Celebrating a Deserter in the Rose Garden

Mark Steyn:

Cynicism about the politicization and corruption of all federal institutions is so widespread that this decision must be accounted something of a heartening surprise: the Army has ignored the recommendations of its investigating officer and decided that Bowe Bergdahl will face a general court martial for desertion and “misbehavior before the enemy”.

For some of us, who Bergdahl was was obvious from the first day. Yours truly, June 2nd 2014:

So the Taliban get five warriors back to return to the battlefield. And in return we get some Stockholm Syndrome deserter-revert to head up the next “War is never the answer” rally.

By contrast, the Administration was either deeply stupid, or chose to lie to the people:

Bowe Bergdahl was …declared by the laughably misnamed “National Security Advisor” to have “served the United States with honor and distinction”.

She surely knew as she uttered those words that that was the very opposite of the truth. Nevertheless, as others pointed out the obvious, Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut chose to double-down on the stupid:

Really sad to watch Obama haters attack this kid who CHOSE to fight to protect the rest of us, just to score political points.

What’s “really sad” is that, in a nation of 300 million in which only one hundred get to be senators, Chris Murphy is one of them.

The deserter may get his just deserts, but what of the man who made the “deal” for him and then honored the deserter with a Rose Garden photo-op with his Taliban-supporting dad. As I wrote onJune 6th 2014:

The justification for Bergdahl Snr’s wacky behavior – the Taliban beard, the invocations of Allah, the Arabic and Pushtu, the pledge that the death of every Afghan child will be avenged – the justification for all this is that, well, he’s also been under a lot of strain. He hasn’t seen his kid for half-a-decade. That could unhinge anyone. Give the guy a break…

But the point is he was pulling this strange stuff before his son was kidnapped.

Which makes that Rose Garden ceremony even more bizarre in its weird optics – the President of the United States embracing a Taliban sympathizer at the White House. There was no need to hold such an intimate photo-op. Yet Obama chose to do it. Why?

Given what the United States Government knew about Bergdahl at the time of that ceremony, ignorance of who he was is not a plausible explanation. So my question a year and a half ago remains unanswered: why did he do it? Me again, June 9th 2014:

Read more