Knowing all about Bowe.

Bowe Bergdhal. The name alone is fit for a movie.


Anyway, the sound of that name, like Benghazi, will be sure to bring out right-wing rage in the coming months.


There are lots of questions about Sgt. Bergdhal, so I will do this blog post in a simple Q&A form for you.


Field, the more I hear the story of this guy, the more I think about Nicholas Brody, am I wrong for that?


Nope. There are certainly a lot of parallels so far. Wait....I think I hear a helicopter. Do you hear it?


Field, this guy was a deserter, why should we care what happens to him?


Because it hasn't been actually proven that he was a deserter, and when he was captured by the Taliban he was still an American soldier.


Field, why did we have to let all those high level Taliban members go to free just one guy?


Because one American is worth hundreds of everyone else. Besides, they are Taliban, not Al Qaeda.  


Aren't they going back home to kill more Americans?


Nope. They won't make it home. It's a drone thing.


Field,  what Obama did was illegal, he should have notified congress of what he planned to do.


Well, not exactly. I know that congress passed a bill [that is now a federal statute] saying that the Sect of Defense must notify congress 30 days before the transfer of any prisoners from Gitmo, but.... whoops.


Anyway, O put a little thingy at the end of that bill when he signed it called a "signing statement", which basically says that I will sign the bill but I am still the HNIC. And in this case he claimed that executive authority (it's in the Constitution, look it up) gave him the right to "override the law".


My man W used these very same "signing statements" to torture folks. 


Field won't this give terrorists more incentive to capture American soldiers in the future?


They don't need anymore incentives to capture American soldiers. Just being American is incentive enough.


Field, what's up with Bergdhal's daddy's hair? He looks like a Taliban member his damn self.


Maybe dude is a Deadhead, or, maybe he wanted his son's captors to feel a kinship with him and not send his son's head home to him in a FedEx box.


Daddy Bergdhal did a lot of strange things.


Field, this swapping for our soldiers will make us look weak. Why are we negotiating with terrorist?


Do you think that Israel has a strong army? Well, been there done that. Besides, they aren't terrorists, they are enemy combatants. Isn't that what we were told? "We are at war".


Field, isn't this unprecedented for an American president to negotiate with terrorists enemy combatants?


Actually, no. One Saint Ronnie of Reagan comes to mind.    


Field, I wish I could rejoice in an American coming home after five years, but I just don't trust this Obama fellow, seems to me like he planned the whole thing.


The good news is that if you can say Benghazi it shouldn't be too hard to say, Bergdhal.