Why Millennials Should Be Up In Arms Over Sgt. Bergdahl (Plus Two Questions We Need To Be Asking)

Out of everything that has been written about the prisoner swap for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl there was one paragraph in the Wall Street Journal's write-up of the transfer:

What struck many of the Americans involved in the Bergdahl negotiations was the extent to which the Taliban showed "good faith" in the talks. "This demonstrates that we could come together, even indirectly…to produce a complex outcome. That does build confidence," the senior Obama administration official said.

Everyone who is lucky enough to be a Millennial, including myself, grew up in the most prosperous circumstances this world has ever seen. Our childhoods, compared to previous ones, were ones of relative safety and with that safety came wealth, health, and an abundance of choices that our parents and certainly our grandparents never experiences in their youth. Us Millennials also grew up in a world where ever time we fly a plane, walk through a city, or even send an email we know we are being monitored in large part because 19 men hijacked planes and used them as bombs some 13 years ago in one of the most horrific acts this world has ever seen. It was our generation's introduction to true evil and we are reminded of it in small and sometimes large doses every single day.

And yet we are the generation responsible for electing a man who seems to have forgotten that there are truly evil people in the world.

The above paragraph, where and Obama administration official stated that they think the Taliban demonstrated good faith in these negotiations shows just how far removed this administration is from reality. The five terrorists who were released, and there is no doubt these men are terrorists, will no doubt reenter the fight on the side of radical Islam and look to hurt and kill Americans in the future. The Taliban knew exactly who they wanted freed, they wanted high level operatives, and they got them in exchange for a man who was not only "ashamed to be an American," but by all accounts deserted his post. 6 men died as a direct result of missions, or the reallocation of resources, aimed at finding Sgt. Bergdahl and now even more lives are at risk because of this prisoner release and to think that this was a negotiation done in good faith by the Taliban and that the Qatari government is going to ensure that these terrorists will be monitored for a year (big deal, one year) is just another instance of this administration's naivety endangering lives.

It is because of this that Millennials who grew up knowing how bad these people are should be beyond outraged. The President who said he was for "hope and change" just released 5 men who cheered on what happened on 9/11. That day we were robbed of our innocence but enlightened to the realities of the world. Unfortunately we didn't use that awakening to elect a president who is capable of carrying and acting decisively with the images of that day at the forefront of his mind.

** There are two other quick points to be made. One is in regards to Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi who has been in a Mexican prison for over two months because he made a wrong turn. If President Obama is willing to negotiate with terrorists and release five terrorists for a man who deserted the military what is he willing to give for a soldier who wants to continue to fight for his country who is being held by our neighbor to the south because he let them know he made a wrong turn and had three guns in his trunk that he purchased and registered in the United States.

The second point is that we are supposed to trust this administration to keep a close eye on five terrorists who may go anywhere around the globe? I distinctly remember another Obama administration scandal where they allowed dangerous weapons to be trafficked across the Mexican border (with Mexican authorities unaware this was happening) in order to see where these weapons ended up in the hopes it would lead to some big fish. Well, the death of at least one American border agent and several Mexican citizens later and we have yet to hear a coherent reason as to why Operation Fast and Furious was put in place when Obama took office.

I guess the idea with this prisoner transfer is that once there is another bombing and we tie one of the Gitmo 5 to it then we will realize that we shouldn't trust that terrorist groups will act in good faith. Until then, just like with Fast and Furious, let's just cross our fingers and hope the public appetite for this story dies down.