Posts
Humor me while I reminisce about the old days and one of the
most remarkable athletes I have ever seen in any sport (no, not him, or him…how old do you think I am?). Bo Jackson.
Baseball or (American) football, he was outstanding in both sports – he could
have been an all-time Hall-of-Fame candidate if not for blowing out his hip and
further subsequent complications.
One of the more memorable episodes of the flash of light
that was Bo Jackson was a series of commercials by Nike, “Bo Knows” (if you
like a heavy guitar, listen to Bo Diddley on this commercial). In this series, the cross-training abilities
of Bo are explored in numerous sports.
Bo knows them all (well, Gretzky doesn’t think so).
I know none of you come here to read about such things. I take this opportunity to reminisce on the
simpler, pre-911 days of my youth – or, let’s say, my less-aged. The topic, as you have likely surmised from
the title of this post, is Bowe
Bergdahl and the controversy surrounding his release.
I will begin by stating that I have no idea of the truth of
the circumstances behind his capture or release; behind any actions he may or
may not have taken. None of it. The story is a controlled one. But the controversy – even outrage – is based
on the narrative provided, and it is this narrative that I will examine.
The feigned controversy is in regards to the trading for
terrorists:
Mike Rogers, chairman of the House
Intelligence Committee said he was "extremely troubled" and that
"This fundamental shift in U.S. policy signals to terrorists around the
world a greater incentive to take U.S. hostages". This sentiment was
repeated by Congressmen Buck McKeon and James Inhofe, who released a joint
statement saying that terrorists now have a "strong incentive" to
capture more soldiers.
Pretty laughable. Like
they didn’t have reason already? Actually,
this might preclude the reason they have to kill US soldiers, and capture them
instead. You would think this is a good
thing.
What is the real reason for the hostility – hostility in the
politicians, the media, and much of the public?
It is because Bowe knows (at least reportedly)….
Bowe knows the truth behind the US government’s foreign
interventions:
The future is too good to waste on
lies. And life is way too short to care for the damnation of others, as well as
to spend it helping fools with their ideas that are wrong. I have seen their
ideas and I am ashamed to even be american. [sic]
A soldier “ashamed to be an american” is a sin worse than
death – what does this say to the countless millions who stand cheering and
weeping when returning soldiers are paraded at sporting events, or when the
fighter planes fly overhead at parades? If
the soldiers are ashamed, what does this say for those doing the worshipping? Are they dupes? No, better to be hostile.
Bowe explains that it is the brown-nosers (this is graphic
enough for my blog, he writes in more graphic terms) are the ones who get
promotions. Brown-nosing soldiers? What does this say to those 40 million back
at home, playing “Call-of-Duty”
while sitting in their basement in front of the HD screen, with Cheetos strewn
all over the floor?
The system is wrong. I am ashamed
to be an american.
There he goes again, being ashamed.
The US army is the biggest joke the
world has to laugh at. It is the army of liars, backstabbers, fools, and
bullies.
What? The few, the
proud (oh, that’s the other guys)? A global
force for good (nope, wrong bunch again)?
Be all you can be? A place for
liars and backstabbers? This can’t play
well on Sunday mornings.
I am sorry for everything here.
Not only is he ashamed, now he is sorry. Americans don’t apologize for freeing the
world, Bowe. You don’t know Diddley (I couldn’t
help it).
These people need help, yet what
they get is the most conceited country in the world telling them that they are
nothing and that they are stupid…
Finally, something many Americans might agree with.
I am sorry for everything.
Apologizing twice!
The horror that is america is
disgusting.
That takes it.
No wonder America doesn’t know Bowe.
They also don’t know his father – you know, he grew a beard
and everything, even learned the language of Bowe’s captors. (Don’t tell your neighbors, but I bet he can even
find Afghanistan on a map – if they knew, they would be even more upset).
His father’s reply?
OBEY YOUR CONSCIENCE!
Dear Bowe, In matters of life and
death, and especially at war, it is never safe to ignore ones' conscience.
This might actually require many Americans to look in the
mirror. What a terrorist.
Bowe knows too much; this is the source of the
hostility. Bowe exposes the truth, and
therefore the exposes the corruption in American society – the corruption that
makes possible the actions of the political leaders. Bowe exposed this corruption – this is why he
is hated; it has nothing to do with five for one, or encouraging
terrorists. Israel
makes such trades quite often – you don’t hear any angst about this from
the politicians and pundits.
Israeli prisoner exchanges refer to
exchanges of prisoners during the Arab-Israeli conflict. Israel has exchanged
POWs with its Arab neighbors, and has released about 7,000 Palestinian
prisoners to secure freedom for 19 Israelis and to retrieve the bodies of eight
others.
Bowe is the boy who shouted that the emperor has no clothes –
but I
wrote that lost chapter one year ago, for another American that other Americans
loved to hate. It didn’t seem right to
cut and paste from the previous post.
And Bowe gave me a reason to look back fondly at Bo. And listen to that guitar once again.
Big blues fan here, so I can relate. Also to the other stuff.
ReplyDeleteAt at last, the truth about Bowe, which is being vigorously covered up by the government and presstitutes. This is man with conscience, a feature not tolerated by the military or government. 40 years ago I was a whistle-blower in the US Air Force. I honestly thought that when my command chain refused to acknowledge the problem I could forward it and someone would do the right thing. I wrote to one of my senators at the time, John Tower, naively not having a clue as to his character. The system did respond and "cleaned up" the mess. I was dragged into a meeting at 4:00 AM with an inspector general that had been flown in as soon as the congressional complaint came down the chain. An aging and paunchy colonel from command tried to talk me into retracting my complaint. I was only 19-years-of-age but not totally ignorant. I told him that his suggestion that I had honestly but wrongly overreacted to a situation that was, in realty, not a problem seemed odd, as he had flown 700 miles in a Lear jet and I was ordered to report to him at 4:00AM. If there was no problem, why the rush, I asked, with actual sincerity. The situation was corrected in one way only--the guilty were all shipped off to new assignments and I was suddenly given the plum opportunity to cross-train into a field of my choosing, a rare gift. I took it. And after being trained at another base was mysteriously reassigned to my same base and placed in a squadron under the command of the former base inspector general who had first denied my complaint. I met with him upon arrival and was told, "Sergeant Smith, if you have ANY problem, come to me before you take it up the chain." At that point I was given a single room in the dormitory, a rarity given only to higher ranking enlisted, obviously to both isolate me and appease me.
ReplyDeleteThankfully I did not have the danger that Bowe faced by being assigned to a combat zone. I did have the support of a father who had been a career officer in the military, having lost his own final advancement to his history of being genuine. He supported me, but yet I could sense his awareness of what would happen. As he told me, "Do what is right. But don't expect it to be easy."
This comment is directed at Stardreamer's comment over here.
ReplyDelete"What a disgraceful blog entry. If Bowe felt that America was not serving his interests in this war, then he should have just turned himself into to his superiors and said, 'I quit.'"
And what do you think the consequences of that would've been, Stardreamer?
"By forgiving his walking into Sharia mongers (total antithesis to Libertarian principles), reveals a man worse than a traitor, but an authoritarian sympathizer."
Who's this man you're talking about? Bowe Bergdahl? Bionic Mosquito? Who?
"A friend of my enemy (let's assume that our war in Iraq was warmongering to make your case) is NOT MY FRIEND. You make a distasteful false choice: America or Taliban."
I don't see any evidence supporting your bare assertion that Bionic Mosquito has made a false choice between America and the Taliban.
"It's these kinds of posts that make sane folks who are questioning the status quo run FAR AWAY from libertarian ism. The movement is, once again, becoming its own worse enemy. It does best when it sticks to Austrian economics."
More bare assertions. How do (you think) these kinds of post make people run far away from libertarianism?
As the great Mr. Blair said, "In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act." What I can't figure out is why Obama WANTS Bergdahl back. Does he intend to fry him, as a lesson to other free-thinkers? That will certainly bring his views further into the spotlight, something I would think Obama would want to avoid.
ReplyDeleteA prescient observation and timeless advice of exactly what you DON’T NEED to be doing—joining or fighting in the U.S. Military:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.911truthawakenings.org/
I don't disagree with many of the points of this article. However I still can't forget about the six soldiers who died looking for him and their families. They have become nonexistent to the media. Bowe must have known they would look for him and be put in harms way.
ReplyDeleteNo matter how you slice it, the way he left his post was cowardly. He clearly gave no thought to deserting his post (and potentially putting all the others in danger).
No matter what statement he was trying to make, he ceded the moral high ground with the way he went about it.
I think it's absurd to believe that Bowe Bergdahl killed those soldiers by his actions. Those soldiers chose to look for him, and therefore they chose to put themselves in harm's way. While that doesn't mean they killed themselves, it also means that Bowe Bergdahl didn't kill them.
DeleteRobert, first, we really have no idea of what the truth is behind this story. Second, as Autolykos has said (and if the reports are accurate), Bowe didn't force those soldiers to do anything.
DeleteAs to moral high ground? I long ago decided that when someone was in a moral lose-lose situation, there is no losing moral high ground - there is no moral high ground to lose.
Given all of his choices (and, again, assuming the media reports are accurate), Bowe took the steps that would cause the least damage to those who didn't ask to be put in the situation. He took steps that allowed him to remain in control - as opposed to turning control over to his superiors - what do you think they would have done with Bowe?
That seems high enough ground, doesn't it?
@Autolykos - please don't put words in my mouth. I did not say he killed the soldiers. In my view, he was negligent, not criminal.
Delete@Bionic - I guess we'll have to disagree on that. We have Bowe's own words that he walked away from his post, if I am not mistaken. That potentially put all his comrades in danger. I'm not disagreeing with his conclusions about the wars. The most honorable thing would have been to attempt to resign. But at the very least he could have gone AWOL when he wasn't actually on duty. That's what I mean about ceding the moral high ground.
Excuse me for trying to figure out what you were really saying, RobertW. But if you really think that Bowe Bergdahl was being only negligent, rather than being criminal, I guess I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
DeleteEven so, I don't see how he was even being negligent in walking away from his post. Again, walking away from his post did not per se put in harm's way the soldiers who subsequently went looking for him. Not only that, but I really don't see how walking away from his post was at all cowardly.
AL - Maybe cowardly is the wrong word. If I walk away from my post when the safety of others might depend on me without informing anyone: what would you call that?
DeleteAre you now retracting your opinion that Bowe Bergdahl was cowardly for walking away from his post? I can't tell if you are or not. Regardless, I don't think it was cowardly for him to do that. What I'd call it is irrelevant to the issue of you calling him cowardly for what he did.
DeleteNo I'm asking you what you would call walking away from your post when other people's safety may be compromised? He could have gone AWOL at any time, but chose to do it when he was at his post. But since you think there is nothing wrong with that, there is really nothing to discuss.
DeleteAs I said, RobertW - and which you are blatantly ignoring now - what I'd call what he did is irrelevant to the issue of you calling what he did cowardly. But since you answered no to my question, then I take it you still consider him to be cowardly for walking away from his post? If so, then why did you bother to say that "maybe cowardly is the wrong word"? Either you think he's cowardly for walking away from his post or you don't. Which is it?
DeleteWait until the mind melding drugs and 'therapy' sessions that Bowe is now being exposed to while being held behind closed doors.
ReplyDeleteWe'll see a new version of Bowe offering up apologies for his past sins, then us Americans can celebrate the 4th of July by getting drunk and ogling the neighbor's hot 16 yo daughter.