Maybe the Gitmo Five won't post a big threat to us (after all, their masters will never really trust them with any high-security missions because they've been exposed to our control for so long), but the Taliban propaganda machine is already touting them as a great victory and showering them with praise. Can we say the same for our guy? I personally wouldn't trust him.

This man was not a helpless conscript. He swore the oath in a volunteer army, and he was not forced to cooperate with the enemy under severe duress. He walked into their clutches willingly and unarmed. The burden of proof is all on him, and he has a lot of explaining to do. I understand men died trying to find him. I don't think an honorable discharge and veteran's benefits should be in his future. A stretch in the brig might be more appropriate.

Now, it is always possible that there are facts unknown to me that if I learned them might change my opinions on this affair. I don't know what happened, I wasn't there and no one's talking about it. Perhaps they never will.

When the USS Pueblo was captured by the N Koreans in 1968, my ship was pulled off the gun line and sent to the Sea of Japan to join the squadron assembled there. We all expected war, we prepared for it and were resigned to it. And we knew it might go nuclear, by accident or on purpose. I personally felt there was a good chance I might never go home again. Still, we were ready to go in and recover, or avenge, our mates. Even for those of us who weren't convinced we had any real business in Viet Nam; this was different, they had our people. Berghdal spits on all that. He chose his captors over his comrades. He deserved to stay with them.

And that Ted Cruz crack was totally uncalled for. Just because that opportunistic demagogue might be in temporary agreement with me on this one issue doesn't mean I adopt his reactionary program or his fascist allies in any other respect. My objections to Sgt. Berghdahl's actions, and my government's response to them, have nothing to do with politics or ideology.