On Fox News yesterday, guest Ralph Peters, a retired Army Lt. Col., urged against leaping to conclusions. "I was to stress first of all that we must wait until all of the facts are in until we make a final judgment," Peters said, but quickly added, "He is an apparent deserter," "he is collaborating with the enemy," and "we know that this private is a liar." Peters then suggested that if Bergdahl is a deserter, the Taliban should kill him: "I want to be clear. If, when the facts are in, we find out that through some convoluted chain of events, he really was captured by the Taliban, I'm with him. But, if he walked away from his post and his buddies in wartime, I don't care how hard it sounds, as far as I'm concerned, the Taliban can save us a lot of legal hassles and legal bills."
I grew up surrounded by the military, and being an ex-Army Reserve officer, I've known far too many people who think like LT COL Peters. To pass him off as some sort of intolerant dick wouldn't begin to do justice to the degree of antipathy I feel for Peters. While I understand his point, it's both completely misguided and intolerably inhuman in it's disregard for an American prisoner of war. Nothing like rushing to judgment to get some face time on Fox Noise Channel, eh?
Peters neither knows nor understands the circumstances that led to PFC Bowe Bergdahl's capture by the Taliban. Yet he has no problem opining on what he thinks should be done based on what he thinks happened. I listened to an interview with NBC's Jim Miklaszewski last night in which he made clear that no one in the Pentagon or on the ground in Afghanistan is calling Bergdahl a deserter. Peters, however, apparently has his own sources...perhaps the voices in his head?...and has no problem with drawing broad conclusions based on a minimum of (apparently horribly inaccurate) information. Peters certainly acts as if he wants to appear reasonable. Unfortunately, he follows his admonition that we must wait "until all of the facts are in until we make a final judgment" with "he is an apparent deserter," and "he is collaborating with the enemy."
It might be nice if Peters could bring himself to remember that Bowe Bergdahl is someone's son, grandson, friend, and loved one. There are people in Hailey, ID who are suffering because of the situation Bergdahl finds himself in. Wouldn't it make sense (and display a degree of compassion) to work towards securing Bergdahl's safe release before making the leap to accusations and recrimination? And how can a retired officer who spent his career caring for the men and women under his command display such a complete and utter lack of compassion for an American prisoner of war?
There really ought to be a special place in Hell for people like Ralph Peters.
