Bowe Bergdahl

I was thinking that that his captors are playing this really smart. They are having him grow a beard to help show how much time has elapsed, they had him do a couple squats and a couple push-ups to infer they are keeping him healthy and are giving him common liberties, and the old newspaper thing is a given. Do they speak English fluently? Are they writing him a script? Could Bergdahl in any way be attempting to send signals? Are those even his clothes he is wearing, or maybe someone else's? I have, admittedly, not watched the other videos, and I only recall hearing about him last year. I never even watched the notorious journalist video, because I was afraid it would sit with me, and, even without watching it, it has. I had to see a friend and spend the entire day with her, because I was distraught. I don't handle these things well. Can we, as normal everyday citizens do something to urge a prisoner swap? I know we are not supposed to negotiate with the opponents, but a swap is fair, no? I think he must have gone through a lot, because his emotions were kind of bland. I am no analyst, but, I'd be hysterical if it were me, and he is just making the video and saying what he is supposed to, and I don't know if it is a military thing and he is showing strength, or if he has gone mental, or if he is at gunpoint and told to act cool. It appears they are treating him well, but, I can't say that without knowing what is going on behind the scenes. And, then, on to our technology and intelligence. Aren't there ways to track the ip address of where the videos are being uploaded? Granted they probably aren't filmed from where they are being uploaded, or the address could be cloaked, but, can't we find him somehow? And, then, here is my other question. I didn't watch the other videos, but, how is anyone supposed to respond to his captors if they don't know how to find them? I know nothing about war tactics, so I know nothing about how to save a prisoner, that may only be kept alive for PR purposes. This is actually just my bleeding heart talking. And, then, we have to consider - we keep prisoners too, so they may view us the way we view them. The whole thing eats me up alive.

I wouldn't assume he is being kept too healthy. Notice that you can't see any of his skin. Acid is a common weapon in the middle east and for all we know he could have acid burns covering every part of his body except his hands and face. There are very educated members of al quaeda. Those are the guys at the top who are sometimes doctors and physicists. The guys at the bottom are the ones who probably can't spell their own name. The rule isn't that we don't negotiate with an enemy, it's that we don't negotiate with terrorists. When dealing with a recognized government POW swaps can happen. With a terrorist outfit, you really can't trust anything they say and negotiating with them legitimizes them. The micronation of Sealand declared themselves officially a nation after POW negotiations with another country and continue to be recognized as such. Finding out where the video came from exactly is unrealistic. It probably passes through many hands before it gets online and the guy who posts it probably knows nothing about who had it originally. A lot of these things go through al Jazeera with is like the unofficial terrorist news channel. As journalists they'll never give up the identity of their sources. "we keep prisoners too, so they may view us the way we view them" Our prisoners though are subject to the Geneva convention. One of the rules of that (if I remember correctly) is that you are NOT allowed to use prisoners for propaganda videos like those being released by the terrorists. You'll notice that we don't put people like Johnny Walker on TV denouncing al Quaeda.

I didn't listen to or really watch the video. I don't like catering to terrorists by watching that garbage. I skimmed it just to see what was in it and noticed that he was fully covered the whole time which seemed a bit odd as the current temps in Afghanistan and Pakistan are around 80-90 degrees.