A lot of wonderful people love their country and hate the military. – President William Jefferson Clinton

In yet another effort to point people away from negative news, the Obama White House has hastily choreographed the heroic release of Bowe Bergdahl from the vile clutches of the Taliban. It backfired miserably because the Obama White House has no concept of what a typical American is like behind a hastily-sketched caricature on a napkin. Their swap of five Taliban leaders for American soldier Bowe Bergdahl has backfired on them. It didn’t distract people from the VA Scandal; it instead reinforced what many people felt when they heard about the VA scandal instead. This is because both the VA scandal and the Bergdahl swap are at least partially the result of how the Obama Administration thinks about the US Military. In fact, they felt empathy for Bowe Bergdahl specifically because of his attitude towards the US Military and its cultural values. Bergdahl had to come home. They couldn’t leave their buddy behind.

Bergdahl’s sentiments regarding his unit are directly in line with what many in the current administration would describe as the typical state of The US Army. Bergdahl emailed the following to his parents from Afghanistan.

“In the US army you are cut down for being honest… but if you are a conceited brown nosing shit bag you will be allowed to do what ever you want, and you will be handed your higher rank… The system is wrong. I am ashamed to be an american. And the title of US soldier is just the lie of fools.” The soldiers he actually admired were planning on leaving: “The US army is the biggest joke the world has to laugh at. It is the army of liars, backstabbers, fools, and bullies. The few good SGTs are getting out as soon as they can, and they are telling us privates to do the same.”

The Taliban has taken advantage of this and driven a hard bargain. They sensed the fundamental lack of will on the part of the administration to negotiate aggressively on this issue. In return for releasing Bowe Bergdahl, the Taliban get back the following five individuals: Mullah Mohammad Fazl, Mullah Norullah Noori, Abdul Haq Wasiq, Khairullah Khairkhwa and Mohammed Nabi Omari. According to Eli Lake and Josh Rogin of the Daily Beast, these five individuals are scourges on decent humanity. Fazl is wanted by the UN as a genocidier against the Shi’ite Muslim population of Afghanistan. Noori was a trusted associate of Osama Bin Ladin as early as 1995. In 2001, Wasiq pretended to side with the Americans while still serving as a high-ranking Taliban Officer. Khairkhwa was the Taliban Governor of Heart and ran a nice, little profitable side-business slinging heroin or fun and profit. Omari led Taliban troops into battle against US Forces during the initial US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. All of these men released for a man who voluntarily walked off his post.

The administration totally fails to see why current and former members of the US Military are bothered that we just released five people that the Taliban consider their heroes in return for a deserter. National Security Advisor Susan Rice described the deserter as having served America with honor and distinction. She went on to completely misrepresent the conditions of Bergdahl’s capture.

“Sergeant Bergdahl wasn’t simply a hostage; he was an American prisoner of war captured on the battlefield.” She adds, “We have a sacred obligation that we have upheld since the founding of our republic to do our utmost to bring back our men and women who are taken in battle, and we did that in this instance.”

Soldiers who served with Bergdahl view this differently.

“I was pissed off then, and I am even more so now with everything going on,” said former Sgt. Matt Vierkant, a member of Bergdahl’s platoon when he went missing on June 30, 2009. “Bowe Bergdahl deserted during a time of war, and his fellow Americans lost their lives searching for him.”

A soldier in his unit started a Facebook page entitled “Bowe Bergdahl is NOT a Hero.” After Bergdahl left and American soldiers were ordered to find him, the Taliban took advantage of the tactical vulnerabilities of the search parties. The CNN article linked above lists the name of several soldiers killed looking for Bergdahl. The army is currently planning to promote Bowe Bergdahl to the rank of E-6 next month as part of the ongoing choreographed celebration of the prisoner swap.

So now that we have this charming specimen of humanity back home, and the drawdown in Afghanistan can continue apace, just what do we do now with The Questionable SGT Bergdahl. Perhaps Ralph Peters has the best idea we’ve heard yet.

We already know, as the military has known since the first 24 hours after Bergdahl abandoned his post, that sufficient evidence exists for a court-martial, but it’s important to do this by the numbers. It’s hard to believe that the resulting court-martial would not find Bergdahl guilty of desertion….. If he is convicted, I for one do not want him to go to prison. I’m sure he’s paid and paid for betraying his comrades…. But if he is found guilty, he needs to be formally reduced to the rank of private, stripped of all privileges and entitlements (the taxpayer should not pay for a deserter’s lifelong health care — Bergdahl’s book and film deals can cover that), and he should be given the appropriate prison sentence, which would then be commuted by the president. Thereafter, let Mr. Bergdahl go home and live with himself.

After that, the Modern Progressives can have their Rock Star. He can wander the politically correct college campuses nationwide with the same gay abandon that he wandered off his fire base and into the hands of The Taliban. There is probably no non-violent means left at our disposal to prevent this deserter from become a millionaire several times over for precisely the act of desertion that makes him so morally loathsome to many of his former comrades in arms. He is home because the New Left couldn’t leave one of their own behind. As a deserter who hated both the Army and America; he so completely represents everything they feel in their hearts about the US Military.