One U.S. Soldier traded for FIVE high ranking Taliban prisoners

[Everling]

http://news.yahoo.com/us-soldier-freed-captivity-afghanistan-164824831--politics.html?soc_src=copy

Is Dipoto doing deals for America now?

[Taylor]

I thought the U.S. doesn't negotiate with terrorists.

[HaloMagic]

We didn't. The Taliban did.

[Rochambeau]

Am I missing something here? Is this as stunningly stupid of a move as it sounds? Conventional wisdom has always been that negotiating with terrorists invites more terrorism.

The Taliban must have agreed to play nice when we leave Afghanistan.

Looking forward to the presser when the US and the Taliban push the "reset" button.

[mancini79]

Am I missing something here? Is this as stunningly stupid of a move as it sounds? Conventional wisdom has always been that negotiating with terrorists invites more terrorism.

The Taliban must have agreed to play nice when we leave Afghanistan.

Looking forward to the presser when the US and the Taliban push the "reset" button.

 

Would you view it as a stupid move if it were your kid being released?

[nate]

Sounds like this guy was a deserter and was probably aiding the Taliban.  The dude's family hasn't even been able to talk to him yet.  My guess is because the US is interrogating him.

[AngelsLongBall]

Sounds like this guy was a deserter and was probably aiding the Taliban. The dude's family hasn't even been able to talk to him yet. My guess is because the US is interrogating him.

I was gonna say, I could have sworn this guy deserted his post b/c he changed his mind re: the war. I'm glad there are no more POWs, but it wasnt like this guy was snatched during a patrol or during combat.

Next question is whether or not the Taliban had Homeland in their Netflix queue.

[Don]

Sounds like this guy was a deserter and was probably aiding the Taliban.  The dude's family hasn't even been able to talk to him yet.  My guess is because the US is interrogating him.

People involved have hinted at a medical issue being the reason that the talks intensified. Whether or not that's true is obviously questionable, and if it is true, the severity/urgency would also be questionable. It seems to match up well with him being in a hospital though. Although, I'm guessing they'd want to observe anybody coming back from five years of captivity for a day or two.

[Tank]

former student of mine is a marine. he referred to this soldier as a traitor.

[Jason]

former student of mine is a marine. he referred to this soldier as a traitor.

I've heard stuff about him being a deserter. Not sure how accurate that is as the MSM isn't reporting anything like that. If true this negotiation is really bad.

[Adam]

It was nice of Obama to put on the epic dog and pony show with the dude's family at the white house

[nate]

Politicians can never go wrong with God, Guns or the Military.

[TennAngelsFan]

"We were at OP Mest, Paktika Province, Afghanistan. It was a small outpost where B Co 1-501st INF (Airbone) ran operations out of, just an Infantry platoon and ANA counterparts there. The place was an Afghan graveyard. Bergdahl had been acting a little strange, telling people he wanted to "walk the earth" and kept a little journal talking about how he was meant for better things. No one thought anything about it. He was a little “out there”. Next morning he's gone. We search everywhere, and can't find him. He left his weapon, his kit, and other sensitive items. He only took some water, a compass and a knife. We find some afghan kids shortly after who saw an american walking north asking about where the taliban are. We get hits on our voice intercepter that Taliban has him, and we were close. We come to realize the kid deserted his post, snuck out of camp and sought out Taliban… to join them. We were in a defensive position at OP Mest, where your focus is to keep people out. He knew where the blind spots were to slip out and that's what he did. It was supposed to be a 4-day mission but turned into several months of active searching. Everyone was spun up to find this guy. News outlets all over the country were putting out false information. It was hard to see, especially when we knew the truth about what happened and we lost good men trying to find him. PFC Matthew Michael Martinek, Staff Sgt. Kurt Robert Curtiss, SSG Clayton Bowen, PFC Morris Walker, SSG Michael Murphrey, 2LT Darryn Andrews, were all KIA from our unit who died looking for Bergdahl. Many others from various units were wounded or killed while actively looking for Bergdahl. Fighting Increased. IEDs and enemy ambushes increased. The Taliban knew that we were looking for him in high numbers and our movements were predictable. Because of Bergdahl, more men were out in danger, and more attacks on friendly camps and positions were conducted while we were out looking for him. His actions impacted the region more than anyone wants to admit. There is also no way to know what he told the Taliban: Our movements, locations, tactics, weak points on vehicles and other things for the enemy to exploit are just a few possibilities. The Government knows full well that he deserted. It looks bad and is a good propaganda piece for the Taliban. They refuse to acknowledge it. Hell they even promoted him to Sergeant which makes me sick. I feel for his family who only want their son/brother back. They don’t know the truth, or refuse to acknowledge it as well. What he did affected his family and his whole town back home, who don’t know the truth. Either way what matters is that good men died because of him. He has been lying on all those Taliban videos about everything since his “capture”. If he ever returns,

_____________________________________________________________________________

Not saying this is the way it happened but what one of the guys in his outfit says happened. 

Edited June 2, 2014 by TennAngelsFan

[nate]

Paragraphs man, paragraphs.

[TennAngelsFan]

I don't work for the government, I'm self employed.  I don't have time for paragraphs.

[Don]

If that's true (standard internet skepticism is appropriate here, I think) then it's pretty damning.

[Scott34]

I would hardly call a local Taliban governor turned used car salesman a high ranking Taliban prisoner.  Most of these guys have no business in GITMO.

Edited June 2, 2014 by Scott34

[LBHalos17]

The only way I'm ok with this, is if the Talibananas were tagged-and-released.  I can't imagine the Govt./Military signing-off on this deal (especially if the POW is as worthless as he's being described), unless they have a longer-range plan.

 

Of course, our Govt./Military is the same Corporation that propped these fools up in the first place..

[Blarg]

After 12 years in prison the guys they released have no real value. All of their information and contacts have long since expired so using them as trading chips for a guy that has been inside the Taliban for five years is far more valuable.

[nate]

Not to mention Obama needed to get the media to stop talking about the VA.

[eaterfan]

Israel does this sometimes (even just for bodies of their soldiers). If it really invited more terrorism or kidnappings they probably wouldn't do it or stop doing it. 

[arch stanton]

It's like they traded 5 guys that were on the verge of being DFA. Regardless of what they accuse him of they can't leave him there.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

It's like they traded 5 guys that were on the verge of being DFA. Regardless of what they accuse him of they can't leave him there.

 

Agreed. They had already been squeezed for any information they might have had, and they had no current contacts.

[RallyMo]

Agreed. They had already been squeezed for any information they might have had, and they had no current contacts.

But Obama.

[Tank]

Agreed. They had already been squeezed for any information they might have had, and they had no current contacts.

 

now they'll just simply want revenge for being held for 12 years. i'm sure that won't come back to haunt us.