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

LETTER: 'Obama lied' is a smoke screen

By Express-Times Letters to the Editor
on November 20, 2013 at 12:35 AM

The claim is “Obama lied.” He said Americans can keep their insurance plan. He allegedly lied multiple times to pass the loathsome Affordable Care Act. That is the claim: over and over, on and on we hear this shrill claim, ad nauseum. Why now?

In June 2010, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said “health plans ... will lose their grandfather status; Health and Human Services announced “substantial changes in coverage are common;” and The New York Times reported “about half of employer-based health plans will see such changes by the end of 2013 (June 14, 2010).” Way back in November 2009, the Congressional Budget Office explained “relatively few non-group policies would remain grandfathered by 2016.”

Why all this shock and outrage now? Why has the right not played gotcha like this before? Why: to distract from the spectacular bad press of the government shutdown. Did they think we would forget that the House failed to repeal the bill 46 times? The desperation is palpable.

ERIK B. ANDERSON 

Independence Township 

Source

The End of the Combat Mission in Iraq

The Daily Record of forgot about this.