Patterico's Pontifications

6/4/2014

The Other Side Of The Equation

Filed under: General — Dana @ 7:39 pm



[guest post by Dana]

During a classifed briefing on Bowe Bergdahl, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin was asked whether he had confidence that the five Taliban members won’t kill any Americans. Durbin responded,

“How can you say that? How can I say that anybody interviewing me is not going to kill an American? I will just tell you that when it comes down to it, they have been members of the Taliban, they were our enemies, and that’s why they were detained. We have taken some steps to try to monitor their conduct through Qatar for at least one year, and that’s where we are. Thats why I don’t think this was an easy call. There’s the other side of this equation.”

Hm, so they have been members of the Taliban? They were our enemies? Are they no longer part of the Taliban? Did they turn in their membership cards and that’s why they are also no longer our enemies?

And, about those efforts to monitor their conduct through Qatar? Well, now that we know they will be able to move around freely within the country, I’m having doubts about the use of the word monitor.

The Gulf official said the Taliban men, who have been granted Qatari residency permits, will not be treated like prisoners while in Doha and no U.S. officials will be involved in monitoring their movement while in the country.

Further, according to this report, the release of the five Taliban members has given the Taliban a desperately needed shot of hope in its demoralized arm. Taliban commander Mullah Salem Khan was elated about the release of former deputy defense minister in charge of all Taliban troops in northern Afghanistan, Mullah Mohammad Fazil.

“His return is like pouring 10,000 Taliban fighters into the battle on the side of jihad. Now the Taliban have the right lion to lead them in the final moment before victory in Afghanistan. While Mullah Fazil was in the Guantanamo cages we kept his name living, and under the banner of ‘Mazloom Mahaz’”—one of Fazil’s noms de guerre—“more than 20 fronts were and are active in jihad in three provinces.”

“Mullah Fazil was a military tycoon and very close to Mullah Omar,” says Khan. “His freedom will definitely inspire the whole Taliban moment.

Regardless of where they are, the liberation of Mullah Fazil and Mullah Norullah will give new spine to the Taliban so they can make war more aggressively.

You might scoff, what’s the big deal? They’re in Qatar being monitored… no worries. Surely, after 12 long years as prisoners, these guys are catching up on some R & R in the air conditioned lounges of Qatar.

As for the supposed guarantee that the five Guantanamo inmates will not rejoin the Taliban, that’s taken as a joke. “As soon as they arrived in Qatar they rejoined the Taliban,” says Khan. “We don’t care about U.S. conditions and obstacles.”

“There are dozens of ways to lead the Taliban, even from overseas,” says a former official in Taliban intelligence. “In fact, after 9/11, some 95 percent of the leadership are not actually on the ground in Afghanistan.” The official said, “Skype, phones, the Internet, although made by the West, can easily bridge the communication gap,” allowing the reorganization of Taliban military momentum: “Officially their bodies would be in Qatar, but thoughts and wisdom of jihad would be with us.”

In this, I agree with Durbin: There definitely are two sides to the equation.

–Dana

48 Responses to “The Other Side Of The Equation”

  1. Two sides: Durbin’s side and the truth.

    JVW (feb406) — 6/4/2014 @ 7:55 pm

  2. Why was the briefing classified to where only sleazy US senators get to learn about the terrorists food stamp freed so they could kill more americans?

    You usually classify things when you’re concerned about national security. This would not include the food stamp administration.

    happyfeet (8ce051) — 6/4/2014 @ 7:59 pm

  3. History repeats itself and staring much of the same cast of characters. http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/06/04/Still-Blocking-The-Truth

    Judy Eaton (9d1bb3) — 6/4/2014 @ 8:13 pm

  4. I gotta say that for hyper-partisan Turban Durbin that was far less than a full throated endorsement of either the president or the release of the 5 terrorists. Remember that Durbin was also heavy into the attempt to have the feds purchase an underused maximum security prison in IL to house just the sorts of dangerous and nonredeemable terrorists that Obama just released.

    elissa (76d201) — 6/4/2014 @ 8:17 pm

  5. Not biased, just on the other side.

    htom (412a17) — 6/4/2014 @ 8:17 pm

  6. Durbin, the one who made excuses for Detainee 063, shocker, now Begich is new to this particular clowning,

    narciso (3fec35) — 6/4/2014 @ 8:26 pm

  7. I predict they will have “escaped” from Qatar within a few weeks. I’m so cynical, I know…

    BTW I don’t understand something: Why did the military insist on the soldiers lie about Bergdahl going AWOL and then go full on attack mode to find him? It seems incongruous. Who cares if a guy walks away? Wouldn’t that be better than telling the world that the Taliban walked into the base on snatched him? And then they send men to their deaths looking for him, when they knew he walked away.

    Patricia (be0117) — 6/4/2014 @ 8:29 pm

  8. Taliban commander Mullah Salem Khan was elated about the release of former deputy defense minister in charge of all Taliban troops in northern Afghanistan, Mullah Mohammad Fazil.

    Imagine just how stupid, gullible and feckless they must think Obama is. And you know what? They’d be totally correct.

    However, they may instead believe that no one can be that dense on purpose about the true nature of their fellow terrorists. So they may deem that Obama has to be an Islamic sympathizer and go easy on him and the US in the meantime.

    Hey, perhaps President “Goddamn America” will keep us safe after all.

    Mark (99b8fd) — 6/4/2014 @ 8:29 pm

  9. http://www.nationalreview.com/article/379481/why-team-obama-was-blindsided-bergdahl-backlash-ralph-peters

    The president and Ms. Rice seem to think that the crime of desertion in wartime is kind of like skipping class

    The freshman dorm doesn’t get it.

    Steve57 (61329d) — 6/4/2014 @ 8:31 pm

  10. “If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have happened by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime – Pol Pot or others – that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.”

    – Dickie Durbin(D) slandering American troops

    The one good thing about Durbin is you always know where his sympathies lie.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 6/4/2014 @ 8:43 pm

  11. OT I’m tired like a pickle but

    we need to talk about National Soros Radio propaganda slut Chris Arnold

    specifically this piece

    GOP Demonizes Once Favored Cap-And-Trade Policy

    it smells like one of the talking point stories they do where they get their narrative wholesale from one of Daddy Soros’s other bought and paid for organizations

    here’s the gist of this one:

    Cap and trade is one of the policy tools that would be allowed under the EPA proposal for states to achieve the new emissions standards.

    In recent years, the term “cap and trade” has become a dirty word for many Republicans. But Republicans used to be the big advocates of cap and trade. It was originally a conservative idea because it’s a market-based approach to environmental regulation.

    there are two key facts the NPR propaganda slut elides

    the first key fact, which is key, is that cap and trade was developed to handle *pollution,* not wee little carbon dioxide molecules

    and except for Meghan’s p.o.s. brainwashed coward daddy, it’s very difficult to find Republicans who’ve EVER favored capping and trading carbon dioxide molecules

    the second key fact the propaganda slut elides is that the reason Team R is bringing up cap n trade is that they’re pointing out that food stamp is attempting to do with his jackbooted paramilitary EPA thugs what the fascists could not accomplish legislatively

    A cap n trade bill was defeated in the Senate in 2008.

    In short, nobody is demonizing cap n trade as a policy mechanism judiciously applied.

    happyfeet (8ce051) — 6/4/2014 @ 9:32 pm

  12. Little Dickie Durbin is just that, a dick – mini-version.

    askeptic (8ecc78) — 6/4/2014 @ 11:33 pm

  13. O/T, but if anybody needs a source for Ford Autolite carburetors this may help.

    http://quadrajetparts.com/ford-motorcraft-autolite-parts-ford-4100-parts-4100-floats-c-415_421.html

    I was exploring the mysteries of the Holley 2300 earlier. It’s not an easy thing, determining what gasket goes between what base plate and what throttle body. Rebuild kits come with several versions, to get you into the ball park. And if you get the gasket wrong, the carb will never work right.

    I find the Carter AFB the easiest of the bunch, if you’re sticking with carburetors.

    In a lot of ways it is just so much easier to work with fuel injection. But then nobody found it cost effective to certify the International Scout with fuel injection. So it wouldn’t pass the visual inspection, no matter the fact that it would run something like a 100 times cleaner.

    I hate bureacracy.

    http://www.shopih.com/FI.html

    Like I’m going to pay 1500 bucks for something that won’t pass smog inspection.

    Steve57 (61329d) — 6/5/2014 @ 12:01 am

  14. Despite the fact that Brzezinski can slip World Products S/R Torquers or Sportsman heads past the tech inspectors as if they were just another pair of chevy camel hump heads I somehow doubt I can slip an IH past the smog guys with twice the number of carburetor barrels ever installed by the factory.

    http://www.castheads.com/

    Let alone fuel injection. I think they’ll pick up on it.

    Steve57 (61329d) — 6/5/2014 @ 12:08 am

  15. who hijacked Steve57’s feed?

    redc1c4 (abd49e) — 6/5/2014 @ 1:28 am

  16. here’s another interesting read on the future results of Barry the Dimwitted’s idiocy…

    it’s NOT pretty… but it is pretty predictable

    redc1c4 (abd49e) — 6/5/2014 @ 1:32 am

  17. another side
    http://americanthinker.com/2014/06/did_bowe_bergdahl_purposefully_offer_himself_as_a_bargaining_chip.html

    mg (31009b) — 6/5/2014 @ 2:08 am

  18. rip Don Zimmer
    A baseball lifer.

    mg (31009b) — 6/5/2014 @ 2:14 am

  19. Red, I can’t be Bergdahl all the time, every time.

    Every once in a while I have to be about how to improve this combustion chamber.

    The maintenance chiefs who brought me up would have it no other way. The guys who would look at a FM-1 Wildcat and say, “I bet I could get another 100 horsepower out of that.”

    Or rebrick your boilers. Under fire.

    Steve57 (61329d) — 6/5/2014 @ 2:26 am

  20. http://americanthinker.com/2014/06/obamas_bergdahl_swap_puts_americans_in_danger_for_photo_op.html

    mg (31009b) — 6/5/2014 @ 2:32 am

  21. You will only pry my Milwaukee Sawzall out of my hands when I’m cold and dead. I feel the same about my MIG welder.

    Steve57 (61329d) — 6/5/2014 @ 2:34 am

  22. mg @20, this is the reason I carry a neck knife.

    Steve57 (61329d) — 6/5/2014 @ 2:36 am

  23. Also my drill press and my compressor. And probably a few other tools I’m forgetting to mention.

    Steve57 (61329d) — 6/5/2014 @ 2:38 am

  24. http://www.amazon.com/Ka-Bar-BK11-Becker-Necker-Knife/dp/B001N1CBB6

    Because, why not?

    Steve57 (61329d) — 6/5/2014 @ 2:41 am

  25. Great looking knife, may just order one.
    thanks Steve57.

    mg (31009b) — 6/5/2014 @ 2:52 am

  26. I admit I may have lost track, but maybe sometime somewhere I’ll dig up the Naval Air Station North Island registration card that allowed me to transport onto base my Colt Combat Elite before the powers that be decided that threatened their precious national security.

    Steve57 (61329d) — 6/5/2014 @ 2:52 am

  27. That was back in, I think, the early ’90’s.

    Steve57 (61329d) — 6/5/2014 @ 2:53 am

  28. This whole Bergdahl saga reminds me of a series I have watched: Homefront! How are we sure he hasn’t been turned and now working for the Taliban. Is life immitating art?

    The Emperor (d356d4) — 6/5/2014 @ 3:49 am

  29. I think the WH was desperate to change the narrative and thot they could control same via the Ministry of Truth.

    A two-fer. Seems others thot the same.

    Welcome home, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. A grateful America thanks you for your service.
    — Senator Thad Cochran (@SenThadCochran) May 31, 2014

    gary gulrud (46ca75) — 6/5/2014 @ 5:04 am

  30. 21, 23. I gots lots of them same tools. I mostly use the needle-nose pliers tho.

    gary gulrud (46ca75) — 6/5/2014 @ 5:06 am

  31. Once again sh!tforbrains is a tempting diagnosis:

    http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/06/why-obama-had-to-have-the-bergdahl-deal.php

    gary gulrud (46ca75) — 6/5/2014 @ 5:14 am

  32. I use mostly the Makita cordless drill, gary. Because of the screwdriver attachment. Although I’m getting sick and tired of charging the thing up every time I need to drive a screw (sometimes I just use the Swiss Army knife) and think I’ll just get a drill you can plug in. They still make those?

    Steve57 (61329d) — 6/5/2014 @ 5:39 am

  33. No boy should be without a gunsmith quality set of screw drivers.

    Steve57 (61329d) — 6/5/2014 @ 5:41 am

  34. Or girl. I didn’t mean to be sexist.

    For your entertainment, a nice instructional video.

    http://www.public.navy.mil/nsw/NAVSCIATTS/HTML/index.html

    Steve57 (61329d) — 6/5/2014 @ 5:43 am

  35. 32. The battery pack on my weed zipper, following not a half-dozen uses, is toast.

    So the neighbor to the east, another Norwegian, who swears my lawn is just fine with him, sees me walk across the street to the south and zip pointlessly at the weeds around the mailbox post. He charges out with his whacker, different model, same brand, and tells me to just leave it on the porch when I’s done.

    Yes, I am intimidated.

    gary gulrud (46ca75) — 6/5/2014 @ 6:21 am

  36. 34. I’m feeling safer being 500 yards from the river, with wetlands and woods intervening, on high ground, over a 60 degree incline.

    I’ll have time to run.

    gary gulrud (46ca75) — 6/5/2014 @ 6:26 am

  37. Don’t get to feeling too safe, gary. It’s not like those 500 yards and intervening wetlands and woods will keep away the missile and rocket armed helos and attendant door gunners.

    I was never big on small craft. They’re cool and all. I worked with them back when I was doing harbor defense. They can be fun to play with. But really, H-60s get the job done.

    Steve57 (61329d) — 6/5/2014 @ 6:45 am

  38. I’m sure my preference for helos vs. small craft is entirely unfounded.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui64yHtexAk

    Steve57 (61329d) — 6/5/2014 @ 6:55 am

  39. Some people have made the argument that the SCOAMP can’t be a Muzzie sympathizer because of his Drone Strikes. If Hellfire missiles targeting practitioners of Islam were a refutation of his core beliefs, very few people in the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia would be murdered on a daily basis by less sophisticated explosive devices detonated by fellow Muslims. (And we wouldn’t have nearly the number of Muslim sects.) Just because the current occupant of the Oval Office is all about American power and control doesn’t mean he doesn’t secretly revere the Koran.

    PPs43 (6fdef4) — 6/5/2014 @ 7:20 am

  40. here’s another interesting read on the future results of Barry the Dimwitted’s idiocy…

    it’s NOT pretty… but it is pretty predictable

    The blogger of that essay, Rusty Bradley, actually isn’t alarmed enough by the effects of the Bergdahl fiasco since he focuses on just the basic concept of the US negotiating with terrorists. After all, it has to be admitted that no less than Ronald Reagan went against his better judgment years ago and secretly dealt with Iran.

    So what makes the current debacle far worse is not just that the US government — that a US president — negotiated with terrorists, but that it (or he) negotiated with terrorists to release an American who wasn’t exactly kidnapped and taken prisoner under brutal (or at least typical wartime) circumstances, who wasn’t exactly a cantankerous pro-US POW known for resisting his captors, who wasn’t, and isn’t, exactly hostile (or even somewhat opposed) to the enemies of the US.

    This situation, in effect, actually is too foolish and irresponsible even for words.

    There’s a level of insanity that hovers above and around it, and it’s hardly surprising that a person who embraced a philosophy of “goddamn America! Your chickens are coming home to roost!” should be at the center of it.

    Mark (99b8fd) — 6/5/2014 @ 7:38 am

  41. The Obama administration said they had to rush ( were armtwisted) into the negotiations becasuse they were worried about the POW’s poor health. That was until the Talibanese released their own video that showed a Bergdahl looking healthy and in his right mind. Oops!

    The Emperor (890cff) — 6/5/2014 @ 8:02 am

  42. Steve57 (61329d) — 6/5/2014 @ 5:41 am

    Gunsmith-quality screwdrivers.

    askeptic (8ecc78) — 6/5/2014 @ 11:43 am

  43. They’re called machinists screwdrivers and you can buy them for a dollar or two from the “candy jar” at the Ace Hardware checkout counter. A little more for the four-in-one socket handle with the reversible bits. They’re the ones with the semi-hollow ground straight tip as opposed to the carpenters screwdrivers with the arrowhead tip. Gunsmith screwdrivers? Meh! And a sneer. And one more meh. Fill in these blanks: A _____ and his _____ are soon _____.

    nk (dbc370) — 6/5/2014 @ 12:05 pm

  44. nk, cool your jets. I didn’t say they were gunsmith screwdrivers, as if they’re special screwdrivers made by the Keebler elves particularly for gunsmiths. I said they were gunsmith quality screwdrivers. Because anybody who rounds off screws because the wrong screwdriver didn’t fit the slot precisely shouldn’t be working on guns.

    Steve57 (61329d) — 6/5/2014 @ 12:36 pm

  45. Turnbull will unscrew your screws should you screw them up, but it will cost you.

    http://turnbullmfg.com/

    Steve57 (61329d) — 6/5/2014 @ 12:40 pm

  46. Screwing a screw will get you solitary and the screw fired if you’re caught, my clients tell me.

    nk (dbc370) — 6/5/2014 @ 1:00 pm

  47. I have no firsthand knowledge of this. I’ve never had the screw put to me.

    Steve57 (61329d) — 6/5/2014 @ 1:02 pm

  48. “Thats why I don’t think this was an easy call.”

    Only a moron would think that making a losing a five-for-one swap is somehow a difficult choice.

    Blacque Jacques Shellacque (d3cdd0) — 6/5/2014 @ 9:38 pm


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