As everyone knows, SPC Bergdahl has been retrieved from the taliban. The white house made a huge presentation, with bowe’s parents speaking to a press conference like this was someone who was captured during a raid into a FOB, or during a mission by troops, and we worked hard to recover this soldier. The reality is very, very, different.

SPC Bergdahl deserted his position. According to his former compatriots, bowe was disillusioned, and his leaders knew this. bowe should have been removed from the military well before he endangered others, yet he wasn’t. Then he decided to wander off, on his own, with critical intelligence. To say he was captured makes a mockery of those who have been captured, throughout America’s history. The outcry from both the left and right is very loud. For once, both sides of the houses of congress appear enraged. And for the military personnel serving, who have served, and who knew bowe, the outcry is even larger. That the president and his mouthpieces could even attempt to make this appear as plausible shows a denying of the truth well beyond even the Benghazi disaster. barack obama, susan rice, john kerry, joe biden, all are trying to make this appear as a triumph of right over wrong. The reality is that this is debacle that will resonate far and wide. This has been a slap in the face of those who have paid the ultimate price, yet the white house is trying hard to make this about “bringing all of our troops home, leaving none behind”. In this case, the administration had no rights, no authority, not even as the commander-in-chief, to attempt to recover someone who walked out on his duties. This was something that should have been left to the young man’s family. The constant drone about bowe being a POW ignores the fact that he allowed himself to be captured. Its his own fault that the life he thought he would be living, didn’t match the reality of life under the taliban.

chuck hagel should not have ever agreed to such an exchange. The US had no authority, no rights, to release any prisoners for bergdahl. hillary clinton says she’s happy we have recovered the POW, but then she says off camera that she was skeptical of trading the prisoners like that. Talking about speaking with both sides of your mouth.

The bottom line is this: With this added to the list of other egregious acts performed by the president and his team, is there any wonder the country is seen as the weakest since prior to WWII? putin strutting around threatening other countries (and we told the Ukraine we backed them, prior to the collapse of the Crimea), assad doing what he likes, in Egypt the military taking over and not letting go, in Iraq, the insurgents blossoming like there had never been anything done, Iran continuing their nuclear ambitions, now with Russian support, the list goes on. barack obama and his team have no idea about foreign policy, about military operations, etc. chuck hagel should have raised his objections, yet he kept his mouth shut. And if hagel was never engaged on this, if hagel didn’t know anything about this, that means that the DOD is not under control of the Defense secretary, but the administration, in direct violation of the separation of their duties. Although the president is commander-in-chief, that doesn’t mean he can make any arbitrary decisions and move the military around like they are his private security group. And if the military agreed to it without informing the secretary, then the military leadership needs to be replaced with those who place the security of the US ahead of someone’s idea about a legacy.

“If We Do Not All Stand Together, Assuredly, We Shall All Swing Separately…”