I know, it was a bitterly ironic move, and the novel it was based upon was even more bitterly ironic (Trust me, I read the darned thing –eh – moderately funny, but I fear that the only thing that the move took away from it was the premise) but what we may have here *assuming Strother Martin voice* is called a failure to communicate. I mean the imbroglio with returning Bowe Bergdahl, the only recorded POW from the war in Afghanistan to the bosom of his family, after languishing in durance vile for five long years. Wellll … after observing that normally, Western captives of the Taliban and other seriously Islamic semi-organizations usually last as only as long as it takes for a head-chopper with a sharp, sharp blade and the willingness to use it show up, or for the extortionate ransom to be delivered … methinks there is a certain stink about this fortunate weekend diversion from the spectacle of General Shinseki (whom my daughter persistently refers to as General Shitaki – as in mushroom, usually kept in the dark and grown on s**t) taking responsibility for the continuing wretched mess of the VA and taking more time to spend with his family and his hobbies. Granted, the VA has been a particularly wretched exercise in government-provided healthcare since the beginning, but it seems to have been plumbing fresh new depths for mismanagement and sheer incompetence in caring for the military veteran population. And for an administration which promised the earth, sky and stars upon assuming office … well, when the earth, sky, etc., are not delivered, people do tend to notice. Eventually.

Anyway – the puir-lost-lonely-little-lamb-POW, retrieved from captivity vile in Afghanistan… huzzah, huzzah, huzzah, three cheers more for the noble Administration…but wait a minute – it seems that a case can be made that puir-lost-etc actually deserted, and instead of languishing in durance vile was gamboling happily in the wilds of Afghanistan with his new-found buddies. At least, many of those who served with him at the time say so, and moreover, blame him for the deaths which resulted, both those incurred in the actual search for him and those which occurred because all available resources were turned from their routine purpose. There have been rumblings of this all along, but now it’s become a full-throated roar, in the military community generally. It may even be breaking out in the mainstream news, too – since the President so publically announced it; glossing over many of the pesky details, naturally. But the devil is in the details. The Administration may yet come to wish that they had stuck to being raked over the coals regarding the VA, instead of loosing the Bergdahl family squirrels. Wag the dog, indeed. Discuss.

(Cross-posted at www.chicagoboyz.net)