ABC US News | ABC International News
Sounds like there’s going to be a nice homecoming celebration in Sgt. Bergdahl’s home town:
… In churches on Sunday and among the steady stream of residents sharing information at Zaney’s River Street Coffee House, Sergeant Bergdahl’s release dominated all talk. The focus was both on what he had gone through and on what they all could expect in the future…
A main focus of attention was at Zaney’s, where people have gathered throughout the town’s continuing vigil to grab tidbits of information about Sergeant Bergdahl’s captivity and efforts to gain his release. “For nearly five years there has been a constant flow of people in here,” said Sue Martin, the owner of the cafe, where Sergeant Bergdahl once worked for about two years. “The first thing I felt was relief.”
Debbie ONeill and her daughter, Stefanie, have been leading much of the public vigil and are organizers of a second-annual event scheduled for June 28 that was to be called Bring Bowe Back 2014, intended to focus attention to the soldier’s plight. Carole King is scheduled to perform along with Travis Hardy.
Some 7,000 people were expected to attend, but interest began to skyrocket on Saturday, Ms. ONeill said.
“Now it’s going to be called Bowe Is Back, and it’s going to be a big party,” she said….
And the Daily Beast reports that certain GOP paranoids are already whining about fantastic possibilities:
… Republicans on Capitol Hill worry that the swap of these Taliban leaders for American hostage Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is a prelude to a bigger move—the emptying out of Guantanamo entirely.
In his 2014 State of the Union address, Obama promised to shutter the prison built on Cuban soil by the end of the year. Obama now has seven months to fulfill his latest promise to shut down Guantanamo—or come as close to it as he can. During that time, Congress will be unable to prevent the release of the 149 prisoners still there.
“This whole deal may have been a test to see how far the administration can actually push it, and if Congress doesn’t fight back they will feel more empowered to move forward with additional transfers,” said one senior GOP senate aide close to the issue. “They’ve lined up all the dominoes to be able to move a lot more detainees out of Guantanamo and this could be just the beginning.”…
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Apart from living in hope, what’s on the agenda for the start of another week?