Fox News Strategic Analyst Lt. Col. Ralph Peters (Ret.) declared that the White House doesn’t “give a damn about our military” in a discussion on Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl on Tuesday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel.
When Hannity asked Peters if it was possible that Bergdahl had Stockholm Syndrome or PTSD, Peters responded that such an assertion was “bull” “he didn’t have PTSD, he didn’t have Stockholm [Syndrome] in his unit for God’s [sake]. Look, what we have here is very, very clear, it’s damnably clear, you have, the White House, which doesn’t understand why this is a big deal, I mean, he just deserted, right? Wouldn’t anybody do that? And they just want to protect the president, and they are pressuring the Army, pressuring the Army to whitewash this, and they don’t understand that for the military, those who went before, retirees like me, those on active duty, this is a powerful matter, as you heard from that young soldier, of precedent and principle. If you let Bergdahl walk, and it’s not about this pathetic little creep, Bergdahl, it’s about the principle, if you let him walk with full pay, and benefits, and a promotion despite overwhelming evidence that he deserted his post in wartime, you make it virtually impossible to prosecute future deserters. Now, in the Army, I’m sure, the Army’s not perfect, you’ve got some people craven enough and ambitious enough to cave to the White House, and I’m sure they’re arguing the White House’s point, but so far, you’ve got some generals that are showing backbone and saying, ‘no, for the good of the Army, for the good of the military, he has to go through the Article 32 and into court-martial’ and the White House is fighting it tooth and nail because they don’t give a damn about our military, they just care about this pathetic pus and boots president’s reputation” he stated.
After fellow guest, former top CIA counterterrorism officer Robert Grenier said that the Bergdahl situation was in part “failure of leadership,” Bergdahl “was no warrior” who thought he was joining an “armed wing of the Peace Corps,” and someone should have recognized Bergdahl wasn’t fit for combat and removed him, Peters countered that “the Army is not a day care center, for God’s sake, it wasn’t multiple deployments, it was one deployment. He wasn’t that far into it…the evidence is, he deserted his post in combat. Simple, cut and dried. I don’t want to hear about PTSD, I don’t want to hear about oh, how sad it all is that he shouldn’t have been there. He volunteered to join the Army. He wanted to be a big macho tough guy, and he deserted his post in wartime. Now, let’s have justice, let the military process go through, et it go through the Article 32, let it go to court-martial.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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