The jeering and catcalls of Republicans who aren’t Commander-in-Chief start up again. Do they ever stop? Their pals on cable TV report that they have nothing to report and no idea what’s happening but Jason Chaffetz, the Republican representative from Utah’s 3rd District is there. Trying to keep a straight face, Chaffetz says the President broke the law. He says it again and again and each time he does, a very happy grin spreads across his face.
Bowe Bergdahl’s name must have been heard in Congress long before May 31 when President Obama announced the Army sergeant’s release after 5 years of captivity in Afghanistan. It’s easy enough to check.
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The Congressional Record at the US Senate website (aka senate.gov) will surely have clues. Click 'Public Disclosure.' |
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When you land on the next screen, click 'Congressional Record.' |
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On the next screen, click the link to 'Search the Congressional Record' |
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Finally, you'll see a screen with lots of search options for a session of Congress (currently 113), your fav CongressCritters, and more. Just enter 'Bergdahl' and click 'Search' |
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The search results show that the term 'Bergdahl' appeared in three issues of the Congressional Record for the current session. The first link is clearly a good match.
LEAVE NOBODY BEHIND -- (House of Representatives - June 28, 2013)
Richard Nugent, Republican, from Florida’s 11th District, who serves on the Armed Services Committee gave a short speech about Bergdahl almost a year ago. (Further checking showed that he also gave the exact same speech two years earlier, in 2011). Here's an excerpt:
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"This Sunday marks the fourth year since Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl was reported missing in action in Afghanistan. It is on this sober occasion that veterans and concerned citizens across the United States will appeal to their government, asking those who have the means to find every unaccounted soldier, sailor, airman, marine, or guardsman and bring them home." |
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It's a generic statement that amounts to nothing.
The search result that links to the text of Senate Amendments dated November 18, 2013 is a more interesting discovery. The linked page is overloaded with text. 'Control F' to search for ‘Bergdahl’ quickly.
James Risch, a Republican Senator from Idaho, submitted an amendment (SA2117) to bill S. 1197, the Fiscal Year 2014 NDAA (Defense Appropriations).
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"SEC. 1066. REPORT ON WHEREABOUTS OF ARMY SERGEANT BOWE BERGDAHL.
(a) In General. Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees an unclassified report, with a classified annex, regarding the status of the search for U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured by the Taliban on June 30, 2009, in Paktika Province in eastern Afghanistan. The report should include Sergeant Bergdahl's suspected whereabouts, his likely captors, and what efforts are being made to find and recover him.
(b) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined. In this section, the term "appropriate congressional committees'' means
(1) the congressional defense committees;
(2) the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate; and
(3) the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives." |
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The amendment was co-sponsored by the other Republican Senator from Idaho, Mike Crapo, and a Republican Senator from Kansas, Jerry Moran.
Here’s the interesting part. Risch submitted several other amendments at the same time, including this one:
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"SEC. 1035. PROHIBITION ON TRANSFER TO CERTAIN COUNTRIES OF INDIVIDUALS DETAINED AT UNITED STATES NAVAL STATION, GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA.
None of the funds authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2014 by this Act or any other Act may be used to transfer, release, or assist in the transfer or release, including a transfer or release otherwise authorized by section 1031, of an individual detained on or after January 20, 2009, at Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to
(1) the government of a foreign country determined to be repeatedly providing support for acts of international terrorism pursuant to section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371) or section 6(j) of the Export Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. App. 2405(j));
(2) the recognized leadership of a foreign entity designated as a foreign terrorist organization pursuant to section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189);
(3) the government of a foreign country determined to be not cooperating fully with United States antiterrorism efforts pursuant to Section 40A of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2781); or
(4) to the government of a foreign country identified as having a terrorist safe haven within its borders in the Department of State 7120 Report on Terrorist Safe Havens."
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Together, the two amendments order the executive branch to find and report on Bergdahl and to make no deals with enemies involving the prisoners at Guantanamo. Knowing the US Congress Republicans as I do, I can’t trust in a clean story behind these amendments.
Was this language in the 2014 NDAA that was finally enacted after reconciliation with the House version of the bill passed in June 2013?
The amendment calling for a report on Bergdahl’s whereabouts was scrubbed of his name and rewritten to address the situation comprehensively to include other individuals who may be in similar situations and to take corrective action on the pertinent issues. The bill signed into law includes three consecutive sections:
Sec. 574. Comptroller General report on use of determination of personality disorder or adjustment disorder as basis to separate members from the Armed Forces.
Sec. 581. Accounting for members of the Armed Forces and Department of Defense civilian employees listed as missing and related reports.
Sec. 582. Expansion of privileged information authorities to debriefing reports of certain recovered persons who were never placed in a missing status.
Again, none of these sections refers to Bergdahl, specifically. The law’s purpose reads like a CYA for the Armed Services more than anything else.
- Sec. 574 addresses protocol for evaluating service members who are unfit for duty “because of a mental condition not amounting to disability,” and separating them from service.
- Sec. 581 addresses recordkeeping on POWs and MIAs and proper notification of family members.
- Sec. 582 addresses protocol for debriefing service members whose MIA status wasn’t recorded.
Sec. 1035 and adjacent sections allow for release of prisoners from Guantanamo under certain numerous conditions. The most relevant part seems to be:
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“The Secretary of Defense shall notify the appropriate committees of Congress of a determination of the Secretary under subsection (a) or (b) not later than 30 days before the transfer or release of the individual." |
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The third and final Congressional Record search result links to an announcement made yesterday for a meeting, presumably to determine whether the executive branch gave proper notification to Congress about the prisoners who were exchanged for Bergdahl.
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JUNE 10
10 a.m.
Committee on Armed Services
To receive a closed briefing on the Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl prisoner exchange.
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What could these Republicans be up to?
Risch touts himself as “the number 1 senator to oppose President Barack Obama’s agenda in 2013.”
Here he is at an Intelligence Committee hearing on January 29 testifying about the high level of concern for the US Government in the return of Sgt. Bergdahl.
Senators
Risch and Crapo say in a joint statement that they “couldn't be more pleased with the news of Bowe Bergdahl's release.” They say they’re grateful for the efforts of people at the State and Defense Departments. They don’t say anything about the President or about the howling of the other members of their party.
I don’t see any doubts or ambivalence about the way Bergdahl was captured. I don’t see any objections against dealing or trading for Bergdahl’s release. Risch says the right things for the cameras and his Twitter followers. It sounds like he accepts the American military's standard of not leaving anyone behind. But the amendment he introduced and sponsored on the floor of the Senate would make it difficult or impossible to bring Bergdahl home.
Considering the string of incidents in Afghanistan from the US Marines who took pictures of themselves pissing on dead Afghans, to the burning of Qurans at Bagram, to the mass murder of civilians by Sgt. Robert Bales who left his base without authorization, it’s not hard to believe Bergdahl walked off, on his own. The details of his story will be investigated and hopefully disclosed to the public.
It’s not hard to believe Bergdahl had a change of heart as his parents say, either, according to the Michael Hastings article published by Rolling Stone in 2012.
It brings to mind Ed Snowden whose conscience also objected to the work he voluntarily accepted. The Senators from his home state haven’t taken up his cause and the President won’t announce his coming home. The circumstances are not the same.
It’s hard to see how anyone reaches adulthood and remains naïve enough to be disillusioned to this extent. But it isn’t unusual. Enough people talk about their change of heart regarding the President and it seems that some have more or less walked off from the Democratic Party. In France, there are some who have walked off from the Socialists, too.
When I think of all these people, the ways they’re different and alike, how their actions hurt themselves and others, I can't avoid the obvious conclusion. When you walk off, be prepared to walk off for good, and don’t look back.