. And there the aftermath led to someone else winning that war in Vietnam and it wasn’t us. Although, luckily the North Vietnamese didn’t have a jihad going against Americans to kill us all over the world.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban, just like the North Vietnamese, will fight on. The Obama supporters can spin this any way they want, they can cherry-pick military history, a laughable undertaking due to their complete disdain for that topic, but facts exist, events unfold in the world and their spin remains a sad, juvenile PR stunt, not serious foreign policy. What’s the point of our vast intelligence-gathering apparatus, if the President is going to ignore his top military leaders advice and alter intelligence reports to fit the spin? It’s time for Americans to work at untangling the threads.

SGT Bergdahl may come to be the symbol of all that is wrong with American foreign policy, where the American involvement in a foreign war is hotly contested both by the American public and even within the highest levels of our government. We’ve gone through the Benghazi dust-up, where Susan Rice became the face of a White House trying to spin the story to deflect responsibility. The lives of 4 brave Americans were lost in Benghazi and the Obama White House decided to stonewall, doctor (ignore?) intelligence reports and rely on a deputy communication director at the NSA to write the script for this White House “narrative” Judicial Watch subpoenaed those emails and it became apparent that Susan Rice was following that script when she went on the Sunday talk shows to sell their internet video narrative on Benghazi.

Retired Army four-star general, Jack Keane, made some stunning disclosures last night on Fox News. He stated that President Obama has not followed any of the advice from his top generals in years. They are props too, apparently. Intelligence reports, which the left hails as proof that Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction, become irrelevant when top intelligence officials doctor reports to fit the Ben Rhodes and Susan Rice spin narrative on Benghazi and now we come to this Bergdahl situation. At the highest level of decision-making, if the President ignores the advice of top military leaders, concocts intelligence to fit a “narrative”, then those tasked with carrying out these “missions” are nothing more than expendable cannon fodder. His desperate supporters are spinning a narrative comparing wartime President Obama to wartime President Lincoln, using the analogy to the biography by Doris Kearns Goodwin, “Team of Rivals”, somehow fitting that they’d find a historian short on the truth (failed to attribute work – more than once)… President Obama is no President Linclon, but we do seem to have a civil war of sorts going on.

The American people will have to sort through the FACTS, as they emerge in this latest scandal. Every member of the US Armed Forces voluntarily raises his/her right hand and swears:

The Oath of Enlistment (for enlisted):

“I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

The Oath of Office (for officers):

“I, _____ (SSAN), having been appointed an officer in the _____ (Military Branch) of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance tot he same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God.”

The soldiers’ allegiance is to the Constitution, not a President, not a political party, but it’s way past time to emphasize what we swore an oath to protect America from, ENEMIES, both foreign and domestic. Following the rule of law matters. In the last big national question with President Clinton, we were fed the spin that lying under oath didn’t matter on matters of a personal sexual issue. In this Bergdahl situation what is at stake is doctored intelligence reports, lying to the American public about releasing top-tier terrorists, lying to Congress, bypassing Congress and the rule of law. What words mean matters too.

How the Army handles SGT Bergdahl breaking his oath matters to the morale and future of the US Armed Forces. How Congress and the American people handle a President breaking his matters to the future of the United States of America – don’t let the left spin this to be all about Bergdahl – it’s about deciding much more than the facts about SGT Bergdahl breaking his oath

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

The American people and the US Congress will have to come to grips with who is really protecting America and how important is the rule of law, if the rules are whatever President Obama decides they are. They will have to decide how well they believe a President is protecting them from our enemies when he does not follow any of the advice of his top military leaders on military matters and he lets PR flunkies write the “narrative” of what the intelligence reports indicate.

Semantics drive American partisan politics, where the largest terrorist attack on a US military installation in history gets spun into “workplace violence” and even the word Islamist has been banished from military language, so they can’t even call these particular enemies by name. This administration is now selling Bergdahl as a war hero and here’s how the rest of those who did their duty and returned home are categorized in an official DHS report:

“U//FOUO) Returning veterans possess combat skills and experience that are attractive to rightwing extremists.DHS/I&A is concerned that rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to boost their violent capabilities”

Just suck it up troops and follow your orders from this CINC. You are potential right-wing terrorists and Bergdahl is a war hero – I guess that could be true depending who you believe the enemy is… This one is more serious than saving a disaster of a President and a political party than “that depends what the definition of is, is”. Like the Obama administration, I too am pondering the meaning of “enemies” – both foreign and domestic.

And oh, I have never owned a gun in my life – I work at a blue-collar job, I spent my life as a homemaker and Army wife, I belong to no political party. The most controversial group I ever joined apparently is the US Army, if I am to believe the DHS report. As an American who still believes in The Constitution of the United States, the original document (not a “charter of negative liberties), I know I have the RIGHT to free speech – then and now!!! I spoke out then, too on the excite message boards and wrote a story about it – in the archives of my blog “Messages of mhere”. Enemies, war hero, terrorists, all up for redefinition here, but I think what, is, is really is key, so I wrote a story about it. Add me to another watch list, go right ahead, but really I don’t own any guns or belong to any right-wing extremist group and this time I have taken the precaution of making sure a lawyer has the background to my story and I have given details to a reporter as a precaution.!!!

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Filed under Foreign Policy, General Interest, Messages of mhere, Military, Politics, The Constitution, The Media

June 5, 2014 · 10:57 am

The Choices We Make

Many things, on many levels, disturb me about the latest President Obama disaster of releasing 5 terrorists for a US soldier held in captivity. This situation contains so many threads we’ll probably be trying to untangle this massive web of lies, truth and partisan spin for years and future historians will certainly have plenty of information to sift through to put a stamp of judgment on President Obama’s decision to make this trade. One thread I’m going to attempt to untangle (and feel free to toss in your opinions in the comments) is the choices open to Bowe Bergdahl. None of us will ever be able to ascertain for certain what he thought or what he believed and the investigation, the accumulation of facts that come forward about his actions before, during and after his leaving his base in Afghanistan, and how we line these up will lead each of us to form an opinion in the matter.

Most of us are people of beliefs, opinions, feelings, desires and no man can ever be totally objective and free from some degree of bias, because we can’t separate our thinking into tidy little separate compartments. Sadly, from watching these sorts of national crises of “conscience” play out over the years, the political strategists have trained Americans to rely on poll numbers and influencing feelings to sway “public opinion” and thus allow the politicians to pursue their agendas without much oversight from “we the people”.

Bowe Bergdahl was a young man who voluntarily decided to enlist in the US Army. Of course, I can relate to that, because as a young woman I did the same thing, in perhaps a very similar naive way. No matter how carefully you research the military before raising your right hand and swearing an oath to “defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic”, the reality turns out very different from your preconceived notions.

The single most important lesson military service teaches you is that there are other things more important than yourself (selfless service). You are part of a team tasked with a mission and in combat the very lives of your fellow soldiers depend on TRUST – lives depend on this and accomplishing the mission depends on it (loyalty and trust).

When soldiers swear that oath, they agree to follow lawful orders and to work toward that big picture mission “defending the Constitution”. How that big mission trickles down to the individual soldier in our Republic is a combination of civilian political decision-making with the President having a great deal of latitude in execution of military missions and Congress with the prescribed role of declaring war, oversight of military actions and fiduciary responsibilities (they control the purse strings). Now, how the little missions get passed on down through the ranks has evolved in our military since General George Washington first took command of the Continental Army on June 15, 1775. From that day forward the military rules and traditions evolved and today Army soldiers operate under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and we agree to uphold Army Values, to live by the Soldier’s Creed and Warrior Ethos.

Often times what you “feel” differs from what the people above you in rank order you to do and believe me, being a private in the US Army is a lesson in forbearance and self-restraint, because you’re at the bottom of the power structure and everything rolls downhill. That means you often feel like you’re being run around in circles, because you don’t know what the big picture parts of the mission are and as the little parts get tasked on down the chain of command, both good and bad decisions are made. It’s a complex organization and lots of hands are required to achieve the big picture mission. You follow your orders, unless the order is unlawful.

Based on the emails that Bowe Bergdahl’s parents reportedly shared with the frequently referenced 2012 Rolling Stone magazine article (hardly a hardcore right-wing source). Bowe Bergdahl had many negative feelings about his chain of command, his teammates and the overall mission in Afghanistan. At a later date, that will likely be a blog post to tackle – American foreign policy failures.

I can sympathize having been a private in the US Army and having grave misgivings about our military mission in Afghanistan and Iraq, especially since President Obama took office, but truthfully even for most of the Bush presidency too. From the very biggest picture level on down to the execution on the ground, I have disagreed with everything from nation-building on down to rules of engagement. I have nothing but contempt for military strategy reliant on lame slogans, rather than a clear strategic vision for America, both short-term and long-term. It looks to me like Bowe Bergdahl drank the “hearts and minds” three cups of tea mission. I disagreed with it then and I disagree with it now. COIN is not a strategy – it’s a tactic, in my opinion and I’ve felt all along it should be just a part of our military toolkit, not the complete doctrine in the Army. Yes, we’ve all listened “shock and awe” and “it will be a cake walk” on to the “winning the hearts and minds”, which the media regurgitate like trained parrots. Right now, the press and the politicians hit us with “we never leave one of our own on the battlefield” type slogans.

Most in the media have no clue about anything having to do with military matters. No one in the President’s inner-circle of trusted advisers knows anything about military matters (and they suck at managing their PR big time too). From watching this unfolding circus, sadly way too many of the retired military pundits and commentators on which the media and public rely to translate military matters into civilian language are partisan political hacks. Sadly, I’ve thought most of our top brass are political hacks for a long, long time. When the “war on terror” began and the Bush administration began briefing these retired officers and sending them out to be “military analysts” for the media, it’s pretty easy to determine where these officers’ political loyalties lie and it’s not with telling the truth.

So, now back to Bowe Bergdahl, the Private First Class, arriving in Afghanistan in March of 2009 and on June 30, 2009 he walked away from his base. I love my Sun Tzu, while our military is more attuned to Clausewitz and Jomini. I love reading about military strategy and military history, so naturally I have lots of opinions. Bowe Bergdahl seems to have formed lots of opinions too. And that is what the point of this post is. No matter how the media and politicians or his supporters or the folks for the war or against the war try to spin it – at the heart of the matter is Bowe Bergdahl, whom I can sympathize with in many ways, as a naive young man, “wanting to help the Afghan people” according to his father. I am always trying to “help people” too. I can even sympathize with his parents and even his father trying to talk to the Taliban, trying to get his son released. The crux of the matter and what this will boil down to – unlike Bowe’s father, mine lived by a simple code of honor that he drilled into our heads, “If you give your word, you keep it!” Bowe’s father, a religious man, told his son, according to that Rolling Stone interview, “OBEY YOUR CONSCIENCE!” Bowe gave his word and didn’t keep it, nor did he discuss his change of conscience with his chain of command. He walked away in a war zone for an as yet to be determined personal mission.

Here’re the simple facts. Bowe Bergdahl had other choices. It was not a matter of he had no other course of action to pursue if he felt, as a matter of conscience he couldn’t do this. Like everything in the military, conscientious objector status is covered in UCMJ too. Did Bowe Bergdahl ever talk to anyone in his chain of command about his misgivings about the war? Did he attempt to seek conscientious objector status or even try to get out of the Army? The reporting indicated he tried to join the French Foreign Legion, wanting to be a mercenary, so fighting didn’t seem to be morally reprehensible to him then. He joined the Army and was reported to have earned the nickname SF, short for Special Forces, because of his fascination with COIN. How he was planning to help the Afghan people matters and we may never get that answer from him. I would love to hear his father explain in what ways he believes Bowe intended to help the Afghan people. How was he going to help them, this young man fascinated with being a mercenary and survivalist skills? To me, I’m trying to wrap my mind around his father’s views in this video, where he at length talks about how he feels the mission in Afghanistan was wrong, but I can’t make heads or tails out of how he believes his son intended to help the Afghan people.

So, away from the politics, there are honorable and dishonorable ways to “obey your conscience” and sorry, walking away from your base is not one of them. Not being a JAG lawyer, I don’t know if Bowe Bergdahl’s convictions would have met the threshold for conscientious objector status. This website About.com on this issue it states: “You can’t pick and choose which war you object to. By law, a conscientious objector is one who is opposed to participation in all wars. The person’s opposition must be based on religious belief and training, and it must be deeply held.” My husband had a soldier who found God on the way to the Gulf War and he was still in the company when they returned, albeit on his way out. I haven’t consulted Gladius on this matter yet, but like everything else in the Army, there are various types of actions commanders have at their disposal to deal with a soldier and his/her conscience in a war zone – Bowe Bergdahl decided to skip all that.

This isn’t about the merits of the US mission in Afghanistan or the partisan politics, this is about one soldier who swore an oath and the choices he voluntarily made. And when the political left tries to turn this into an indictment of the policy in Afghanistan – what matters here is that the UCMJ applies to every soldier and that’s why so many soldiers are demanding he be held accountable for his actions. We might sympathize with his feelings, but we can’t lose sight that we are a nation of laws, not men. That law is the Constitution of the United States of America and if keeping your word no longer matters, our Republic will crumble. Don’t once again buy into the crap about the polls of how the American people feel or the partisan spin – that doesn’t matter!!! We are a nation of laws, not of what people feel this week based on the latest poll numbers!

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Filed under American History, Culture Wars, Foreign Policy, General Interest, Military, Politics, The Constitution, The Media