The Pentagon says it is not holding up the decision, though the review by Army Gen. Kenneth Dahl was finished in early October. (Waiting for Boo Boo's intervention? ...OM)
Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, recently acknowledged the report has been completed and said it is under review.
“As you know, in this building that can sometimes take a while, especially for major investigations like this," he said. (Considering that the Pentagon has become more about politics then about defense. ...OM)
Desertion in the military is technically punishable by death. But given the circumstances of Bergdahl's case, such a sentence is essentially out of the realm of possibility. (Why?...OM)
Editor's Note:
ARTICLE 85. DESERTION
Did Bergdahl
(a) Any member of the armed forces who–
(1) without authority goes or remains absent from his unit, organization, or place of duty with intent to remain away there from permanently; YES.
(2) quits his unit, organization, or place of duty with intent to avoid hazardous duty or to shirk important service; or - YES
(3) without being regularly separated from one of the armed forces enlists or accepts an appointment in the same or another on of the armed forces without fully disclosing the fact that he has not been regularly separated, or enters any foreign armed service except when authorized by the United States; is guilty of desertion.
(b) Any commissioned officer of the armed forces who, after tender of his resignation and before notice of its acceptance, quits his post or proper duties without leave and with intent to remain away therefrom permanently is guilty of desertion.
(c) Any person found guilty of desertion or attempt to desert shall be punished, if the offense is committed in time of war, by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct, (WAS AMERICA AT WAR...YES! DID BERGDAHL LEAVE HIS POST WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION?...YES! Whats the problem?) but if the desertion or attempt to desert occurs at any other time, by such punishment, other than death, as a court-martial may direct.
Bergdahl, the only
Meanwhile, Bergdahl is still serving
Article III
a. If I am captured I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy. ...OM)
Bergdahl’s May 2014 release, which was secured by exchanging five high-value Taliban detainees from the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, has sparked widespread controversy.
Soon after President Obama announced the exchange, many of Bergdahl’s former unit members spoke out, calling him a deserter, saying he put fellow soldiers’ lives at risk. (Accessory before and after the fact?...OM)
At least some Republican lawmakers think it was a bad deal. (So do a lot of the American people....OM)
Sen. John McCain referred to the prisoners as “the Taliban dream team.”
"These are the worst of the worst, the hardest of the hardest,” the Arizona Republican (And former REAL POW...OM) told Fox News. “I can't tell you how dangerous these people are."
Now, California GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter, a former Marine (HEY FoxNews, There is NO SUCH THING as a FORMER MARINE...OM), wants to know whether the swap included a ransom and if the United States was swindled. (And the American people and the Critters will never know, just like Benghazi, Fast and Furious, IRS targeting scandal and the list goes on and on ad nauseam...OM)
"It has been brought to my attention that a payment was made to an Afghan intermediary who ‘disappeared’ with the money and failed to facilitate Bergdahl's release in return," Hunter wrote Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in a Nov. 4 letter.
The alleged payment, Hunter says, was made in February through the Joint Special Operations Command and might have exceeded $1 million.
“Number one, you can't pay ransoms,” Hunter told Fox News. “Number two, if there is an exceptional case when you can get an American back, then there ought to be some oversight and there has to be some congressional purview over this -- and there hasn't been. I mean the (Defense Department) can't break the law and have no repercussions whatsoever.”
The Pentagon told Hunter on Friday that no money was exchanged and that paying ransom is indeed against the law.
“There was no ransom paid,” Kirby told reporters. “Nor was there an attempt to do so that failed.”
Hunter’s office still alleges that FBI operatives and members of the Army’s elite Delta Force orchestrated a botched cash exchange and says the congressman will request a formal investigation of the matter by the Defense Department’s inspector general.
The deal purportedly involved Delta members giving the money to an informant who disappeared instead of giving Bergdahl to FBI agents at a predetermined spot inside Afghanistan, on the border with North Waziristan.
Concerns about the circumstances of the prisoner swap have increased in the wake of the Islamic State executing five Americans in the past four months.
The president has ordered a review of how American hostages are handled by the U.S. government. (In other words, Boo Boo wants America to START negotiating with terrorists...OM)
Families of the beheaded Americans have issued complaints about how their sons’ cases were handled. However, the White House says it has no plans to allowing ransom to be paid for hostages. (YEA RIGHT,,,OM)
Semper Fi!
Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/11/26/public-awaits-military-completed-bergdahl-report-that-includes-recommendations/?intcmp=latestnews
Bergdahl’s May 2014 release, which was secured by exchanging five high-value Taliban detainees from the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, has sparked widespread controversy.
Soon after President Obama announced the exchange, many of Bergdahl’s former unit members spoke out, calling him a deserter, saying he put fellow soldiers’ lives at risk. (Accessory before and after the fact?...OM)
At least some Republican lawmakers think it was a bad deal. (So do a lot of the American people....OM)
Sen. John McCain referred to the prisoners as “the Taliban dream team.”
"These are the worst of the worst, the hardest of the hardest,” the Arizona Republican (And former REAL POW...OM) told Fox News. “I can't tell you how dangerous these people are."
Now, California GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter, a former Marine (HEY FoxNews, There is NO SUCH THING as a FORMER MARINE...OM), wants to know whether the swap included a ransom and if the United States was swindled. (And the American people and the Critters will never know, just like Benghazi, Fast and Furious, IRS targeting scandal and the list goes on and on ad nauseam...OM)
"It has been brought to my attention that a payment was made to an Afghan intermediary who ‘disappeared’ with the money and failed to facilitate Bergdahl's release in return," Hunter wrote Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in a Nov. 4 letter.
The alleged payment, Hunter says, was made in February through the Joint Special Operations Command and might have exceeded $1 million.
“Number one, you can't pay ransoms,” Hunter told Fox News. “Number two, if there is an exceptional case when you can get an American back, then there ought to be some oversight and there has to be some congressional purview over this -- and there hasn't been. I mean the (Defense Department) can't break the law and have no repercussions whatsoever.”
The Pentagon told Hunter on Friday that no money was exchanged and that paying ransom is indeed against the law.
“There was no ransom paid,” Kirby told reporters. “Nor was there an attempt to do so that failed.”
Hunter’s office still alleges that FBI operatives and members of the Army’s elite Delta Force orchestrated a botched cash exchange and says the congressman will request a formal investigation of the matter by the Defense Department’s inspector general.
The deal purportedly involved Delta members giving the money to an informant who disappeared instead of giving Bergdahl to FBI agents at a predetermined spot inside Afghanistan, on the border with North Waziristan.
Concerns about the circumstances of the prisoner swap have increased in the wake of the Islamic State executing five Americans in the past four months.
The president has ordered a review of how American hostages are handled by the U.S. government. (In other words, Boo Boo wants America to START negotiating with terrorists...OM)
Families of the beheaded Americans have issued complaints about how their sons’ cases were handled. However, the White House says it has no plans to allowing ransom to be paid for hostages. (YEA RIGHT,,,OM)
Semper Fi!
Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/11/26/public-awaits-military-completed-bergdahl-report-that-includes-recommendations/?intcmp=latestnews
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