LAME duck US President Barak Obama has dramatically increased the danger faced by all Allied troops, including Australians, in Afghanistan with his weak-kneed kowtowing to Taliban militants .
In agreeing to release five extremely dangerous top Taliban commanders held for eminently good reason at Guan-tanamo Bay for US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, whose colleagues claim is a deserter, Obama has violated one of thebasic principles in the war on terror — never negotiate with terrorists.
His unmitigated stupidity will be cheered by terrorists globally because it has handed them a potent new weapon.
Undoubtedly Obama, whose rise to the presidency relied solely on vacuous hopey-feely oratory and the harnessing of anti-racist guilt, thought that recovering Bergdahl would be regarded as a political triumph akin to the 1981 release of 52 Americans who had been held hostage by Iran for 444 days, even as incoming President Ronald Reagan delivered his inaugural address.
Outgoing President Jimmy Carter had been elected by voters with the same mindset as those who elected Obama and was just as great a failure to the nation and the world.
Back then, yellow ribbons were tied to trees and fences across the US as a constant reminder of the plight of the hostages as Carter hamfistedly attempted to bring about their release.
So, too, during the five years Bergdahl, 28, has been held by his captors have yellow ribbons festooned the small Idaho town of Hailey, where Bergdahl grew up and took fencing and ballet lessons before joining the military.
Less than a week after the town woke to the news of his release last Saturday, plans for a public celebration were cancelled in the interest of public safety. The town feared that the protesters would have outnumbered those who welcomed Bergdahl’s release; and with good reason.
Whatever White House advisers may have thought, those who served with Bergdahl regarded him as a deserter whose decision to walk into alone into the wilds of Afghanistan and connect with the Taleban led to the deaths of a number of US servicemen.
They don’t want to see him returned as a hero, as Obama had planned, they want to see him brought home in handcuffs from the military hospital in Germany where he was taken after his release and placed on trial.
Even former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was opposed to the deal which Obama agreed to after she left office. She wanted to impose strict conditions on the release of the Taliban commanders before agreeing to anything.
She made it clear she didn’t trust the Taliban or the Haqqani terrorist network in Pakistan which was holding Bergdahl.
Her former aides say she may never have agreed to the deal even if the Taliban accepted her terms.
The US director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, rejected out of hand the release of the Taliban captives because he believed there was too high a risk the commanders would return to the battlefield and orchestrate attacks against the Americans and their allies.
But the gut-wrenching reaction from those who actually served with Bergdahl and knew him best hangs on the fact that Obama and those around him have lied about the soldier to justify their position.
Not since Obama’s disgraceful failure to ensure the safety of Chris Stevens , the US ambassador to Libya, who died in Benghazi after the consulate was attacked by Islamic militants, has his administration attempted to avoid the truth.
US National Security Adviser Susan Rice claimed Bergdahl “served the US with honour and distinction” after the announcement of his release.
What he did, according to a man in his unit, was to walk off the base on June 30, 2009, “with a compass, a couple bottles of water and two knives and his journal. His exact intentions may never be known, but he willingly walked off Outpost MEST and was secured by enemy forces not long after”.
Because of his action Bergdahl was designated a DUSWUN (Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown), triggering a huge search and rescue operation in which numerous men were killed by the Taliban.
On Independence Day, 2009, just days after his disappearance one of those trying to find him, recalls “the enemy took advantage of Bergdahl’s capture and attacked numerous outposts that morning.
“Combat Outpost Zerok was almost overrun, multiple soldiers were wounded and PFCs Justin Casillas and Aaron Fairbairn lost their lives fighting that day. That is an Independence Day I will never forget for sure.”
Obama has now ensured that Taliban commanders will view every American and every Allied soldier as a bargaining chip as the war winds down, unresolved.
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/piersakerman/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/obamas_trade_off_kowtows_to_terrorism/#.U5P5SHk-DPM.facebook
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