Navy SEALs Rescue PFC Bowe Bergdahl From Taliban - Exchange for 5 Gitmo Prisoners

PFC Bowe Bergdahl, at age 23, went missing from his base in Afghanistan on July 1, 2009. Shortly after, the Taliban released a video showing Bergdahl and his i.d. tags. It is believed Bergdahl left the base willingly, for some yet unknown reason. He reportedly did not leave with a weapon. Bergdahl is in U.S. custody today, being treated in Germany. Our Special Forces retrieved him, in what is referred to as a “peaceful handoff,” from the Haqqani faction of the Taliban.

https://intelcenter.com/

PFC Bowe Bergdah in captivityl (L)

The circumstances of Bergdahl’s capture have not been clear.

On July 2, two U.S. officials told the AP the soldier had “just walked off” his base with three Afghans after his shift. He had no body armor or weapon and they said they had no explanation for why he left. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

On July 6, the Taliban claimed on their Web site that five days earlier “a drunken American soldier had come out of his garrison” and was captured by mujahadeen. 

In the video, Pfc. Bergdahl said he was lagging behind a patrol when he was captured. Source: Michelle Malkin, July 20, 2009 

ABC is reporting that, now-28-years-old PFC Bergdahl's release came after five Guantanamo Bay prisoners were released in exchange.

His freedom was secured in exchange for the release of five prisoners from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, according to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who said on Saturday that Bergdahl is now under the care of the U.S. military. 

At about 10:30 a.m. ET, U.S. special forces recovered Bergdahl from his captors, in a peaceful handoff in eastern Afghanistan, a senior Defense official told ABC News, recounting the operation. About 18 Taliban were preseng [sic]. Source: ABC News 

The Government of Qatar, "especially" the Amir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, played a role in getting Bergdahl out of Afghanistan (so says Secretary of State John Kerry, who didn't mention the prisoner exchange, but did mention his own service).

Originally Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook 

Remembering Their Sacrifice!

On other National holidays the nation takes to the streets in joyous celebration.  On Memorial Day we are to take time to remember and mourn those men and women who gave their lives for this country.  So many did over the years.

War	Dead	Wounded
Revolutionary	25,000	25,000
1812	20,000	4,505
Mexican-American	13,283	4,152
Civil	624,511	281,881
Spanish-American	2,446	1,622
Philippine-American	4,196	2,930
World War 1	116,516	204,002
World War 2	405,399	670,846
Korea	36,516	92,134
Vietnam	58,209	153,303
Gulf	258	849
Afghanistan	1,803	31,965
Iraq	4,477	41,936
Totals	1,312,614	1,515,125

We should pause and remember them.  But instead most Americans will go to sales in malls, go to the beach and have cook outs.

The sacrifice these men gave entitles these Americans to do that.  It is our Freedoms and the Freedom of the world that they sacrificed their lives.  The liberation of Europe, not once but twice.  The liberation of Iraq from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein and Afghanistan from the Taliban.  The Freedom of Cuba from Spain, the Philippines, the Battle of New Orleans and Brooklyn Heights.  They sacrificed at Shiloh, and Gettysburg.  The Wilderness and Fredricksberg.  And the nation they fought for survived and thrived.

To the families of those who have died:  Thank You.  There is no monetary settlement, no honors we can give you to heal the pain.

If They Are Not Our Enemy Who Is?

It is a wonder that this idiot has lived this long without a brain.

In an interview with Leslie Gelb in Newsweek, Vice President Joe Biden says:

Look, the Taliban per se is not our enemy. That’s critical. There is not a single statement that the president has ever made in any of our policy assertions that the Taliban is our enemy because it threatens U.S. interests. If, in fact, the Taliban is able to collapse the existing government, which is cooperating with us in keeping the bad guys from being able to do damage to us, then that becomes a problem for us.

.Via Ben Smith. Interestingly, in the rest of the interview on foreign policy, Biden and Gelb never discuss that just a few years ago they co-wrote a proposal to partition Iraq into three separate nations. Fortunately, their advice was ignored at the time. And Biden this time only says he would "look for" an "Iraq united."

If the Taliban is not seen as our enemy can you guess who is?

Days Of Infamy!

9/11, December 7th.  Days that will foreve live in our hearts and memories.

These were dates in which the United States asked itself Why?  What did we do to Japan to warrant their attacking our military without warning, without provocation, with a declaration of war.  That was the one in which angered the American people the most.  There was no Declaration of War by the Japanese before they attacked Pearl Harbor (their Declaration actually came after the attack had been underway for a while).  The American Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor (with the exception of the Aircraft Carriers) was decimated and very nearly wiped out (as was the Air Group at Wheeler Field).  16 Medal of Honors, 51 Navy Crosses, 53 Silver Crosses, 4 Navy and Marine Corps Medals, 1 Distinguished Flying Cross, Distinguished Service Crosses, 1 Distinguished Service Medal, and 3 Bronze Stars were awarded to the American servicemen who distinguished themselves in combat at Pearl Harbor.

The nation was plunged into a war that would engulf the whole world.  A fight for Freedom, Decency, and Democracy.  Fought by the Greatest Generation this nation ever produced.

A war in which the enemy was considered evil (both civilian and military).  There were no outcries from the Press of the "Poor Innocent Civilians".  Of how we shouldn't bomb them.  We as a nation knew there was a job to do, and we did it.

And we won!  We conquered both Japan (who attacked us on Dec. 7th) and Germany who declared war on us.  In doing so we killed thousands (maybe even millions) of civilians.  This is a price civilians pay for being the backers of armies.  This is one of the prices of war.
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On 9/11/01 we asked ourselves the question again.  Why?  What did we do to warrant this attack?  What type of religion would sanction an attack on innocent civilians and still claim the moral high road?  We are still waiting for the answer to that question.

Unlike Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the attacks on 9/11 by al-Qaeda were not carried out by any one nation or government.  Al-Qaeda is nothing more than a bunch of thugs trying to be self-important, but in reality they scurry from a real fight like cockroaches scurrying from a light.  They mooch off of any quasi-nation (Sudan, Somoza, Afghanistan under the Taliban) as long as they can (or until Civilized nations attack to dislodge them).  Their weapons are fear and intimidation.  The weapons of the bully.

And yet, when the United States went to the UN, and demanded that the Taliban who controlled Afghanistan, surrender Osama bin Laden and the members of al-Qaeda, the US was told no.

Once again the US has sent her sons into battle against evil.

This time evil just might win.  For this time we have a President who will cut and run from a fight rather than commit to finishing the job and bringing Freedom to the people of Afghanistan.

On this anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, it is best for not only our leaders to remember the date, but for our enemies to remember it too.  For on December 7th, 1941 the United States awoken into anger.  An anger that couldn't be contained until we had complete victory over our enemies.

Anger that lead to this over 2 Japanese cities:

And resulted in this:

Remember that well supporters of the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

You have been warned!

Baitullah Mehsud Big Catch by Predator Drone?

by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook

A Taliban leader with a $5 million American reward on his head is thought to be dead from an drone attack in South Waziristan, Pakistan, but a friend says that report is "ridiculous." Baitullah Mehsud is alive, or he may be dead. See update below.

Baitullah Mehsud (right)

Members of the Mehsud tribe consider Baitullah Mehsud their leader. He is believed to command as many as 20,000 Taliban. So far, reports of his probable death by drone strike have not been disproved. In other words, he has sent no message to prove that he is alive and the West has no concrete evidence that he was hit in the strike but have said they are increasingly confident that they got him, this time.

That confidence may come from the fact that the drone hit the home of Baitullah Mehsud's father-in-law's home. One report says one of his aides told the AP by phone that he died along with his wife, or at least his "second" wife. In another, the aide is quoted, as well as a local tribesman saying he attended the funeral. Odd that the AP can ring-up the Taliban on one of the harshest battlefields in the world but allied forces cannot follow the pings to take them out.

Pakistani officials have complained that the US has failed to hit Mehsud with drone attacks despite them having supplied co-ordinates three times. The reason they gave was that Mehsud has been more focused against Pakistan in his militancy rather than fully directing his militants against Nato in Afghanistan.

Mehsud is said to hate publicity and particularly photography. Perhaps it is not unusual that he will make no claims to be alive, if indeed he is alive.

Mehsud is or was a hardliner. Even among his peers, he is considered extraordinarily dedicated to holy war against allied forces. In November 2007, Baitullah Mehsud told the BBC: "Only jihad can bring peace to the world."

In March, Weasel Zippers reported that Baitullah Mehsud "promised an assault on Washington 'soon' - one he said that will 'amaze' the world." This after claiming responsibility for the attack on a Pakistan police academy in Lahore leaving 18 dead and more than 100 wounded.

As within any organization, even one fighting in the wilderness of Afghanistan, position within an organization is power, and it is believed the "friend" calling American reports of the demise of Mehsud "ridiculous" may be preparing to succeed the leader. While Commander Hakimullah Mehsud says the reports are the work of propaganda, he also say Baitullah Mehsud is adopting the tactics of Osama bin Laden and will "stay silent."

Update 8-8-08 4:15 pm CDT:
The story of what seems to be Baitullah Mehsud's demise can be attributed to his desire to have a son in addition to his four daughters by his first wife. With a new wife in the family, and the couple at the home of the new wife's father, perhaps a son would be delivered. Baitullah was diabetic and not feeling well. A doctor was tending to him:

As he lay on a couch on the roof tended by his new wife, somewhere high up in the clear starry sky a distant unmanned plane was hovering, invisible to the naked eye. Its cameras locked in on him, a command was given thousands of miles away in the Nevada desert, and two Hellfire missiles tore into the mudwalled building.

Afterwards a Pakistani intelligence officer based in the nearest town, Makeen, said Mehsud’s torso had been “totally damaged except for his head”.

It just isn't proper to have daughters when you're a distinguished Taliban leader. There is no celebratory gunfire for the birth of a daughter. How frustrating. Four daughters! It appears he died without a son, his second wife along with him, and seven body guards that could do little to save him from the eagle eye of the American drone.

Baitullah Mehsud was a big catch, and perhaps the biggest for the drone program. He is believed to have behind the death of Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in December 2007.

When a former leader was also killed by a Predator drone and replaced by Abdullah Mehsud - who was released by Americans at Guantanamo, Baitullah proved the stronger leader and Abdullah lost his leadership.

Related:

Hakimullah Mehsud Dead: Wali-ur-Rehman Dead: Successors Kill Each Other?

Video: The Taliban - Killing the Dreams Of Pakistan's Schoolgirls

Cross Posted by Holger Awakens

Bring Out Your Dead

It is said that whatever you do will eventually catch up to you. Some call this Karma, others fate. What ever you call it, for good or evil, it will bite you on the butt. Just as it has done to members of AQLIM (al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb).

At least 40 al-Qaeda fanatics died horribly after being struck down with the disease that devastated Europe in the Middle Ages.

The killer bug, also known as the plague, swept through insurgents training at a forest camp in Algeria, North Africa. It came to light when security forces found a body by a roadside.

The victim was a terrorist in AQLIM (al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb), the largest and most powerful al-Qaeda group outside the Middle East.

It trains Muslim fighters to kill British and US troops.

Now al-Qaeda chiefs fear the plague has been passed to other terror cells — or Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

One security source said: “This is the deadliest weapon yet in the war against terror. Most of the terrorists do not have the basic medical supplies needed to treat the disease.

“It spreads quickly and kills within hours. This will be really worrying al-Qaeda.”

Black Death comes in various forms.

Bubonic Plague is spread by bites from infected rat fleas. Symptoms include boils in the groin, neck and armpits. In Pneumonic Plague, airborn bacteria spread like flu.

It can be in the body for more than a week — highly contagious but not revealing tell-tale symptoms.

The al-Qaeda epidemic began in the cave hideouts of AQLIM in Tizi Ouzou province, 150km east of the capital Algiers. The group, led by wanted terror boss Abdelmalek Droudkal, was forced to turn its shelters in the Yakouren forest into mass graves and flee.

The extremists supporting madman Osama bin Laden went to Bejaia and Jijel provinces — hoping the plague did not go with them.

A source said: “The emirs (leaders) fear surviving terrorists will surrender to escape a horrible death.”

Read the full story here.

The bubonic plague is an infection of the lymphatic system, usually resulting from the bite of an infected flea. The fleas are often found on rodents, such as rats, and seek out other prey when their rodent hosts die. Once established, bacteria rapidly spread to the lymph nodes and multiply. Yersinia pestis can resist phagocytosis and even reproduce inside phagocytes and kill them. As the disease progresses, the lymph nodes can hemorrhage and become necrotic. Bubonic plague can progress to lethal septicemic plague in some cases.

The most famous symptom of bubonic plague is swollen lymph nodes, called buboes. These are commonly found in the armpits, groin or neck. The bubonic plague was the first step of the ongoing plague. Two other forms of the plague, pneumonic and septicemic, resulted after a patient with the bubonic plague developed pneumonia or blood poisoning.

Other symptoms include spots on the skin that are red at first and then turn black, heavy breathing, continuous blood vomiting, aching limbs and terrible pain. The pain is usually caused by the actual decaying, or decomposing of the skin while the infected person is still alive, when death begins the person will get spasms.

According to the World Health Organization, there are 1,000 to 3,000 cases of bubonic plague worldwide each year. There are no known cases in Australia or Europe. Areas where cases occur are in Russia, the Middle East, China, Southwest and Southeast Asia, Madagascar, southern and eastern Africa, the Andes mountains and Brazil.

Treatment is usually given as soon as symptoms appear. Streptomycin or tetracycline are the standard antibiotics given. A vaccination is available to prevent this disease.

The Taliban and al Queda both shun vaccinations as being from Satan and therefore anti-Islamic.

I expect that the Taliban and/or al Queda will be issuing statements condemning the US and claiming that the Americans are using biological weapons.

But what can you expect when you live in a cave and never bathe?

View at YouTube

Sorry I just couldn't resist. And the set does look like an average Taliban town.