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<div class="moz-forward-container"><big><big>Decent article by
Robert Naiman, except that he tries to imply that it is ONLY
the republiccans who are the warmongers and that none of the
democrats are, which we all know is nonsense.<br>
<br>
David Johnson</big></big><br>
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<h1>Warmonger Media Storm Against Saving Sgt. Bergdahl</h1>
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<span class="cat-date-line3"> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
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<span class="cat-date-line4">By Robert Naiman, <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/24178-warmonger-media-storm-against-saving-sgt-bergdahl-shows-why-we-have-so-much-war"
target="_blank">www.truth-out.org</a><br>
June 7th, 2014</span><br>
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<p><big><big><em><span class="wf_caption" style="display:
inherit; max-width: 635px;"><span style="max-width:
637px; text-align: left; margin-top: 3px; display:
block;">Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)
departs a rare briefing of the full Senate regarding
the exchange Taliban prisoners for Sgt. Bowe
Bergdahl, on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 4,
2014. (Photo: Gabriella Demczuk / The New York
Times)</span></span></em></big></big></p>
<big><big> </big></big>
<h2><big><big><strong>The political forces trashing the rescue
Sgt. Bergdahl are the same political forces that got us
into the Iraq war.</strong></big></big></h2>
<big><big> </big></big>
<p><big><big>If you want to understand why it’s the case that on
the one hand, the US public and the majority of Congress
turned against the war in Afghanistan a long time ago, and
yet on the other hand, it’s been so hard to end the war,
this week’s warmonger media storm against the diplomatic
rescue of US prisoner of war Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has been
very instructive. It’s been known for years that a key
step toward ending the war would be exchanging five
Taliban prisoners of war at Guantanamo for the release of
Sgt. Bergdahl. There has never been any serious dispute of
the case that this would be a key step toward ending the
war. I challenge anyone to find a counter-example to my
claim.</big></big></p>
<big><big> </big></big>
<p><big><big>The political forces that are trashing the deal to
rescue Sgt. Bergdahl are the same political forces that
got us into the Iraq war. They are the same political
forces who want to keep the Afghanistan war going
indefinitely. They are the same political forces who want
to keep the Guantanamo prison open indefinitely.</big></big></p>
<big><big> </big></big>
<div id="attachment_39279" style="width: 600px"
class="wp-caption aligncenter"><big><big><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.popularresistance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Bergdahl-welcome-home-e1402151498619.jpg"><img
class="size-full wp-image-39279"
src="cid:part17.09080100.04040308@comcast.net"
alt="Voters for Peace banner in support of Sgt. Ben
Bergdahl created by Ellen Davidson and Tarak Kauff"
height="221" width="590"></a></big></big>
<p class="wp-caption-text"><big><big>Veterans for Peace banner
in support of Sgt. Ben Bergdahl created by Ellen
Davidson and Tarak Kauff</big></big></p>
</div>
<big><big> </big></big>
<p><big><big>Again, I challenge anyone to provide a single
counterexample of someone in Congress who voted against
the Iraq war, or who has been a leader in trying to end
the war in Afghanistan, or who has been a leader in trying
to close the Guantanamo prison, who is now trashing the
diplomatic deal to rescue Sgt. Bergdahl. So, you might
think, that if it’s obvious that the prisoner exchange was
a key step toward ending the war, then the majority of the
population who have long been telling pollsters that they
think the Afghanistan war should end would see this as a
slam-dunk: exchange the prisoners and end the war. And
therefore, the prisoner exchange should have been
relatively uncontroversial.</big></big></p>
<big><big> </big></big>
<p><big><big>Recall that when the last US soldiers left Iraq in
2011, there was an attempt by Republican warmongers to
stoke public outrage. It went over like a lead balloon.
The public was done with the war and wanted the soldiers
to come home. But that’s not how it has played out in this
case – at least, that is not how it has played out so far.
Instead, there’s been a warmonger media storm, that has
confused a lot of Americans about the essential fact that
this is a key, necessary step toward ending the war – the
result that the majority of Americans have long said that
they want. I know this from my own personal
correspondence.</big></big></p>
<big><big> </big></big>
<p><big><big>Just Foreign Policy put up <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/welcome-home-bowe"
target="_blank">a petition at MoveOn</a> backing the
diplomatic deal to rescue Bergdahl. So far, there are
about 14,000 signatures on the petition. For comparison, a
recent <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/Welch-Syria-no-manpads"
target="_blank">petition</a> we did backing <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/1517"
target="_blank">Rep. Peter Welch’s letter</a> urging
President Obama to resist pressure to transfer manpads to
Syrian insurgents also got about 14,000 signatures. So,
among our core base of people who support diplomacy and
want to prevent more war, our level of support has been
about the same.</big></big></p>
<big><big> </big></big>
<p><big><big>What’s different is my correspondence. I’m getting
a fair bit of hate mail from people claiming that Bergdahl
is a “traitor” (<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/06/world/asia/bowe-bergdahl-walked-away-before-military-report-says.html"
target="_blank">not true</a>, as far as we know) or that
he caused the deaths of US soldiers (also <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/04/world/middleeast/can-gi-be-tied-to-6-lost-lives-facts-are-murky.html"
target="_blank">not true</a>, as far as we know.) Some
of these people write things like, “I want to end the war
and close Guantanamo too, but . . . ”</big></big></p>
<big><big> </big></big>
<p><big><big>Here’s the good news: We can turn this around. I
got similar hate mail a year ago, when we pushed back on
the media storm that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was
a “traitor.” (Isn’t it sad how glibly some people throw
that word around?) Today, the climate has decisively
changed. There are certainly still people who bash Edward
Snowden, but you don’t find people today saying, “I want
to end NSA blanket surveillance, but Edward Snowden is a
traitor.”</big></big></p>
<big><big> </big></big>
<p><big><big>Similarly, I predict, we can now get people who
want to end the war in Afghanistan and to close the
Guantanamo prison to understand and accept that this is a
necessary step toward doing so, and to stop repeating Fox
News talking points. Sooner rather than later, people who
want to end the war will understand that trashing the
diplomatic deal to free Sgt. Bergdahl is a Republican
warmonger thing. And when we can confine trashing
diplomacy to end the war to the Republican warmongers – as
trashing diplomacy with Iran was confined to the
Republican warmongers – such trashing will become
harmless, and ending the war can proceed.</big></big></p>
<big><big> </big></big>
<p><big><big>On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
went to the Senate floor and <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/208213-reid-charges-gop-with-hypocrisy-on-bergdahl"
target="_blank">gave a speech</a> strongly defending the
administration’s diplomacy to rescue Sgt. Bergdahl and
denouncing Republican critics as hypocrites. If we can get
enough Democrats to <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://twitter.com/justfp/status/474607879711109120"
target="_blank">#StandWithReid</a>, we can close the
prison and end the war.</big></big></p>
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