Death Penalty Month at anncoulter.com has already been interrupted by
the psycho in Santa Barbara, and now it's being interrupted by the
Buddhist in Bagram.
Keeping to the spirit of Death Penalty Month, let's review the
execution of Pvt. Eddie Slovik. Slovik's offense: desertion in wartime.
(See the tie-in?)
Unlike Bowe Bergdahl, who deserted his unit, according to the accounts
of his comrades, Slovik never actually deserted. He also didn't call
America a "disgusting" country or say he was "ashamed to be an
American."
Slovik was just a chicken.
In October 1944, as Allied forces were sweeping through France, Slovik
left his position on the front lines, walked to the rear of his unit
and handed a note to the cook, confessing his desertion. The letter
explained that he was "so scared" that he had already abandoned his
unit once, and concluded: "AND I'LL RUN AWAY AGAIN IF I HAVE TO GO OUT
THERE."
Slovik was like Bradley Manning minus the lipstick and eyeliner.
A lieutenant, a company commander and a judge advocate all tried to
persuade Slovik to shred the letter and return to his unit, warning him
that he'd be tried for desertion otherwise. Slovik refused.
In the middle of World War II, the military court-martialed Slovik,
tried him and sentenced him to death.
Allied Supreme Commander Dwight Eisenhower denied Slovik's pardon
request, saying it would encourage more desertions, just as the
fighting was getting especially hot. Slovik was executed by firing
squad and buried among the numbered graves of court-martialed rapists
and murderers in an American military cemetery in France.
Contrast Slovik's story with the beloved troop whose return just cost
us the release of five of the most dangerous terrorists in the world.
Three days before he walked off his base, Bergdahl emailed his parents:
-- "I am ashamed to be an american."
-- "The US army is the biggest joke ... It is the army of liars,
backstabbers, fools and bullies."
-- "These people need help, yet what they get is the most conceited
country in the world telling them that they are nothing and that they
are stupid."
-- "The horror that is america is disgusting."
These emails were given to the author of a 2012 Rolling Stone article
on the case by Bergdahl's own parents.
[Continued]
BD's emails sound a lot like JK's comments before Congress during the Viet Nam War. Maybe a Secretary of State in the making.
ReplyDeleteA Mudgeon from Texas
Focus on Uhbama's crime, not the desertion of a nobody. Bergdahl is small potatoes, soon forgotten, forgotten sooner if Captain Benghazi hadn't made a big deal of getting him back at an outrageous cost. Whatever happens to Bergdahl won't make much difference in the long run, but if Uhbama gets away with this crime without penalty, we are lost. He folded a royal flush to lose to a deuce.
ReplyDeleteBergdahl should left to whatever fate the UCMJ hands him, but we must remind the world that Captain Benghazi loosed the Taliban Board of Directors on the them. The reason makes no difference. Even if the Taliban were holding Joe Biden, we should never treat with terrorists.
I'm afraid the many innocents in the world will hear from the Uhbama Five again, and we should never let the world forget who caused it.
Uhbama is a muzzie and a traitor.
Lt. Col. Gen. Tailgunner dick
The key question about Bergdahl that requires an in-depth investigation in order to answer is:
ReplyDeleteWhy was Bowe Bergdahl the only American soldier who survived capture by the Taliban over the entire 12-13 years that the war has been fought?
Late to this, but it popped up in the news again:
ReplyDeleteI understand people being pissed off about Bergdahl.
But let us think about it: Wasn't the last deserter to be shot Private Eddie Slovik in WW2, and even *that* was because he *wrote down his desertion plans* and even *refused to tear up what he wrote down* when offered that chance?
Maybe DD, no benefits whatsoever, and time served in the Brig was all we could realistically hope for?
IIRC, there were thousands of other deserters in the war, according to historian Stephen Ambrose in "Citizen Soldiers", but they pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of being AWOL. Their situations ranged from taking up with local French or Belgian women, to some hunter and trapper types trying to avoid the war and live off the land in the French woods until the war ended.