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Sunday, June 08, 2014 1:33:40 AM
FBI: Bowe Bergdahl's Family Receive Death Threats
BOISE, ID - JUNE 01: Bob Bergdahl listens as his wife Jani reads a message to their son Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl during a press conference at Gouen Field national guard training facility on June 1, 2014 in Boise, Idaho. Sgt. Bergdahl who was captured in 2009 while serving with U.S. Armys 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment in Paktika Province, Afghanistan was released yesterday after a swap for Taliban prisoners. Bergdahl was considered the only U.S. prisoner of war held in Afghanistan.
(Photo by Scott Olson via Getty Images)
By Laura Zuckerman
Posted: 06/07/2014 10:02 pm EDT Updated: 1 hour ago
SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - The father of Bowe Bergdahl, the Idaho soldier released from captivity in a controversial prisoner swap with the Taliban, has received emailed death threats that authorities are investigating, an Idaho police chief said on Saturday.
The first of the death threats sent to Bob Bergdahl at his home near Hailey, Idaho, was received on Wednesday, the same day the city canceled a planned rally celebrating the release of his son, Hailey Police Chief Jeff Gunter said.
"There were four specific emails with death threats given to the FBI and they are looking into it," Gunter told Reuters in an interview.
Authorities are providing security to Bob Bergdahl and his wife, Jani, but Gunter declined to elaborate on those measures.
Bergdahl's release after being held for nearly five years in Afghanistan provoked an angry backlash in Congress among lawmakers over the Obama administration's failure to notify them in advance. Some of Bergdahl's former comrades have charged that he was captured in 2009 after deserting his post.
U.S. military leaders have said the circumstances of Bergdahl's capture are unclear, with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel urging critics to wait for all the facts to be known before rushing to judgment on Bergdahl.
The threats came as Hailey, a tourist community of some 8,000 people in the mountains of central Idaho, was buffeted by hundreds of vitriolic phone calls and emails.
The celebratory spirit that infused Hailey a week ago with news of Bergdahl's release turned to apprehension as an onslaught of angry messages were directed at city officials, businesses and friends of the Bergdahls over a hometown rally to mark his freedom planned for June 28.
As many as 15,000 supporters and protesters were expected to descend on Hailey for an event that would have overwhelmed the resources and infrastructure of the remote mountain town and potentially risked public safety and property, city officials have said.
Residents of the close-knit community have been surprised and dismayed by an angry backlash that seemed to fault them for seeking to aid the Bergdahls in a time of need, Gunter said.
"We've always come together in tragedy or crisis, whether it be fire or one of our own being a prisoner of war. Whatever the problem is, the community will be there to help the people experiencing it," he said.
(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Paul Tait)
Copyright 2014 Thomson Reuters
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/07/bowe-bergdahl-family-threat_n_5467139.html [with comments]
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Ex-Con Who Ran Crazy Hostage Conspiracy Has A Bergdahl Theory
Retired Lt. Col. Oliver North, USMC, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Committee annual conference in National Harbor, Md., Friday, March 7, 2014. Friday marks the second day of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
By Igor Bobic
Posted: 06/07/2014 1:47 pm EDT Updated: 06/07/2014 3:59 pm EDT
Former Lt. Col. Oliver North continued his campaign against the Obama administration on Friday, accusing officials of needlessly trading five detainees for U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/31/bowe-bergdahl-released_n_5424007.html ], America's only prisoner of war in Afghanistan.
"All they ever wanted was money," the former Reagan aide said [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpDB8r3fTKw (next below)]
The contours of a possible deal for Bergdahl included the release of Taliban detainees at Guantanamo Bay for several years, and were reported as early as [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-seeks-prisoner-swap-with-taliban-to-free-army-sgt-bowe-bergdahl/2014/02/17/f142ed50-9590-11e3-afce-3e7c922ef31e_story.html ] February 17.
North didn't provide any evidence to back up his assertion, but he claimed that a "senior person in our U.S. government" requested his assistance with the exchange because he had "a lot of experience in dealing with hostage situations."
The conservative commentator was infamously convicted of covering up 1980s Iran-Contra scandal [ http://videos.huffingtonpost.com/the-iran-contra-scandal-518199457 ], where he and other Reagan administration officials helped engineer the illegal sale of arms to Iran in exchange for the release of American hostages. The proceeds of the sale were then used to finance rebels in Nicaragua.
Responding to claims that Bergdahl deserted his post in Afghanistan, North said that the 28-year-old deserved to be prosecuted.
"I’ve never met [Bergdahl], but I’ve met the family," he said. "Some have posited that he’s betrayed his country, that he’s defected, that he’s actually taken up arms against them. Look, here’s my take on that. One, none of us who have ever been hostages understand fully what one goes through under those circumstances. That’s number one. The so-called Stockholm Syndrome is a real thing and we’ll leave it at that. Number three, he deserves justice."
In an interview with Newsmax [ http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2014/06/03/Oliver-North-I-Know-A-Ransom-5-6-Million-Was-Paid-to-Free-Bergdahl ] earlier this week, North speculated that Bergdahl's ransom was somewhere in the range of $5-$6 million, given that he had heard it was around $1 million at some point in the past. But he didn't provide any proof to that claim either.
"Someone paid a ransom," he said. "Whether the Qataries paid it, or some big oil sheik, or somebody used our petrodollars, but there was a ransom paid in cash for each one of them, my guess somewhere in the round numbers of $5 or 6 million to get Bergdahl freed. I know that the offer that was on the table before was close to a million."
Copyright ©2014 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/07/oliver-north-bergdahl_n_5465941.html [with embedded video report, and comments]
--
Richard Mourdock: America Is Going The Way Of Nazi Germany
Republican Richard Mourdock, former candidate for Indiana's U.S. Senate, pauses as he speaks to supporters at an Indiana Republican Party Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012, in Indianapolis.
(AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
By Igor Bobic
Posted: 06/07/2014 4:14 pm EDT Updated: 06/07/2014 4:59 pm EDT
Indiana state treasurer Richard Mourdock, who mounted an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate in 2012, says America is going the way of Hitler's Nazi Germany.
Mourdock broke down the comparison in detail on Saturday, the day after the 70th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy.
"The people of Germany in a free election selected the Nazi party because they made great promises that appealed to them because they were desperate and destitute. And why is that? Because Germany was bankrupt," he told a supportive crowd at the Indiana Republican Convention in Fort Wayne, according to the Indy Star [ http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2014/06/07/richard-mourdock-says-nation-going-way-hitlers-nazis/10165743/ ].
"The truth is, 70 years later, we are drifting on the tides toward another beachhead and it is the bankruptcy of the United States of America," he added.
"Over the next several years, every time a program began to fall apart, Mr. Hitler's party was very, very good at dividing Germany by pointing to this group or that group," he said. "First they went after their political opponents. Then they went after the aristocrats. Then they went after the trade unionists. And ultimately of course they went after the Jews. They deprived them of their property, their rights, their citizenship, and for millions their humanity. Because they were bankrupt!"
Democrats called on Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) to denounce the "ugly" comments.
"Not only has your Party endorsed your candidacy in the past, your ugly words don't belong anywhere in the Hoosier political dialogue and should be derided by Gov. Pence and our state's leadership immediately," said Indiana Democratic Chairman John Zody.
Mourdock's candidacy against then-Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) went down in flames after he declared [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/23/richard-mourdock-abortion_n_2007482.html ] his opposition to aborting pregnancies conceived in rape because "it is something that God intended to happen."
Copyright ©2014 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/07/former-indiana-gop-candid_n_5466347.html [with embedded video report, and comments]
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BOISE, ID - JUNE 01: Bob Bergdahl listens as his wife Jani reads a message to their son Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl during a press conference at Gouen Field national guard training facility on June 1, 2014 in Boise, Idaho. Sgt. Bergdahl who was captured in 2009 while serving with U.S. Armys 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment in Paktika Province, Afghanistan was released yesterday after a swap for Taliban prisoners. Bergdahl was considered the only U.S. prisoner of war held in Afghanistan.
(Photo by Scott Olson via Getty Images)
By Laura Zuckerman
Posted: 06/07/2014 10:02 pm EDT Updated: 1 hour ago
SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - The father of Bowe Bergdahl, the Idaho soldier released from captivity in a controversial prisoner swap with the Taliban, has received emailed death threats that authorities are investigating, an Idaho police chief said on Saturday.
The first of the death threats sent to Bob Bergdahl at his home near Hailey, Idaho, was received on Wednesday, the same day the city canceled a planned rally celebrating the release of his son, Hailey Police Chief Jeff Gunter said.
"There were four specific emails with death threats given to the FBI and they are looking into it," Gunter told Reuters in an interview.
Authorities are providing security to Bob Bergdahl and his wife, Jani, but Gunter declined to elaborate on those measures.
Bergdahl's release after being held for nearly five years in Afghanistan provoked an angry backlash in Congress among lawmakers over the Obama administration's failure to notify them in advance. Some of Bergdahl's former comrades have charged that he was captured in 2009 after deserting his post.
U.S. military leaders have said the circumstances of Bergdahl's capture are unclear, with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel urging critics to wait for all the facts to be known before rushing to judgment on Bergdahl.
The threats came as Hailey, a tourist community of some 8,000 people in the mountains of central Idaho, was buffeted by hundreds of vitriolic phone calls and emails.
The celebratory spirit that infused Hailey a week ago with news of Bergdahl's release turned to apprehension as an onslaught of angry messages were directed at city officials, businesses and friends of the Bergdahls over a hometown rally to mark his freedom planned for June 28.
As many as 15,000 supporters and protesters were expected to descend on Hailey for an event that would have overwhelmed the resources and infrastructure of the remote mountain town and potentially risked public safety and property, city officials have said.
Residents of the close-knit community have been surprised and dismayed by an angry backlash that seemed to fault them for seeking to aid the Bergdahls in a time of need, Gunter said.
"We've always come together in tragedy or crisis, whether it be fire or one of our own being a prisoner of war. Whatever the problem is, the community will be there to help the people experiencing it," he said.
(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Paul Tait)
Copyright 2014 Thomson Reuters
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/07/bowe-bergdahl-family-threat_n_5467139.html [with comments]
---
Ex-Con Who Ran Crazy Hostage Conspiracy Has A Bergdahl Theory
Retired Lt. Col. Oliver North, USMC, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Committee annual conference in National Harbor, Md., Friday, March 7, 2014. Friday marks the second day of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
By Igor Bobic
Posted: 06/07/2014 1:47 pm EDT Updated: 06/07/2014 3:59 pm EDT
Former Lt. Col. Oliver North continued his campaign against the Obama administration on Friday, accusing officials of needlessly trading five detainees for U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/31/bowe-bergdahl-released_n_5424007.html ], America's only prisoner of war in Afghanistan.
"All they ever wanted was money," the former Reagan aide said [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpDB8r3fTKw (next below)]
of the Taliban on Hugh Hewitt's radio show. "They never once mentioned in all of the dialogue that occurred trying to get him back earlier, that they wanted anything but money. So somehow, this administration concocted the release of five very senior, very brutal terrorists."
The contours of a possible deal for Bergdahl included the release of Taliban detainees at Guantanamo Bay for several years, and were reported as early as [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-seeks-prisoner-swap-with-taliban-to-free-army-sgt-bowe-bergdahl/2014/02/17/f142ed50-9590-11e3-afce-3e7c922ef31e_story.html ] February 17.
North didn't provide any evidence to back up his assertion, but he claimed that a "senior person in our U.S. government" requested his assistance with the exchange because he had "a lot of experience in dealing with hostage situations."
The conservative commentator was infamously convicted of covering up 1980s Iran-Contra scandal [ http://videos.huffingtonpost.com/the-iran-contra-scandal-518199457 ], where he and other Reagan administration officials helped engineer the illegal sale of arms to Iran in exchange for the release of American hostages. The proceeds of the sale were then used to finance rebels in Nicaragua.
Responding to claims that Bergdahl deserted his post in Afghanistan, North said that the 28-year-old deserved to be prosecuted.
"I’ve never met [Bergdahl], but I’ve met the family," he said. "Some have posited that he’s betrayed his country, that he’s defected, that he’s actually taken up arms against them. Look, here’s my take on that. One, none of us who have ever been hostages understand fully what one goes through under those circumstances. That’s number one. The so-called Stockholm Syndrome is a real thing and we’ll leave it at that. Number three, he deserves justice."
In an interview with Newsmax [ http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2014/06/03/Oliver-North-I-Know-A-Ransom-5-6-Million-Was-Paid-to-Free-Bergdahl ] earlier this week, North speculated that Bergdahl's ransom was somewhere in the range of $5-$6 million, given that he had heard it was around $1 million at some point in the past. But he didn't provide any proof to that claim either.
"Someone paid a ransom," he said. "Whether the Qataries paid it, or some big oil sheik, or somebody used our petrodollars, but there was a ransom paid in cash for each one of them, my guess somewhere in the round numbers of $5 or 6 million to get Bergdahl freed. I know that the offer that was on the table before was close to a million."
Copyright ©2014 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/07/oliver-north-bergdahl_n_5465941.html [with embedded video report, and comments]
--
Richard Mourdock: America Is Going The Way Of Nazi Germany
Republican Richard Mourdock, former candidate for Indiana's U.S. Senate, pauses as he speaks to supporters at an Indiana Republican Party Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012, in Indianapolis.
(AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
By Igor Bobic
Posted: 06/07/2014 4:14 pm EDT Updated: 06/07/2014 4:59 pm EDT
Indiana state treasurer Richard Mourdock, who mounted an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate in 2012, says America is going the way of Hitler's Nazi Germany.
Mourdock broke down the comparison in detail on Saturday, the day after the 70th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy.
"The people of Germany in a free election selected the Nazi party because they made great promises that appealed to them because they were desperate and destitute. And why is that? Because Germany was bankrupt," he told a supportive crowd at the Indiana Republican Convention in Fort Wayne, according to the Indy Star [ http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2014/06/07/richard-mourdock-says-nation-going-way-hitlers-nazis/10165743/ ].
"The truth is, 70 years later, we are drifting on the tides toward another beachhead and it is the bankruptcy of the United States of America," he added.
"Over the next several years, every time a program began to fall apart, Mr. Hitler's party was very, very good at dividing Germany by pointing to this group or that group," he said. "First they went after their political opponents. Then they went after the aristocrats. Then they went after the trade unionists. And ultimately of course they went after the Jews. They deprived them of their property, their rights, their citizenship, and for millions their humanity. Because they were bankrupt!"
Democrats called on Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) to denounce the "ugly" comments.
"Not only has your Party endorsed your candidacy in the past, your ugly words don't belong anywhere in the Hoosier political dialogue and should be derided by Gov. Pence and our state's leadership immediately," said Indiana Democratic Chairman John Zody.
Mourdock's candidacy against then-Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) went down in flames after he declared [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/23/richard-mourdock-abortion_n_2007482.html ] his opposition to aborting pregnancies conceived in rape because "it is something that God intended to happen."
Copyright ©2014 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/07/former-indiana-gop-candid_n_5466347.html [with embedded video report, and comments]
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Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07
"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790
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