how rumors start in rants

I am fascinated about all the "information" about the POW who was exchanged for the war criminals from Gitmo.

One woman wrote that he was a "Taliban sympathizer". I asked where she got that... She sent me to a NYTimes article. I read it... and asked again. Well, he wrote that he was upset at what the army was doing and learned the local languages through Rosetta Stone.

Again... WHERE does it say Taliban sympathizer? I agree, it looks as if he went AWOL. But NOWHERE does it say he went out looking for the enemy. She asked why I thought he learned the languages... well, gee, if he's going to escape, travel within Afghanistan to get somewhere else, doesn't it make sense he'd learn some of the local languages so he could survive? She had no answer for that.

She never "took back" her phrase, but grudgingly allowed that some of what I said made sense.