This is a tale of three soldiers. All of them have different life stories which are intertwined with each other because all of them have to do with the current President of the United States.
First, there is Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi who spent seven months in a Mexican jail, including several torture sessions. He had served two tours of duty in Afghanistan and was credited with saving the life of at least one fellow soldier and was promoted on the battlefield. He was discharged honorably in 2012.
In May of 2014, he took a wrong turn because of confusing road signs and ended up in Mexico instead of San Diego, and was arrested and placed in jail there where he was mistreated so badly he was afraid he was going to die.
His mother and others continually asked the President to help him but the President refused to even mention his name or talk to his family. He was finally released in November 2014 due to the efforts of several American citizens, including U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter of San Diego County.
Representative Hunter took him to the State of the Union Address so he could get a glimpse of the one man in the country who could have helped him and chose not to do so.
We didn’t get to see him there because the President chose to honor another guest instead, a woman who is a Democrat political activist that the President had had lunch with a few months ago to discuss political talking points. That was just a minor fact which the President forgot to tell the country when he introduced her as someone he met when she wrote him a letter about her family having a hard time financially.
I’m sure Sgt. Tahmooressi was so happy to see her honored and placed in the spotlight because she had lost her job for a few weeks. She suffered so much more than the Sgt. when he lost his freedom.
The second soldier is Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. He deserted his platoon in November 2009. Don’t believe the “captured” spin. He had sent all his belongings back to the states, including his laptop and his personal clothing. He walked off in the middle of the night on his own, not planning to return.
But in accordance with Obama’s policy of never leaving a soldier behind (which apparently did not apply to Sgt Tahmooressi) he ordered Bergdahl’s platoon mates to go find him. At least six of them were killed in those searches, but what’s a few good soldiers down when you’ve got a bad one on the run that can make a nice Rose Garden photo-op for a president trying to establish a legacy.
And find him they did, and they made a deal to release five of the biggest, meanest and worst of the Taliban prisoners they were holding at Gitmo so they could bring the deserter home.
And there was the Rose Garden press conference with the beaming parents who as I understand have yet to have a meeting with their wayward son.
Thirdly, there is General David Petraeus, a soldier among soldiers, former Director of the CIA, former CENTCOM Commander, former Commander of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), during which time he led the “Screaming Eagles” in combat during the fight to Baghdad and throughout the first year of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He is considered to have one of the most brilliant military minds in the country today.
But General Petraeus is an adulterer. And I have to walk carefully here because I do not want to leave even the slightest impression that I condone what he did. He caused irreparable damage to his family and brought shame upon the military and his country.
But there are others who have been in high ranking positions in the U.S. who have done just as bad, if not worse. Can anybody say Bill Clinton? Or maybe Ted Kennedy?
But the Department of Justice is threatening to file criminal charges against him. They say he shared confidential government documents with his mistress, who was working with him as his biographer. But the documents were out of date and did not contain any information which would jeopardize the security of the country. Plus she had security clearance too.
There is a reason this column is called “Opinion”. I express my opinion on social and political matters based on the information which I’m able to find through my research. And it is my opinion that General Petraeus knows enough about Benghazi to blow Hillary Clinton out of the 2016 campaign waters and further damage Obama’s credibility.
This is the reason his forced resignation occurred early on in the Benghazi scandal. And if the government can intimidate him or silence him by putting the blame for the Benghazi tragedy on him as we head into the final two years of the Democratic control of the White House, and what we know will be a very tough race for the 2016 Presidential election, then they will have accomplished their purpose.
Three soldiers. A decorated hero who made the wrong turn and ended up in prison for seven long months. A competent, extremely intelligent military leader who made a horrible mistake but is paying for it, and has taken responsibility for his actions. And a soldier who deserted his post, and sold out to the enemy.
Which one received all the attention and praise and help from our White House? Go figure that one out. In the words of the Russian comic Yakoff Smirnoff, “Is this a great country or what?”
First, there is Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi who spent seven months in a Mexican jail, including several torture sessions. He had served two tours of duty in Afghanistan and was credited with saving the life of at least one fellow soldier and was promoted on the battlefield. He was discharged honorably in 2012.
In May of 2014, he took a wrong turn because of confusing road signs and ended up in Mexico instead of San Diego, and was arrested and placed in jail there where he was mistreated so badly he was afraid he was going to die.
His mother and others continually asked the President to help him but the President refused to even mention his name or talk to his family. He was finally released in November 2014 due to the efforts of several American citizens, including U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter of San Diego County.
Representative Hunter took him to the State of the Union Address so he could get a glimpse of the one man in the country who could have helped him and chose not to do so.
We didn’t get to see him there because the President chose to honor another guest instead, a woman who is a Democrat political activist that the President had had lunch with a few months ago to discuss political talking points. That was just a minor fact which the President forgot to tell the country when he introduced her as someone he met when she wrote him a letter about her family having a hard time financially.
I’m sure Sgt. Tahmooressi was so happy to see her honored and placed in the spotlight because she had lost her job for a few weeks. She suffered so much more than the Sgt. when he lost his freedom.
The second soldier is Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. He deserted his platoon in November 2009. Don’t believe the “captured” spin. He had sent all his belongings back to the states, including his laptop and his personal clothing. He walked off in the middle of the night on his own, not planning to return.
But in accordance with Obama’s policy of never leaving a soldier behind (which apparently did not apply to Sgt Tahmooressi) he ordered Bergdahl’s platoon mates to go find him. At least six of them were killed in those searches, but what’s a few good soldiers down when you’ve got a bad one on the run that can make a nice Rose Garden photo-op for a president trying to establish a legacy.
And find him they did, and they made a deal to release five of the biggest, meanest and worst of the Taliban prisoners they were holding at Gitmo so they could bring the deserter home.
And there was the Rose Garden press conference with the beaming parents who as I understand have yet to have a meeting with their wayward son.
Thirdly, there is General David Petraeus, a soldier among soldiers, former Director of the CIA, former CENTCOM Commander, former Commander of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), during which time he led the “Screaming Eagles” in combat during the fight to Baghdad and throughout the first year of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He is considered to have one of the most brilliant military minds in the country today.
But General Petraeus is an adulterer. And I have to walk carefully here because I do not want to leave even the slightest impression that I condone what he did. He caused irreparable damage to his family and brought shame upon the military and his country.
But there are others who have been in high ranking positions in the U.S. who have done just as bad, if not worse. Can anybody say Bill Clinton? Or maybe Ted Kennedy?
But the Department of Justice is threatening to file criminal charges against him. They say he shared confidential government documents with his mistress, who was working with him as his biographer. But the documents were out of date and did not contain any information which would jeopardize the security of the country. Plus she had security clearance too.
There is a reason this column is called “Opinion”. I express my opinion on social and political matters based on the information which I’m able to find through my research. And it is my opinion that General Petraeus knows enough about Benghazi to blow Hillary Clinton out of the 2016 campaign waters and further damage Obama’s credibility.
This is the reason his forced resignation occurred early on in the Benghazi scandal. And if the government can intimidate him or silence him by putting the blame for the Benghazi tragedy on him as we head into the final two years of the Democratic control of the White House, and what we know will be a very tough race for the 2016 Presidential election, then they will have accomplished their purpose.
Three soldiers. A decorated hero who made the wrong turn and ended up in prison for seven long months. A competent, extremely intelligent military leader who made a horrible mistake but is paying for it, and has taken responsibility for his actions. And a soldier who deserted his post, and sold out to the enemy.
Which one received all the attention and praise and help from our White House? Go figure that one out. In the words of the Russian comic Yakoff Smirnoff, “Is this a great country or what?”
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