The Taliban released a video today showing an apparently unharmed Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, the Sun Valley, Idaho soldier captured in Afghanistan in late June.
In the video, the soldier sharply criticized the Afghan War, likening it to Vietnam and urging the American public to “stand up and stop all this nonsense.” The video is the first sign of Bergdahl since a mid-July video.
Bergdahl’s family issued a statement by way of the Idaho National Guard, calling for the release of their only son and urging him to “stay strong” while he remains the only US soldier currently in captivity in Afghanistan.
Bergdahl’s capture was something of a news story in early July, and the soldier was condemned as a traitor by some pundits, who accused him of deserting his post and aiding the enemy.
US officials condemned the release of the video as an outrage, declaring that it was an affront to Islam to do so. Still, while the release of the video was doubtless for the Taliban’s own benefit by way of propaganda, it at the very least gives Pfc. Bergdahl’s family a measure of assurance that he is apparently alive and unharmed.
I hope the family of this captured Child Soldier is glad that the Taliban does not believe in medieval Torture practices like the USA. Since the USA never signed on to the Geneva Convention they figure that Water bording, electrical jolting, Dog Harassment, sleep depravation and the List goes on is perfectly acceptable. But, WE DO NOT TORTURE. Obama, you are an insult to this nation and you will not only be remembered as the first black president but also as a black war criminal the likes your ancestor’s home country are very familiar with.
Indeed, the USA is waging an illegal Imperial war of aggression on the Afghan people. The Taliban actually has every right to try the captured GI as an "illegal combatant" and/or State-sponsored terrorist. The fact that the Taliban has not done that shows precisely it is the USA empire that has waged a genocidal, colonial-style Occupation. Why can't the UN General Assembly have the balls to condemn the illegal Occupation and declare the USA Rogue State to be the subject of an international embargo?
I'm sure if PFC Bergdahl comes home safe and sound neocons like Ralph Peters would like to put him in front of a firing squad as was Pvt Eddie Slovik in WWII. If Bergdahl did willfully walk away from his post it was without his "superiors" approval. Peters and his ilk invision an America in which the military and all of us are merely robots for the feds. An America in which power is in the hands of people like himself.
Pvt. Bergdahl voluntarily signed up. He has to accept the risks.
I'm pretty sure it's more of an affront to Islam to enjoin wars, invasions, occupations, starvation campaigns, blockades, "divide and conquer" destabilization campaigns, bombing campaigns, property desecration, the imposition of command and control economies, mayhem, and mass murder upon Islamic peoples…
That they've kept him alive is remarkable. Many more have met gruesome fates I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. As stated above he did voluntarily sign up and so he can't say he didn't know what he was getting into but I believe any man or woman can change their mind. Hell, Uncle Sam rewrites "contracts" on the fly and tells you that you, not them, have to abide by it, or else, but you can't change your mind under penalty of being sent to jail or worse? That's screwed up!