LETTER: 'He said/she said' scenario frustrating

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LETTER: 'He said/she said' scenario frustrating 
By Express-Times Letters to the Editor
on June 17, 2014 at 12:05 AM, updated June 17, 2014 at 12:06 AM

Reports have emerged that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl walked away from his post. It is rumored that soldiers were killed trying to rescue him. 

Reputedly, Bergdahl was discharged from the Coast Guard for "psychological reasons" before the Army recruited him and sent him to Iraq. Allegedly, the soldiers accusing him of desertion were aware of his instability before he disappeared. It is known that at least some of them are anti-Obama political operatives. 

It has been hypothesized that the prisoners exchanged for Bergdahl were going to be released anyway. Conversely, it has been propagated that the prisoners will commit more terrorism. 

But all of it is theory: speculation, reports. A "he said/she said" scenario. Hearsay. 

Neither Bergdahl nor the Guantanamo prisoners have been afforded a fair, impartial jury trial. 

While you're all out there using your imaginations, I'm imagining what it feels like to be locked in a dark cage for months and years. I'm struggling with the idea that the country that knew he was not well when it hired him to keep us all safe now wants him executed for desertion. 

In the meantime, the next generation of Swift Boat propaganda comes of age.

ERIK B. ANDERSON 

Independence Township

They Make Good Films These Days (Just Not in Hollywood) - #18

Unfinished Sky



I can't get enough of these Australian crime dramas.

This trailer seems to have a couple of spoilers. I feel bad posting it, but as a caveat I will recommend just jumping right in to the film without doing too much research. You will not regret it.

So Sayeth the King of Funny Faces!

War & Peace - Volume II, Part II, Chapter 25, Again

War is not being nice to each other, it's the vilest thing in human life, and we ought to understand that and not play at war. It's a terrible necessity, and we should be strict about it and take it seriously. It comes down to this: no more lying, war means war and it's not a plaything....

And what is war, what is necessary for success on the battlefield, what is the moral basis of a military society? The aim of war is murder, the weapons of war are spying, treachery and the fostering of further treachery, the destruction of people, looting their property and stealing from them to keep the army on the road, falsehood and deceit, which go by the name of clever tactical ploys, and the moral basis of the military class is the curtailment of freedom through discipline, linked with idleness, ignorance, cruelty, debauchery and drunkenness. And in spite of that, its' still the highest class, universally respected.<sup>1



1</sup> Tolstoy, Leo. War & Peace. Anthony Briggs Trans. London: Penguin Books, 2005. p861 First published 1865.