Should President Obama trade Bowe Bergdahl for Taliban terrorists?
Another reminder that America is facing a global war on terror comes in the person of Bowe Bergdahl of Idaho. On June 30th, 2009, Private First Class Bergdahl (since promoted to Sergeant) disappeared in Afghanistan near the Pakistan border. Since then, he has been held captive by the Taliban. This is the same Taliban the Obama administration is considering removing from the list of terrorist organizations.
Exactly four years after his capture, the Taliban has offered to release Bergdahl in exchange for five radical Islamist terrorists held in Guantanamo Bay.
This situation has a personal element to me. In 2010, the Idaho Republican Party held a dinner keynoted by former RNC Chairman Michael Steele. I was one of the warmup speakers, and the speaker before me was none other than Bowe’s father Bob Bergdahl. He and his wife Jani are not political operatives. They just want their son home safe and sound.
The Bergdahl’s knew my presentation would be comedic, yet Mr. Bergdahl was an impossible act to follow. My remarks began with a prayer for their son, and by promising an awkward transition.
“My own experiences with war zones and combat have been far less significant, but still harrowing. My purple hearts were earned from two tours of duty as a student in a New York public school.”
The audience did laugh, and my next line was, “and that concludes the incredibly awkward transition.”
May God bless the entire Bergdahl family.
eric