Sergeant Bergdahl, the Soldier Who Outranks the Constitution

Marquel, TPVs NYTimes trade correspondent was chewing gum and reading the New York Times: Bowe Bergdahl, American Soldier, Freed by Taliban in Prisoner Trade. “Amazing,” thought Marquel. This soldier outranks the Constitution: Sergeant Bergdahl, the lone American prisoner of war from the Afghan conflict, has been released in exchange for five Taliban prisoners at Guantánamo Bay.

Marquel was stumped. For two presidential terms Obama has insisted he is bound by congressional rules barring the release of Guantanamo prisoners, or alternatively notifying congress one month prior to release so that congress can act. Secondly, Obama had insisted these are the most dangerous human beings on earth and release would be intolerable.

Now Obama not only releases the five worst terrorist suspects (they are all just suspects because after over ten years the vaunted US judiciary hasn’t been able to give more than one or two a trial) but he does so without complying with congress’ clear rule to the contrary.　In other words, he scoffs at Federal statutes.

Now he does this of course to save a captured US soldier. That seems laudable except that for over ten years citizens have demanded that the illegal prison be shut because the Constitution demands it. The Constitution wasn’t enough for this self proclaimed Constitutional expert, but an AWOL soldier fits the bill perfectly. Huh?

Marquel thought this deserved a bit more exploration so he went down to Guantanamo to talk to the person in charge. When he asked at the gate who was in charge, the people outside said “Fidel.” So Marquel went to Havana talk to Fidel. In Havana, though, when he explained his quest, he was told that indeed Fidel is in charge of all of Cuba, but that I should have gone further than the Cuban guards so that the Americans could tell me that they are in charge of this foreign country.

I returned to Guantanamo, said hello to my friends at the Cuban guard house and proceeded to the American one. When I asked who was in charge, they were confused. In charge of what? They asked me.

“In charge of Guantanamo.” I said.

“Well, that would be the President.” they said.

Okay, if they want to play that game, I said, “Is he here?”

“No, of course not, he’s in Washington but he doesn’t stay still.” they said.

“I know that. But if he’s not here, who’s in charge in his absence?” I asked.

“I suppose that would be Joe Biden, the Vice President.” they said.

“Okay, guys, you got me,” I said, “let’s just say I wanted to talk to somebody a bit higher than private, who could I get some time with?”

“That would be the Colonel.” they said.

“Let’s go see him, okay?” I asked. They escorted me onto the base and to a small outlying building. I passed a typist and faced a door which just said, “The Colonel.” I knocked and the Colonel himself appeared.

“What do you want to know?” he said with a bit of a southern drawl.

“How come Obama frees the five most dangerous human beings on the face of the earth for one AWOL soldier? To start with.” I said.

“We don’t leave soldiers behind on the battlefield,” said the Colonel.

“Is that a rule or what?” I asked.

“Tradition that we won’t ever break.” He said.

“Good,” I said, “we have another tradition called the rule of law in the United States. If something is illegal, we don’t do it, no matter what the exigent circumstances. The rule of law arguably becomes even more important when the Constitution is involved. Due process, facing your accuser, jury, civil trial, judge with lifetime tenure, you know, all that stuff.”

“Yes,” he said.

“Well, how come the rule of law wasn’t enough to close down Guantanamo? Isn’t that tradition, the Constitution, just a mite higher on the hierarchy of traditions than leaving behind a soldier? Not that I’m suggesting a soldier be left behind. I’m not at all. I’m just saying long before this soldier became an issue, Obama insisted on ignoring the tradition of the rule of law and said he wouldn’t close this down because of how dangerous they were. And also because Congress opposed it. Why’d he change his mind for one AWOL soldier when for almost eight years he wouldn’t do it for the Constitution?”

“I haven’t a clue,” said the Colonel. “It’s an interesting argument.”

“Well, I’m not trying to make an interesting argument. I’m trying to understand what appears to be idiocy.”

“I have to agree, it does appear to be idiocy,” the Colonel drawled.

“Well, while I’m at it, let’s just say Obama really was sincere, not matter how stupid, and thought he couldn’t release these guys for various reasons, but that he really wants to close Guantanamo, because he promised to do it in his first term.” I said.

“Yes?” he questioned.

“Well, if he can let five go free no matter how dangerous, but apparently they are the most dangerous, couldn’t he have used it as a reason to shut the whole fucking place down? Why’d he trade five prisoners? Why not all 180 or so? That makes the US soldier even more important. It’s one thing to be worth five Taliban. It’s quite another to be worth 180 of them. Imagine how demeaning that would be to the Taliban and still be an offer they couldn’t refuse?”

“That would indeed be demeaning. I wouldn’t want to be traded for just one A-rab. I’m worth at least five, too.” he said, warming to my argument.

“So why not just trade them all for this kid, and shut Guantanamo for good? No more prisoners, ergo, no more prison.”

“Ergo?” he said. “You mean Guantanamo.”

“No, yes, you’re right. What I meant, though, was here was the perfect place. Obama pisses on the Constitution for almost eight years and he has a chance to redeem himself. Instead, Guantanamo is still open, five wild Taliban will be free, no matter what they say about the terms of their release, and we have an AWOL soldier to celebrate.”

“It’s not good,” he said, “not good at all. But we just follow orders.”

“Let’s not get into that,” I begged him.

“Okay, so what do you want with me? Anything more?” he asked.

“Well, I’d like an explanation. But you seem to agree with more than disagree, so I’m not sure you’re going to give me the argument I’m looking for.”

“Well, I can tell you that these guys are about as dangerous as you and me.” he said.

“How can you say that?” I asked. “They are the most dangerous Taliban.”

“Actually almost none of them are Taliban. Most of them were either chauffeurs or servants.” he said.

“So we could shut this anytime with no real threat? What about the few who really are Taliban?”

“Have you seen those guys? They’re old, more than ten years older than they were, all their colleagues are dead, they’ll be suspected wherever they go, even among the Taliban, and most of them are sicker than shit.”

“And we can’t release sick prisoners?” I asked.

“No, we can’t release sick prisoners when we’ve spend ten years saying how threatening they are.” he explained.

“I see,” I said. “and the Constitution?”

“Maybe Obama really is a Constitutional expert and knows it’s all a crock.”

“Yeah,” I said, “maybe he knows it’s all a crock.”

I left and went out to the outer guardhouse and talked with the Cubans a bit. They looked bored and wanted to take me back to Castro, but I said I had to go back to the country I’m most worried about, America. Cuba was obviously doing fine.

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BY MARQUEL: Sergeant Bergdahl, the Soldier Who Outranks the Constitution