The Taliban have released a video of Bowe Bergdahl being released to U.S. Special Forces soldiers who arrived by helicopter. Five high ranking Taliban members were released from Gitmo in exchange.
The release of the video is part of the Taliban victory lap:
(full propaganda video here)
Statements from Bergdahl’s fellow soldiers about the circumstances of his departure from his base are very troubling, as are the Obama administration’s ridiculous refusal to acknowledge the issues.
There are heroes in this video.
The Special Forces soldiers who risked their lives landing into what could have been a trap, in order to rescue someone who may turn out to be a deserter who caused the deaths of other Americans searching for him.
The image of these Special Forces soldiers reminds me of men like Johnny “Mike” Spann, a CIA officer who was the first American killed in the Afghan war during a prisoner uprising. We have written of Mike Spann several times before, Remembering Johnny “Mike” Spann:
The story of this small band of men has been told, but not told enough.Spann was killed during the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi when Taliban prisoners gained access to weapons and attacked.Spann was killed during that uprising…. One of the prisoners was the so-called American Taliban, John Walker Lyndh, who Spann interrogated shortly before Spann’s death.Spann’s wife Shannon also worked for the CIA. In addition to his wife, Spann left behind two daughters and an infant sonSpann’s family established a website to honor his life, and there is a wealth of information and photos at his Arlington National Cemetery page.There is an interesting honor paid to Spann at the website of Afghan General and Warlord Abdul Radhis Dostum, including a link to a photo of the memorial to Spann at the site of the uprising in which he died.
Two of the Taliban Gitmo detainees released were involved in that uprising, as Spann’s father noted in objecting to the release:
The father of America’s first fatality in Afghanistan denounced the Obama administration for releasing Taliban prisoners that he holds responsible for his son’s death, saying the move was a slap in the face to every American who died in the war against terror.Johnny “Mike” Spann, part of a CIA paramilitary unit, was killed Nov. 25, 2001 during an uprising by Taliban prisoners near Mazar-e-Sharif a month after President George W. Bush ordered U.S. forces into Afghanistan to punish al-Qaida and its allies for the 9/11 attacks in the United States.Two of the five Taliban prisoners released last weekend from Guantanamo prison in exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl were present during the uprising at Qala-i-Jangi prison, according to U.S. documents obtained by The Washington Post. They were Mullah Mohammad Fazl and Mullah Norullah Noori.
So don’t focus on the Taliban in the video, or Bergdahl.
Focus on the true heroes.
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