General says Bergdahl doesn’t deserve jail

[TwilightGardener]

11. No, they were all demanding Obama bring him home, until Obama did.

Then they used Bergdahl as a political whipping boy. It was a trap of sorts--if Bergdahl died in captivity with a beheading video bonus, they would have pounded Obama for leaving Bergdahl to die. Republican operatives (Richard Grinnell) had a few of Bergdahl's platoon mates lined up and ready to go with public statements as soon as he was freed, before he even made it back to US soil. The use of dead soldiers as political fodder was especially unconscionable. The whole outcry was a set-up to sway public opinion against the deal and against Obama. Many in the military (my husband included) had heard that Bergdahl was a "shitbird", that had been spread far and wide within the ranks over the years--but beyond that, I doubt most give a rat's ass about him either way. He would have been quietly dealt with by the Army as appropriate, in any case. The controversy was ginned up almost entirely by conservative politicians to make the Taliban prisoner swap look BAD in an election year by highlighting Bergdahl's UNWORTHINESS for rescue, and that's about it.