Note this fact: A lot of the current Bergdahl-related theatrics being played out in the right-wing media appear to have been in the works for quite a while. For years, in fact. In 2012, Michael Hastings reported in Rolling Stone that when talk first surfaced of a possible prisoner swap between the U.S. and the Taliban, Republicans immediately began playing election year politics [emphasis added]: According to White House sources, Marc Grossman, who replaced Richard Holbrooke as special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, was given a direct warning by the presidents opponents in Congress about trading Bowe for five Taliban prisoners during an election year. They keep telling me its going to be Obamas Willie Horton moment, Grossman warned the White House. The threat was as ugly as it was clear: The presidents political enemies were prepared to use the release of violent prisoners to paint Obama as a Dukakis-¬like appeaser, just as Republicans did to the former Massachusetts governor during the 1988 campaign. Fast-forward two years and thats exactly whats unfolding. The only twist is that as part of the political retribution, a military family is being smeared, too. Yes, the unique circumstances of Bergdahls capture (was he a deserter?) and his release are legitimate areas for debate. Once hes back on U.S. soil, the military will be able to fully review how he came into enemy hands and determine whether further punishment is in order. And Robert Bergdahls unorthodox and aggressively activist campaign to secure his sons release has certainly been newsworthy. But with Fox News and the helm of the restless, turbo-fueled outrage machine, thoughtful debate isnt allowed. Instead, this was a typical headline from one right-wing site this week: Bergdahl: From POW to POS?, while The Drudge Report condemned the soldier as a rat. As blogger Charles Johnson noted, by Tuesday, conservatives at Hot Air and Breitbart had posted no less than 42 Bergdahl items/rants between them. Despite the coordinated media hysteria, many experts in the field downplay the announced wartime exchange as being historic, unusual, or even controversial. This is a legitimate prisoner swap, Peter Mansoor, a retired Army colonel and professor of military history at Ohio State University told USA Today. And John B. Bellinger III, who served as the top lawyer at the National Security Council and then the State Department under President George W. Bush, noted the Taliban prisoners released from Guantanamo were already heading for freedom soon: In my view, the U.S. would not be able to hold them forever. Indeed, it is likely that the U.S. would be required, as a matter of international law, to release them shortly after the end of 2014, when U.S. combat operations cease in Afghanistan. In other words, the White House was able to secure the release of an American citizen in exchange for five Taliban detainees who were likely to be set free next year anyway. And by the way, when negotiations to free Bergdahl first began, the Taliban insisted the U.S. release 15 prisoners and provide a cash payment. In the end, they received five men and no money in exchange for Bergdahl. On Fox, the debate over whether Bergdahl deserted his post had long ago been settled, so they quickly moved onto the next phase of the campaign, which was suggesting, without any proof, that the U.S. soldier was actually a Taliban sympathizer who might have fought against American forces. Can you imagine if it turns out that he was actually collaborating, Brian Kilmeade wondered out loud on Fox. Imagine, indeed. That mindset begins to explain why Kilmeade talked about Bowe Bergdahls father this way: I mean, he says he was growing his beard because his son was -- because his son was in captivity. Your sons out now. If you really dont, no longer want to look like a member of the Taliban, you dont have to look like a member of the Taliban. Are you out of razors? The phrase dripping with contempt barely covers the tasteless attack Kilmeade launched against a father whod just spent every day of the previous five years trying to secure his sons release. For Fox talkers, that human element is irrelevant. Meanwhile, Fox contributor Laura Ingraham stressed More revelations coming out about the left-wing father of Sergeant Bergdahl I mean, left wing doesnt even begin to describe him. So being left wing means you should be mocked while you await your sons return from a Taliban prison? For Fox contributor Allen West, Robert Bergdahls use of Arabic in remarks from the Rose Garden were evidence he had sanctified the White House and claimed it for Islam. More from Fox on Robert Bergdahl: -Is he an Islamic sympathizer? -He grew it out of sympathy wit the Taliban -If he wasnt so light-skinned, he actually looks like a terrorist. -He looks like Muslim All of these attacks were launched in the name of scoring partisan points against Obama for okaying the prisoner swap. Can you imagine though, if months from now word leaked out that Obama had a deal on the table to get the only American prisoner home from the Afghanistan War and the president refused to secure the mans freedom? If Obama supposedly disdains the troops by winning Bergdahls release (so says Foxs Ralph Peters), what would feral Fox pundits have said if Obama left an American to die in solitary confinement knowing the soldiers health was deteriorating? Recall that Republican Senators John McCain and Kelly Ayotte were in favor of bringing Bergdahl home -- until President Obama achieved it. In December, Allen West sneered that the Obama wasnt working hard enough to recover Bergdahl because there were no camera highlights in it for him; now that Obama has done so, West says he should be impeached. So for the Obama obsessed, the Bergdahls storys a win-win: They attack Obama for securing the soldiers release and they would have mercilessly condemned Obama for failing to secure the soldiers release. For the critics, its a game. For a military family from tiny Hailey Idaho, its much more. huffingtonpost/eric-boehlert/when-fox-news-declared-wa_b_5446098.html
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 18:17:52 +0000