In the June 17 Tribune under Editorial Roundup there was an editorial from the June 9 Mesabi Daily News titled “Prisoner exchange bumbled badly.”

I don’t know where this is, but it is obvious to me that it is a far-right paper. The article did all it could to make President Barack Obama look bad. I got news for you. Obama isn’t running again.

It is obvious to me that all it was trying to do is make Obama’s administration seem as bad as the George W. Bush administration. It dwelt on the trade of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for those five alleged terrorists. I wish we could think of something to send the balance of those terrorists back home. We are paying to house 150 of them. This isn’t cheap.

The war is over; send them home. I know the Republicans want to brainwash you into thinking that those five are going to come after you. I got news for you. There are at least 500 more just like them or worse in the Middle East that you have to worry about. If we don’t stick our nose in their business, they will leave us alone. Let them go back and kill each other off. That’s all they know. We don’t understand them, and they will never understand us. We can’t force them to think like us. So let’s bring our troops home and don’t get involved in their wars again.

The only way to get involved is if NATO wants to get involved. That means other countries will sacrifice their young troops, also. France and Germany didn’t want anything to do with invading Iraq. Why were they smarter than us? Now am I the only one with common sense about Bergdahl? All those Republicans have just crucified him.

When I was in the service I had what they called a secret clearance. To get this a background check was made on me. Bergdahl was kicked out of the Coast Guard for being mentally challenged. He was accepted by the Army and put up on the front lines. Does this sound right to you? I would bet those six guys that condemned him on Fox News were part of a bunch of bullies that harassed him. I’m sure he was easy pickings because he was different than everybody else. There were more people in that company. I hope someone will come out and tell more about him. The person or people who had something to do with Bergdahl’s background check are the ones who should be investigated.

How many more troops are on front lines that haven’t been given a proper background check? I can’t believe that someone else hasn’t thought of this. Why wasn’t Bergdahl given a proper background check? Try to imagine what it was like for Bergdahl to wake up every morning for five years wondering if they were going to shoot him today or not. He has suffered enough for whatever he has done wrong. I’m glad Obama made a good decision here.

 

Wayne Thorson

Albert Lea