This week’s Twit is part of a complex prisoner exchange involving President Obama’s reputation and a tasty post-employment book deal. We Will Never Forget…
Chuck Hagel
Chuck Hagel
Oh, it was to be a lovely story. Set against the idyllic backdrop of the White House Rose Garden, President Obama, flanked by Jani and Bo Bergdahl, sang the praises of Bowe Bergdahl, a brave and patriotic U.S. solider taken prisoner on the killing fields of Afghanistan. Bowe had been in the clutches of the Taliban for five years, and, after much tense negotiation, was finally freed from the clutches of the enemy. Sure, the price might have been high, but it was worth it to bring our single POW back home.
And it was his decision to make the trade, Obama said. His decision. The buck stops here.
It was a touching moment, and all the world (or, at least all the President’s PR team) expected Americans to rally around the flag, and that flag’s protector, Barack Obama.
Then reality set in.
It turned out that Bowe probably went AWOL, after alienating his fellow soldiers and penning terrible screeds against the U.S. army. Then he was either captured by or willing approached the enemy. To this day the mysteries surrounding his surprising degree of freedom during his time as a prisoner of war continue to swirl.
I’m not here today to judge this man, though. There’s still too much confusion surrounding Bowe’s case to really understand what happened. Time will help unravel what happened to Bowe Bergdahl, and we can make judgments about his conduct then.
Sadly, Barack Obama couldn’t be bothered to wait that long.
As soon as the pushback began, the White House began looking for someone to blame. This tactic had been very successful in the past, so it is not shocking that a new scapegoat be marched out for Congress to skewer. It wasn’t long before the laser target was painted on the back of Chuck Hagel.
In closed door meetings up on Capitol Hill, it became clear to many the fix was in. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon commented after one of these meetings that “it sounded like it was a presidential program all the way, [but]now that there’s been a little pushback yesterday in our briefing, the briefers from the various departments were asked who made the final decision, and they said Secretary Hagel.”
Funny, I don’t see Chuck in this lovely photograph.
Maybe he’s behind the flag or something.
Chuck Hagel has a chance to expose the duplicity of Obama administration now. Will he? If not, this Twit deserves everything he gets.
