Michael Mukasey, the last Attorney General before eric holder (and how I miss him – as I would miss just about any AG compared to holder) – has written a very thoughtful, very analytical view of the bergdahl “deal” and its consequences for National Review. You would do well to click here and read it all. But, for now, let me give you just a small part of what Mr. Mukasey has to say:
Itis difficult to believe that the president actually understood lastweekend the enormity of what he had done. All the details of howBergdahl left his unit may have to be teased out in the setting of acourt martial, but it has long been known that he was a malcontentwho had sent his belongings home well before the day in June 2009when he left his unit in Afghanistan, that hewrote that the army he served in was a “joke” and that he wasashamedto be an American. Was the president perhaps not aware thatdesertion is an act viewed with such seriousness under the UniformCode of Military Justice that in wartime it can carry the deathpenalty?
Everyone of the five detainees released from Guantanamo, as reportedby Tom Joscelyn in The Weekly Standard, is not only a seniorTaliban official, but also someone who has trained with andcoordinated fighting with al-Qaeda before 9/11. Which is to say, atprecisely the time when his administration is trying to withdrawtroops from Afghanistan in a way that at least will not threaten thesafety of those who remain behind until the end of 2016, if notbeyond, the president has provided skilled strategic planners to theTaliban; at the time when it is the administration’s announcedintention to separate the Taliban from al-Qaeda, the president hasprovided the Taliban with military leaders who have a history ofclose ties with al-Qaeda.
Washe aware of that when he presided over a Rose Garden celebration?
Strong words. And every one of them rings true.
How I look forward to the end of this nightmare.
