Final Word: Sarah Palin was right … about Bergdahl

Mark it down.

For the first time, I read something that Sarah Palin said and I thought, “Yeah, she’s right.”

Usually I think Sarah Palin’s comments are self-serving and overly political. Often they are just plain inaccurate.

But Tuesday she was talking about Pfc (now, inexplicably, a sergeant) Bowe Bergdahl. The White House continues to stand by its efforts to secure Bergdahl’s release and justify the price paid for his return. This, while reports from Qatar indicate that promises to monitor the movements of the five top Taliban leaders are going unfulfilled.

Anyway, back to the Palin thing. Her comment was this, to President Obama: “Please use your White House Rose Garden to praise the truly honorable service of our good US troops who were killed in the search for Sgt. Bergdahl.”

And she’s right.

You might think the price paid for Bergdahl was too high, but what about the price ALREADY paid by members of his unit in the search for him over the past five years?

Bergdahl, after all, left his unit voluntarily. He had basically told his fellow soldiers he was going to do it. There are reports that he had wanted to meet with the Taliban while he was stationed in Afghanistan.
As many as six soldiers associated with Bergdahl’s unit died while either directly searching for him, or as a result of an earlier search.

There hasn’t been one member of his unit who has offered anything but criticism for Bowe Bergdahl. In fact, outside of his small Idaho hometown, his parents, and the president, there isn’t an overwhelming joy about his release at all.

A life is a life, but maybe Bergdahl was happier over there?

Now that the story has shifted to Bergdahl’s un-American behavior, the military is stressing that it wants to investigate his departure from his unit. But if the U.S. only wanted to get this deserter back in order to pursue charges against him, why such a high price?

I think the White House underestimated the blowback on this one, and I’m not sure how or why.

And I still can’t believe that I agree with Sarah Palin on something.