Prisoner trade by Obama: Malevolent or just Stupid?

[Tecumsehsbones]

By a bunch of Canadians on a Canadian forum? I doubt anyone down there really cares about that whether they support Obama or hate him.



Given the way these guys treat prisoners I doubt the US would lose much by writing them off. Im surprised this guy is even alive after being held for years in Afghanistan.

Agreed. I don't think the hope of trading, or whatever, has much to do with how "they" treat our POWs (whoever the "they" of the moment is). Fight the war, leave POW monitoring to the Red Cross/Red Crescent (if the captors allow), treat POWs we hold in accordance with the Geneva Conventions, and when the war is over, send 'em back. Maybe they'll send ours back. Can't see as there's much we can do about it.

Bleeding and weeping all over about how much we care for our POWs just gives the other team power over us.

 

[BornRuff]

Flood Gates are open, US and Canadian citizens are now targets for prisoner trades.

Two foreigners feared kidnapped from Afghanistan aid team: police | Reuters

They just got the video of a US & Canadian Aid workers captured for prisoner trade..

Does anyone seriously believe that these people could be more interested in capturing or killing westerners? That up until this week they never thought that holding people hostage could give them power?

People have been taken hostage in these areas forever. The governments always end up negotiating with these groups to get the people free. This is nothing new.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

Meh, I still think they are better than endless Game of Thrones(or things that look like that anyways) gifs.

I was simply comparing your latest entry:

with your much better earlier ones:

Certainly you can see the difference in quality?

 

[BornRuff]

I was simply comparing your latest entry:


with your much better earlier ones:




Certainly you can see the difference in quality?

I'm sorry. Not all of us are racist like you.

 

[BaalsTears]

I think the U.S. should write off anybody captured in our excellent adventures.

Bergdahl wasn't captured.

Wasn't part of the strategy at Guantanamo that they were enemy combatants and no particular legal jurisdiction held itself above whatever the military wanted done? Isn't the Prez the highest ranking authority in the no-rules scheme?

No. The US Supreme Court shot down that theory. I can't remember the case name or citation, but TB probably knows.

 

[coldstream]

There's nothing quite like the vindictiveness and cruelty of the American press and society on someone deemed to be Un-American or 'unpatriotic', disregarding all factors of stress or conscience... or the general futility of the Afghanistan War, now winding down to a situation indistinguishable from that when the U.S. invaded.

It seems Bowe Bergdahl will be held accountable for the failing to follow conventions.. and will be pilloried as an 'anti-hero'. But i'm glad he's back. And i doubt the release of the 5 detainees from Gitmo will have ANY tangible effect on the course of events in Afghanistan.. which seems destined to return to its constant state of tribal warfare, in which it has been for the last thousand years.. with only short periods of unity it takes to expel imperial interlopers.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

I'm sorry. Not all of us are racist like you.

It has nothing to do with race.

 

[pgs]

Impeach Barack Obama

By Allen B. West June 4 at 10:14 AM
Allen West is a former member of the House of Representatives and author of "Guardian of the Republic."

This week, on WMALs “Morning on the Mall” radio show with hosts Brian and Larry I was asked a simple question relating to the Taliban prisoner release and impeachment of the president. I responded yes that in this current case, the U.S. House of Representatives should file articles of impeachment against Barack Hussein Obama.

Now before all the detractors go apoplectic here, let me tell you about Article 2 signing statements, their intent, purpose, history, and usage, and the implications for the president’s impeachment.

President Obama used an Article 2 signing statement to deem unconstitutional a measure HE had signed into law contained in the National Defense Authorization Act. The law stated that he must advise Congress within 30 days about any plans to transfer detainees from GITMO. Obama basically stated that this was “unconstitutional” and that his unilateral action fell within his purview. Once again Obama used selective discretion as to what law he feels he must adhere to — in this case it has severe ramifications for our national security.
Impeach Barack Obama - The Washington Post

What a racist .

 

[talloola]

Obama is the worst president in 150 years. His administration is corrupt, power mad, and incompetent.

.

that is the statement that Says it all for me, a big general politically full statement that creates
you 'unable' to be balanced. its all political.

this story needs to be followed entirely to the end, so that we all know the balanced story and not
the eagerness for republicans to jump all over it, and make their own story, with their own ending.

this forum will not do that accurately, but some of us can step back and 'think', and not jump to
our own conclusions, or be led down the political path by people in a frenzy.

 

[BaalsTears]

... And i doubt the release of the 5 detainees from Gitmo will have ANY tangible effect on the course of events.

If you are assuming an ultimate Taliban victory, restoration to power, and reopening of Al Qaeda training camps I believe you are correct. I've recently read somewhere that Al Qaeda has already reopened training camps in Kunar and Paktika provinces.

I think Obama's objective is to persuade the Taliban elements to give him a "decent interval" before they overwhelm and replace America's allies. I think that objective is futile because the jihadis have a vested interest in being seem as having defeated the US on the battlefield and driven them from Afghanistan.

 

[coldstream]

If you are assuming an ultimate Taliban victory, restoration to power, and reopening of Al Qaeda training camps I believe you are correct. I've recently read somewhere that Al Qaeda has already reopened training camps in Kunar and Paktika provinces.

I think Obama's objective is to persuade the Taliban elements to give him a "decent interval" before they overwhelm and replace America's allies. I think that objective is futile because the jihadis have a vested interest in being seem as having defeated the US on the battlefield and driven them from Afghanistan.

I'm not sure Al Qaeda will be back. It's become little more than a franchise operation now, for anyone willing to wage war on the 'The Great Satan'. It's a convenient handle to put on any group the U.S. wishes to demonize and send the Special Forces after. Even if it has only a nominal relationship to the bin Laden original.

But i do think the Taliban will be back. And i think there will be considerable opposition to it from within Afghanistan.. and that won't be resolved for decades. But for real terror threats to the U.S or the West.. invading Afghanistan was never going to put an end to that. That is something of pure opportunity and ideology.. that has no permanent home

 

[EagleSmack]

Wasn't part of the strategy at Guantanamo that they were enemy combatants and no particular legal jurisdiction held itself above whatever the military wanted done? Isn't the Prez the highest ranking authority in the no-rules scheme?

No it wasn't.

People have been taken hostage in these areas forever.

true

The governments always end up negotiating with these groups to get the people free. This is nothing new.

False

 

[Locutus]

Link?

Huh?

So you can't back up your claim.

but

So you can't back up your claim is what you are saying.

It sounds like

Lol, this is like speaking to a two year old.

Yeah, it is, and a petulant one at that.....but we know you are a "progressive" and can't be expected to react as if your intellect (or lack thereof) had matured past that age........He was not left behind, he choose to walk away. Simple really.

So... you can't back up your claim then.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

What a racist .

What a poor little butthurt white boy.

 

[Locutus]

an apple a day keeps the racist away

 

[DaSleeper]

A Wanabe is not an apple!

 

[BornRuff]

It has nothing to do with race.

 

[BaalsTears]

I'm not sure Al Qaeda will be back. It's become little more than a franchise operation now, for anyone willing to wage war on the 'The Great Satan'. It's a convenient handle to put on any group the U.S. wishes to demonize and send the Special Forces after. Even if it has only a nominal relationship to the bin Laden original.

But i do think the Taliban will be back. And i think there will be considerable opposition to it from within Afghanistan.. and that won't be resolved for decades. But for real terror threats to the U.S or the West.. invading Afghanistan was never going to put an end to that. That is something of pure opportunity and ideology.. that has no permanent home

Al Qaeda is merely a manifestation of a form of Islamist ideology which has existed since the seventh century of the common era. The ideology rises, falls, and rises again, but never disappears. The ideology is opportunistic and waits, bides its time until conditions are again favorable. Conditions are again favorable because the era of Western domination is coming to an end. Pax Americana is petering out, and will not be replaced by another Western power.

Al Qaeda was a vertically integrated organization, but adapted to the Bush onslaught by morphing into a franchise operation. What Obama calls "core Al Qaeda" will now have the opportunity to reconstitute itself now that the pressure is off. Bin Laden may be dead, but Ayman al Zawahiri is still very much alive.

Al Qaeda exists within the USA. There have been American suicide bombers in both Somalia and Syria.

What is truly unfortunate is that the US Govt. has responded to the threat to the American people by morphing into a National Security state that presents a greater threat to Americans than Al Qaeda ever did.

 

[BornRuff]

Bergdahl wasn't captured.

You sure about that one?

No. The US Supreme Court shot down that theory. I can't remember the case name or citation, but TB probably knows.

Yes and no. The Supreme Court ruled that they were entitled to Habeas corpus, and the kangaroo Combatant Status Review Tribunal doesn't meet that standard, but they still don't fall into any established legal framework.

The US made up a legal process for hearing cases that is different from normal US courts or the military justice system. Some people there are simply being held indefinitely without any plans for a trial because the US doesn't think they can win a case against them in their own made up system but they still don't want to let them go.

 

[DaSleeper]

Self proclaimed expert in everything!