US general accuses Russia of providing weapons to the Taliban which were used against American backed forces.

Courtesy of Yahoo News:  

The United States must confront Russia for providing weapons to the Taliban for use against American-backed forces in Afghanistan, top U.S. military officials said Monday. 

At a news conference with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis at his side, Gen. John Nicholson, the American commander in Afghanistan, wouldn't provide specifics about Russia's role in Afghanistan. But said he would "not refute" that Moscow's involvement includes giving weapons to the Taliban. 

Earlier Monday, a senior U.S. military official told reporters in Kabul that Russia was giving machine guns and other medium-weight weapons. The Taliban are using the weapons in the southern provinces of Helmand, Kandahar and Uruzgan, according to the official, who briefed journalists on intelligence information on condition of anonymity.

Well this is certainly going to put a strain on the Putin/Trump bromance.

Now not only are there various investigations into the Russian hacking of our election, but there are also these allegations that the Russians are providing weapons to our enemies.

Yep, Trump is never going to get his thirty pieces of silver from Putin if this keeps up.

President Obama abandons plan to remove all troops from Afghanistan, will leave 5,500 in place at end of term.

Courtesy of the New York Times: 

The United States will halt its military withdrawal from Afghanistan and instead keep thousands of troops in the country through the end of President Obama’s term in 2017, Mr. Obama announced on Thursday, prolonging the American role in a war that has now stretched on for 14 years. 

The current American force in Afghanistan of 9,800 troops will remain in place through most of 2016 under the Obama administration’s revised plans, before dropping to about 5,500 at the end of next year or in early 2017, Mr. Obama said. 

Some of the troops will continue to train and advise Afghan forces, while others will carry on the search for Qaeda fighters and militants from the Islamic State and other groups who have found a haven in Afghanistan, he said. 

In abandoning his ambition to bring home almost all American troops before leaving office, Mr. Obama appears to be acknowledging that Afghan security forces are still not near ready to hold off the Taliban on their own.

So we remain the occupying force that Donald Rumsfeld swore we would never be. 

As much as this upsets me it is pretty clear that considering what happened in Iraq after the withdrawal of American forces that the President does not feel he has much of a choice.

Of course it seems obvious that expecting the situation to improve enough someday to justify complete troop withdrawal now seems like a pipe dream. At some point whoever is in charge (Hi Hillary!) is simply going to have to say "fuck it" and bring the troops home knowing that everything is going to go to hell when they leave. 

But until that happens America continues to be trapped in an endless war, with no end in sight.

Lucky us.

Released POW Sgt. Bergdahl arrives back in America, along with stories of his horrendous mistreatment while in captivity.

Courtesy of Fox News:  

American Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, while held prisoner in Afghanistan, was locked in solitary confinement for two straight years and did not see another human face for that entire time, senior military sources with knowledge of his "reintegration process" told Fox News. 

Officials said Bergdahl, during that period, only talked to his captors through the wall of a six-foot-by-six-foot metal box, in which he was kept. 

The box was just big enough for him to stand up straight and stretch his arms. If he was ever taken out of the box, Bergdahl was apparently hooded. Bergdahl told officials that this treatment started immediately after he attempted to escape captivity. 

"His mental and physical state match this description -- and we believe him from what we see," one official told Fox News. 

The details emerged as Bergdahl arrived early Friday at an Army medical center in San Antonio, Texas.

Two straight years without seeing another human face, and without hearing his native tongue.

That would destroy the will of just about anyone. 

Seems to me that he will need a lot more help reintegrating back into society than simply purchasing him the Rosetta Stone, right Sarah? 

Fox News and the Right Wing continue attempting to smear newly released Sgt. Bergdahl. Now accuse him of colluding with the enemy and converting to Islam.

Courtesy of Fox News:  

U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl at one point during his captivity converted to Islam, fraternized openly with his captors and declared himself a "mujahid," or warrior for Islam, according to secret documents prepared on the basis of a purported eyewitness account and obtained by Fox News. 

The reports indicate that Bergdahl's relations with his Haqqani captors morphed over time, from periods of hostility, where he was treated very much like a hostage, to periods where, as one source told Fox News, "he became much more of an accepted fellow" than is popularly understood. He even reportedly was allowed to carry a gun at times.

Apparently these "secret documents" were provided by a shadowy private firm, called the Eclipse Group, that claims to have subcontracted with the Department of Defense.

If that gives you pause, then get a load of this:

The group is run by Duane R. ("Dewey") Clarridge, a former senior operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency in the 1980s best known for having been indicted for lying to Congress about his role in the tangled set of events that became known as the Iran-Contra scandal. He was pardoned by the first President Bush in December 1992 while on trial.

So the group claiming that Bergdahl was a  traitor is run by disgraced CIA agent who lied to Congress about Ronald Reagan's treasonous activities in the 1980's.

So of COURSE Fox News went with it.

However there are reports from more reliable sources that this whole thing is a bunch of made up crap: 

During his time in Tampa as commander of U.S. Central Command, Marine Gen. James Mattis said he saw no evidence to confirm that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, released in a prisoner swap last week, collaborated with his captors. 

“I have never seen one bit of verified or confirmed evidence of that,” Mattis said in a phone interview with The Tampa Tribune. “Not one bit. You hear things and it was second- and third-hand.” 

Other information “specifically discounted” reports that Bergdahl, captured by the Taliban in June 2009 after leaving his outpost in Afghanistan, was working with his captors, he said. Mattis declined to comment on what that information was because it remains classified.

Hey you know, maybe it's just me, but I would be far more likely to take the word of a former CENTCOM commander than a known liar and criminal.

There are also reports that Bergdahl was not exactly treated like a collaborator during his time with the Taliban: 

U.S. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has told people treating him at an American military medical facility in Germany that he was tortured, beaten and held in a cage by his Taliban captors in Afghanistan after he tried to escape, a senior U.S. official said Sunday. 

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss what Bergdahl has revealed about the conditions of his captivity.

That by the way seems to confirm the reporting by the late  Michael Hastings for Rolling Stone magazine.

And now thanks to Fox's lack of journalistic ethics Bergdahl's parents are receiving death threats:  

The FBI is investigating threats against the parents of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the latest development in a case that has put the spotlight on the circumstances surrounding his capture in Afghanistan and release by the Taliban. 

"We are working jointly with our state and local partners and taking each threat seriously," FBI Special Agent William Facer told CNN in an e-mail on Saturday.

Well I guess I will spend this Sunday afternoon being disgusted again. 

Did six soldiers lose their lives looking for Sgt. Bergdahl as the conservatives claim? Doesn't look like it.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

Did the search for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl cost the lives of American soldiers? 

Since last weekend’s prisoner exchange in which Afghan insurgents turned over Sergeant Bergdahl after five years of captivity, a number of the men who served with him have called him a deserter. Some have gone further, blaming him for the deaths of six to eight soldiers. 

That second claim is hardening into a news media narrative. CNN has reported in scrolling headlines that six soldiers died looking for Sergeant Bergdahl after senior American military officials say he wandered off his base. The Daily Beast published an essay by a former member of Sergeant Bergdahl’s battalion, Nathan Bradley Bethea, who linked the search to the deaths of eight soldiers whom he named. “He has finally returned,” Mr. Bethea wrote. “Those men will never have the opportunity.”

However the Times examined the casualty reports and military logs from around that time, and things just don't add up.

Two soldiers died during the most intense period of the search after Sergeant Bergdahl’s June 30 disappearance. Both were inside an outpost that came under attack, not out patrolling and running checkpoints looking for him. The other six soldiers died in late August and early September.

It seems unlikely that any deaths that took place in late August or early September were from soldiers involved in an active search. Apparently the people making that claim are suggesting that the Taliban knew the soldiers were stretched thin and chose a vulnerable moment to strike, which seems to be more a matter of conjecture rather than the study of cold hard facts.

Let's face it the conservatives simply cannot allow the President to do ANYTHING good without attempting to turn it into something bad.

But what they are doing to this soldier, and to his family, may in fact may be a new low.

They even forced his home town to cancel his welcome home celebration. 

It seems in their overwhelming desire to undermine the Obama presidency there can be no innocent bystanders left uninjured, no line uncrossed, and no gutter in which they will not crawl, if there is any chance that by doing so they will injure the President.

Sarah Palin cannot think of anything stupid enough to say about the return of Sgt. Bergdahl. Fortunately for her Bristol is a fount of ignorance.

Of course this was not quite dimwitted enough so Palin also had her Facebook ghostwriter jot this down:

Bristol posted an answer to supporters of Obama's terrorist negotiations to free the Taliban's Dastardly Dream Team in exchange for the sketchy "I'm-ashamed-to-be-American" Sgt. Bergdahl, who is accused by his fellow soldiers of deserting and denouncing America before going AWOL – a decision which cost other soldiers their lives as the Army mounted extensive operations to find Bergdahl after he abandoned his post. Sympathizers now tell the media Bergdahl can't be held to account anytime soon because he can't be interviewed... claiming he's forgotten how to speak English. Really? See below. Then # Call1-800-RosettaStone. 

Does anyone remember abused POWs like John McCain, Tom Moe, James Stockdale, Tom Kirk, and other American troops forgetting the English language during their years and years of brutal, inhumane captivity? Seems these war heroes returned to their beloved country not speaking Vietnamese, but speaking KickAss against those who would destroy the red, white, and blue. 

- Sarah Palin

You know if I were Palin I would not be so quick to use John McCain as an example.

This from Rolling Stone magazine:

McCain has also allowed the media to believe that his torture lasted for the entire time he was in Hanoi. At the Republican convention, Fred Thompson said of McCain's torture, "For five and a half years this went on." In fact, McCain's torture ended after two years, when the death of Ho Chi Minh in September 1969 caused the Vietnamese to change the way they treated POWs. "They decided it would be better to treat us better and keep us alive so they could trade us in for real estate," Butler recalls. 

By that point, McCain had become the most valuable prisoner of all: His father was now directing the war effort as commander in chief of all U.S. forces in the Pacific. McCain spent the next three and a half years in Hanoi biding his time, trying to put on weight and regain his strength, as the bombing ordered by his father escalated. By the time he and other POWs were freed in March 1973 as a result of the Paris Peace Accords, McCain was able to leave the prison camp in Hanoi on his own feet. 

In other words, unlike Bergdahl, McCain was treated quite well for the majority of his five years in captivity, and, also unlike Bergdahl, he was surrounded with fellow prisoners with whom he could converse with in English.

But here's the thing, there has been no official word as to whether or not Bergdahl is having trouble answering questions, nor if he is why he is. It's the parents who have suggested that he has forgotten how to speak English. 

But that may not be the reason, or at least not the ONLY reason.

This courtesy of CNN: 

Roy Hallums, a private contractor held by Iraqi insurgents for 10 months, said he didn't have trouble readjusting to English, but said he couldn't talk for a while because he had been forced to stay silent under threat of death. 

"It's like your vocal chords are like your muscles in your arms. If they don't get any use, they get out of shape," he told CNN's "New Day."

There are also reports that Bergdahl is quite ill, and suffering some emotional damage. So this may have less to do with a language barrier, than an actual physical or emotional impairment. 

I really don't know.

And because I don't know I would certainly not feel comfortable attacking him, or those who are trying to assist him.

But then again Sarah Palin, and her hateful offspring, are not exactly known for empathy.

Things that are simple to predict: Balls thrown up will fall down. Cute babies grow up to be obnoxious teenagers. And if President Obama is under attack by the Right Wing Sarah Palin WILL pile on.

So as you know President Obama recently freed an Army Sergent who has been held captive by the Taliban for five years.

And as you also know this has been widely viewed as a good thing by those who don't already hate everything the President does.

Cue the angry Facebook post: 

Barak Obama just released Islamic terrorists from GITMO, exchanging the murderers for a soldier who ended up in enemy hands five years ago amidst unexplained circumstances. Obama glowingly suggests now that he succeeded in negotiating with terrorists to seal the deal, violating America's agreement with our allies that we would not be so reckless, short-sighted and stupid as to negotiate with terrorists – and now these Islamists who hate us are free to go about their business of killing us. Meanwhile, we have a U.S. Marine detained in Mexico who is ignored by Obama – it's like someone said: "our Marine is the ONLY one Obama won't let cross the border." Obama needs to hop on Air Force One and visit our neighbors to the south to seal THAT deal because surely the Commander-in-Chief lives up to his word and 230 years of U.S. Military ethos promising we "leave no one behind." 

You may remember that the Marine Palin is referring to did NOT get captured by the Taliban while in Afghanistan, but instead was arrested by the Mexican authorities after crossing their border with a car full of guns.

So much the same don't you think?

Interesting how Palin is always going on about protecting the sovereignty of red states from the Federal government, but has no problem with the President hopping on Air Force One and telling Mexico that their laws don't matter because the guy they arrested has become a cause celebre among American conservatives.

Palin goes on to extensively quote from an article over at Breitbart, the contents of which I will spare you, but suffice it to say that President Obama simply cannot do ANYTHING right.

You know if this had happened while President Bush was still in office, the Right Wing would be praising the crap out of him and suggesting that we do away with term limits and elect him for yet another tour of duty in the White House. (After which the country would be nothing more than a smoldering hole in the ground.)

But because the black guy did it, he must be attacked relentlessly and accused of damaging America's reputation here and abroad.

And by the way check out who was for releasing Sgt. Bergdahl before she was against it.

MUST SEE: Sarah Palin then and now on #SgtBergdahl! @SarahPalinUSA #BoweBergdahl #boweisback #boweiscominghome pic.twitter.com/tOC1ubrqEw
— clydetheslyde (@clydetheslyde) June 2, 2014

What? Hypocrisy! Say it ain't so!

Speaking of Palin, and hypocrisy, our old friend Goeffrey Dunn has posted a HuffPo piece taking those who have recently tried to resurrect her image to task.

President negotiates release of soldier held by Taliban since 2009. Receives universal praise. Well, almost universal.

President with parents of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl

Courtesy of NBC News:  

The family of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was overjoyed when President Barack Obama personally called them Saturday and gave them the news they were desperately hoping to hear: Their son, captured by the Taliban in 2009, was still alive. And he was finally coming home. 

“We cannot wait to wrap our arms around our only son,” Bergdahl’s parents, Bob and Jani Bergdahl, said in a statement, thanking supporters and those who helped secure his return without a single shot fired. 

“And of course, we want to take this opportunity to thank all those in the many U.S. Government agencies who never gave up,” the statement continued. “Today, we are ecstatic!” 

Bergdahl, 28, was rescued Saturday evening local time (10:30 a.m. ET) in eastern Afghanistan — in exchange for five prisoners who were held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center — and is back in the hands of the U.S. military, officials said. 

“Sergeant Bergdahl's recovery is a reminder of America's unwavering commitment to leave no man or woman in uniform behind on the battlefield,” Obama said in a statement.

Apparently Bergdahl was captured after he wandered away from his  military base in eastern Afghanistan.

The exchange for his freedom happened without any shots being fired, and has been heralded by many as a victory of diplomacy.

Well unless you are former Ambassador to the UN John Bolton that is: 

Just hours after the president announced that 28-year-old Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl had been freed, Bolton told Fox News host Jeanine Pirro that a dangerous precedent had been set by trading five Guantanamo Bay prisoners for one American. 

“The president has sent the Taliban an unmistakable signal that he will pay any price to get the United States out, and that’s a signal that’s bad for Taliban and al Qaeda to hear and our adversaries around the world,” Bolton opined. “And perhaps even worse, it is despicable for a president of the United States to grant moral equivalence to these terrorist in Gitmo compared to an American servicemember. The idea that there’s any equivalence at all between and American soldier and a terrorist, I think, is reprehensible.” 

Pirro argued that Obama was “putting us in jeopardy” by accepting Qatar’s assurances that the five prisoners would not return to the battlefield. 

“Well, he is,” Bolton agreed. “When you put a price on an American like Sgt. Bergdahl, you put a price on all Americans, and the Taliban know that.” 

“And basically teeing it up for Americans to be abducted!” Pirro declared.

Yes so much better to leave this man in the clutches of the Taliban for another five years, or until he dies, rather than to show any sign of weakness by negotiating for his freedom.

Personally I think that any advice coming from somebody in the Bush administration about what to do about our military, Afghanistan, or any other fucking thing, should be ignored completely.

After all these were the assholes that got us into this mess in the first place.

Do you know what it takes to render Jon Stewart speechless? Malala Yousafzai does.

I have seen Jon Stewart riff with the best, and it seems he always has a snappy comeback.

But not this time, this time he knew that he was in the presence of a very special human being.

 Just in case this video gets pulled, you can still find the interview here.

Malala Yousafzai addresses the United Nations. This is an amazing speech, by an equally amazing young woman.

The Taliban tried to shut her up, but all they have done is to create a force that will undoubtedly help to destroy their influence in the Middle East and around the world.

This speech gave me chills.

Mark my words this incredible young woman will someday soon become an incredibly political powerful force in Pakistan and beyond. She is a great representative of her religion, and I have little doubt that there are numerous Muslims in the world who are crying tears of joy for her survival and strength and shame that it was fundamentalists from their religion who tried to snuff out her amazing light.

Never forget whose objectives George W. Bush was following.

Best President al-Qaeda ever had!

Young Republicans National Policy Chairman demonstrates just how out of touch they are by getting into a Twitter battle with a fake news anchor.

So over the weekend THIS was tweeted:

When will the media stop talking about the politically irrelevant Sarah Palin at CPAC? I'm devoting the hour to that topic tonight!
— Will McAvoy (@WillMcAvoy_ACN) March 16, 2013

Now if you are constant visitor to this blog, or a fan of HBO, you already know what is wrong with this tweet.

Sadly there are some who are apparently neither, such as Jason B. Whitman the Young Republicans National Policy Chairman, who became incensed and tweeted this in response.

 My favorite part of this is that this guy notified Sarah Palin that he was standing up for her honor against this asshat who is going to dedicate "an entire hour" to her appearance at CPAC.

However the problem, of course, is that this is a parody twitter account using Will McAvoy's name.

But what is even a BIGGER problem is that Will McAvoy himself ONLY exists in the  world of HBO where he is a character in the series Newsroom, played by the incredibly talented Jeff Daniels.

So essentially this Jason B. Whitman guy was arguing with a guy, pretending to be a fake journalist, on a fake news channel, in an HBO series, on cable television.

I understand that after he was notified that he was making a fool of himself, he deleted the tweet.

Too late.

P.S. Yes I recognize that I am sort of living in a glass house on this topic since I posted that fake Will Ferrell tweet yesterday. But at least Will Farrell is a real person, living in the real world, and when I was made aware I manned up and admitted my mistake. I did not simply delete the evidence.

By the way if there are any of you still out there who do NOT yet know about Will McAvoy, and one of my all time favorite HBO series, let me enlighten you.

The girl who strikes fear in the heart of the Taliban.

Courtesy of the YouTube site:

Malala Yousafzai speaks for the first time since was targeted and shot in October 2012 for her advocacy on behalf of girls' education. Malala announced the creation of the Malala Fund, which supports the right to education for children across the world. Vital Voices established the Fund on behalf of Malala and her family, working together with supporters of the cause including the United Nations Foundation and Girl Up, and within a community of supportive organizations and individuals, to realize Malala's vision of education for all girls. MalalaFund.org

Malala was also recently nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Her life as an activist is really only just beginning, and I cannot help but imagine great things to come from this incredibly brave young woman.

Someday historians will write about the end of the Taliban.  I would not be surprised if little credit was given to American bullets and bombs, and that in the end the credit for their demise was identified by one simple name....Malala.

Did you watch last night?

Both "Newsroom" and "True Blood" had their season finales last night.

Thankfully "Hell on Wheels" just started back up or there would be no reason to turn the TV on Sunday nights.

What can I say, I have eclectic tastes.

Somebody needs to ask Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and Sarah Palin WHY Ronald Reagan hated America so much!

Awkward!

(Source Citizens for Legitimate Government)

Stephen Colbert was on fire last night!

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Stephen completely obliterates Congressman Pete Sessions for suggesting that the Republicans embrace the Taliban's methods of insurgency to use against the Democrats and Obama.

Yeah like they have not been doing that all along!

To fight the war in Afghanistan America has a new secret weapon: Viagra!

The Afghan chieftain looked older than his 60-odd years, and his bearded face bore the creases of a man burdened with duties as tribal patriarch and husband to four younger women. His visitor, a CIA officer, saw an opportunity, and reached into his bag for a small gift.

Four blue pills. Viagra.

"Take one of these. You'll love it," the officer said. Compliments of Uncle Sam.

The enticement worked. The officer, who described the encounter, returned four days later to an enthusiastic reception. The grinning chief offered up a bonanza of information about Taliban movements and supply routes -- followed by a request for more pills.

For U.S. intelligence officials, this is how some crucial battles in Afghanistan are fought and won. While the CIA has a long history of buying information with cash, the growing Taliban insurgency has prompted the use of novel incentives and creative bargaining to gain support in some of the country's roughest neighborhoods, according to officials directly involved in such operations.

I heard this story on MSNBC this morning, and literally did a spit take with my morning coffee.

In the old days of the Cold War the CIA would send sexy women to seduce the enemy into providing crucial information. Nowadays we simply have "hard on in a bottle". I am not sure which approach I find the more disturbing.

I keep imagining these old Afghan chieftains running around with their dicks out trying to stick in any available orifice. It makes for a very comical image.

You know I am certainly not a prude, but giving men erections in exchange for information is just one of those things I guess I would rather not have known about. I would just love to see the reimbursement forms these agents must hand in.

"Well let's see Agent Smith, you asked for six Viagra pills, a tube of Ky jelly, and an inflatable sheep. You must be headed to either Afghanistan or a vacation in Las Vegas."

Well whatever will make these newly hardened men probe more aggressively for information which will allow our military to thrust deeply into the soft center of the Taliban honey pot must be a good thing I guess. (Sorry I could not resist. LOL!)