Five ugly and old terrorists are no longer supported by US taxpayers

Americans who are leaping to judgement about the reasons Special Services Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl was exchanged for five ugly old Taliban terrorists, aren't thinking clearly. Right wing cruel pundits have leaped to the conclusion that, somehow, one soldier isn't worthy of being rescued.  Consider the following:

1.  America's justice depends on due process. Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, of Idaho, hasn't been given a chance to tell his story, as yet. Regardless of how Bergdahl was captured, he was held as a prisoner of the Taliban for five years.  

2.  Prisoner exchanges are frequently negotiated during war.

3.  Five terrorists exchanged for Sergeant Bergdahl were costing American taxpayers millions of dollars to keep them alive, without ever bringing them to trial. Good riddance to them.

4.  Paying ransoms for political prisoners and AWOL military people who find themselves in foreign jails happens, and occurs without contacting the US Congress, as my husband and I witnessed when living in the Philippines. Therefore, Sergeant Bergdahl's release isn't an isolated incident.

5.  It's plainly wrong for Americans to judge the Sargent Bergdahl's release without ever hearing from him. If he left his unit in Afghanistan, he'll receive a court martial.

6.  Of course, it's tragically unfortunate to know how US military were lost in Afghanistan, presumably while searching for Sergeant Bergdahl when he went missing from his unit. Yes tragic, but those who were killed were serving in a war zone and we don't have sufficient facts about the mission they were on when they were fatally wounded. 


7.  Shame on the right wing nutty pundits for minimizing the value of the life of an American soldier, a man who deserves, under the American justice system, the right to due process.

8.  Americans have yet to understand the long term implications of the Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl exchange. It's possible the prisoner exchange negotiations will provide a breakthrough in US-Taliban communications, based on honesty rather than cloaked in hate. 

For the moment, the US taxpayers have finally stopped paying for the sustenance of five old and ugly terrorists in Guantanamo.