Obama: Every Word of Criticism About Me, Including the "The's," "And's," and "Um's," Is Illegitimate and Due to Personal Hatred of Me

"Absolutely no apologies" for the Bergdahl exchange, he says, which isn't all that surprising, given his Little Miss Can't Be Wrong psychology, but then he gets just awful about it, calling the criticism one of the many "controversies whipped up in Washington" which is just "par for the course."

As for the anger among Bergdahl's platoon-mates: One administration wants you to know they're just a bunch of "psychopaths" conducting a "smear."

That guy has now scrubbed his Twitter bio to remove his links to the Administration.

One thing I'll say: I think the evidence that Bergdahl deserted is fairly clear. I think, however, the evidence he freely cooperated with the Taliban is thin and speculative.

I really don't agree with claiming that, absent firmer evidence. Critics of this swap often state -- I stated it was alleged a few times myself -- that he us alleged to have cooperated with the Taliban, as if an allegation is an established fact. It's not.

The other thing that bothers me about this allegation is this idea: If he essentially voluntarily enlisted in the Taliban, and was helping them conduct the deadliest possible attacks against Americans, why was he held as a prisoner?

Al Qaeda types like foreign or non-Muslim recruits.

If Bergdahl was freely advising them on how to kill Americans, why wasn't he just made part of the Taliban?

Now, it's possible he was beaten/coerced/torture into revealing information about his former comrades' tactics, and he would have been in this position to be compelled to reveal this information due to his own voluntary actions. But that's not the same as willingly enlisting with the Taliban. *

That said, James Rosen says military sources tell him that further allegations that Bergdahl actively collaborated with the Taliban are coming.

Update: A 2009 military investigation concluded that Bergdahl did indeed desert.

* Oh, I should clarify, I'm not actually denying this charge. I'm just saying there is insufficient evidence to prove it, and there is enough doubt about it that it seems unfair to throw the charge around as if it's true and we're merely waiting on confirmation for it.

posted by Ace at 02:04 PM

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