Was Bergdahl a deserter?

[grouchy]

If he were found Guiltly of Desertion in a Courts Martial, and executed by Firing Squad the exchange my be worth it.


This guy is an example of what the Obamanation wants in a Soldier, and it disgusts me.

I agree.

[LibraryLady]

His home town has cancelled any celebration upon his return.

Reason: Police don't feel capable of handling a large crowd--especially if there is conflict.

IMO--perhaps some of the thrill of the return has fizzled as all the story comes out.

[Grassman]

Nothing will happen to this traitor, he's got the obama/holder regime in his pocket.

[Bob Of Burleson]

Afghan villagers recall
when Bergdahl stumbled
into their midst

By Kevin Sieff
The Washington Post

Among the most tantalizing mysteries surrounding Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s departure from his U.S. military base in 2009 is this: Was he trying to find the Taliban? Or did he simply wander away and get captured? Politicians and members of the military have criticized the Obama administration’s decision to swap five jailed Taliban leaders for Bergdahl, saying the soldier may have deserted.

Until now, few details have emerged about the circumstances of Bergdahl’s disappearance from his base. But The Washington Post has reached Afghan villagers who spotted Bergdahl shortly after he slipped away from his base. To them, it’s clear something was wrong with the American. And he seemed to be deliberately heading for Taliban strongholds, they say.

“It was very confusing to us. Why would he leave the base?” said Jamal, an elder in the village of Yusef Khel, about a half-mile from the American military installation. (Like many Afghans, he goes by only one name). “The people thought it was a covert agenda – maybe he was sent to the village by the U.S.”

Locals remember Bergdahl walking through the village in a haze. They later told Afghan investigators that they had warned the American that he was heading into a dangerous area.

“They tried to tell him not to go there, that it is dangerous. But he kept going over the mountain. The villagers tried to give him water and bread, but he didn’t take it,” said Ibrahim Manikhel, the district’s intelligence chief.

“We think he probably was high after smoking hashish,” Manikhel said. “Why would an American want to find the Taliban?”

Residents still remember the massive search effort that followed Bergdahl’s disappearance. But the village eventually returned to normal – albeit still with grave problems from Taliban fighters – and few locals thought about the American soldier until this past week, when his face flashed across Afghan news programs.

“I had forgotten about that abducted American,” said Manikhel. “I hope the U.S. can re-arrest the Talibs that they released.”

SOURCE

[GRANDPA]

Someone on the radio today made the argument that he was not a deserter but a defector because he went over to the other side. Makes sense to me.

[Bob Of Burleson]

A ‘decompression’ process
for Bowe Bergdahl
before he heads home

By Anne Gearan
The Washington Post

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the longest-serving­ American prisoner of war since Vietnam, is undergoing a staged “decompression” and reintroduction to the outside world that is akin to the slow ascent of a deep-sea diver, according to U.S. officials.

His medical and psychological needs are a priority, but he will also be questioned about the circumstances of his imprisonment or any other details that might yield helpful intelligence about his Taliban captors, the officials said.

Bergdahl began the long process of reintegration — it could take weeks or months — immediately after he was handed over to U.S. Special Operations forces in Afghanistan on Saturday.

The first 24 hours of a captive’s return are devoted to emergency medical care and an assessment of what else he or she needs, according to a step-by-step playbook developed by the Pentagon.

The 28-year-old soldier is hospitalized in stable condition at the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, and in the second phase of his reentry to society.

A team of doctors, psychologists and others will perform a more thorough examination of Bergdahl and make recommendations about when he is ready to return to the United States, said Col. Steven Warren, a Pentagon spokesman.

The second phase of reintegration involves psychological treatment to prepare the former captive for regular social contact, and eventually for a reunion with family members. Bergdahl will move to an Army base in Texas for the third phase, Warren said.

The reason for delaying the family reunion, according to the military’s guidelines for responding to such cases, is that the overwhelming emotional experience of reconnecting with family after a long and traumatic absence can actually hinder a fragile captive’s recovery.

MORE

[Mark]

A ‘decompression’ process
for Bowe Bergdahl
before he heads home

Translation: We're keeping him on ice until the story dies down.

[Bob Of Burleson]

My thought exactly.

[dublusk]

The guys in his unit sure thought so!!

[Bill in Garland]

He should be shot.

Per the Uniform Code of Military Justice:

885. ART. 85. DESERTION
(a) Any member of the armed forces who--
(1) without authority goes or remains absent from his unit, organization, or place of duty with intent to remain away therefrom permanently;
(2) quits his unit, organization, or place of duty with intent to avoid hazardous duty or to shirk important service; or
(3) without being regularly separated from one of the armed forces enlists or accepts an appointment in the same or another on of the armed forces without fully disclosing the fact that he has not been regularly separated, or enters any foreign armed service except when authorized by the United States; is guilty of desertion.
(b) Any commissioned officer of the armed forces who, after tender of his resignation and before notice of its acceptance, quits his post or proper duties without leave and with intent to remain away therefrom permanently is guilty of desertion.
(c) Any person found guilty of desertion or attempt to desert shall be punished, if the offense is committed in time of war, by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct, but if the desertion or attempt to desert occurs at any other time, by such punishment, other than death, as a court-martial may direct.

[planosteve]

I wonder how "in time of war" is defined.

[Bob Of Burleson]

POLITICO breaking news

President Barack Obama said Thursday that he will not apologize for approving the prisoner swap that brought Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl into U.S. custody and that it was the right thing to do.

"We saw an opportunity and we seized it and I make no apologies for it," Obama said at a news conference in Brussels.

Obama also said he wasn't surprised by the backlash coming from both parties over the deal that saw five Taliban prisoners released from Guantanamo Bay.

"I'm never surprised by controversies that are whipped up in Washington. That's par for the course," he said.

For more information... http://www.politico.com

[scarlett~nc]

John Stewart charted the strange progression of the Bowe Bergdahl saga during the opening segment of “The Daily Show” Tuesday night — from the story’s initial declaration as “A Magnificent, Wonderful Story” to its quick advancement to “An Absolutely Terrible, Disastrous Catastrophe That Is The Single Worst Thing We As A Country Have Ever Done, And Yes, That Includes When We Gave Syphilis To Prisoners.”

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/06/04/jon-s ... z33mb4Qa59

even Chris Matthews is outing Obama on this one ..

[crackertoes]

Someone on the radio today made the argument that he was not a deserter but a defector because he went over to the other side. Makes sense to me.

Exactly. Why should the Taliban spare the life of an American soldier? They've shown repeatedly they love to torture and mercilessly kill Americans and then put their burnt bodies on display. Why is this guy so different?

[Mark]

POLITICO breaking news

President Barack Obama said Thursday that he will not apologize for approving the prisoner swap that brought Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl into U.S. custody and that it was the right thing to do.

"We saw an opportunity and we seized it and I make no apologies for it," Obama said at a news conference in Brussels.

Obama also said he wasn't surprised by the backlash coming from both parties over the deal that saw five Taliban prisoners released from Guantanamo Bay.

"I'm never surprised by controversies that are whipped up in Washington. That's par for the course," he said.

For more information... http://www.politico.com

"Yeah, I did it. What the hell you going to do about it?"

Obama is in our face and laughing at us.

[crackertoes]

POLITICO breaking news



Obama also said he wasn't surprised by the backlash coming from both parties over the deal that saw five Taliban prisoners released from Guantanamo Bay.

"I'm never surprised by controversies that are whipped up in Washington. That's par for the course," he said.

Par for HIS course.

Doesn't he have a tee time to make?

[planosteve]

The late Michael Hastings wrote the definitive magazine profile of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for Rolling Stone in June 2012. Now that America's Last Prisoner of War has been released, in a prisoner exchange for five high-ranking Taliban officials, Hastings' piece continues to offer crucial context – about why Bergdahl volunteered for service in the first place, about how this intense, moral young man became so horrified by America's "good war" that he walked away from his unit's remote outpost in eastern Afghanistan in 2009, and about the abortive negotiations that could have secured Ber1) Bowe grew up near Hailey, Idaho, the son of California expats and ski bums Jani and Bob Bergdahl, who lived "nearly off the grid" on 40 acres, home-schooling Bowe and his sister Sky in a demanding curriculum:

Devout Calvinists, they taught the children for six hours a day, instructing them in religious thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine. "Ethics and morality would be constant verbiage in our conversations," his father recalls. "Bowe was definitely instilled with truth. He was very philosophical about perceiving ethics."

2) Obsessed with Bear Grylls and Man vs. Wild, Bowe sought at age 20 to join the French Foreign Legion.

He traveled to Paris and started to learn French, but his application was rejected. "He was absolutely devastated when the French Foreign Legion didn't take him," Bob says.

3) Seeking adventure, instead, in American uniform, Bergdahl enlisted in the Army in 2008. His intensity alienated fellow soldiers. A friend from his unit, Jason Fry, recalled Bowe's fierce independence and his prophetic warning:

"He wanted to be a mercenary, wanted to be a free gun," says Fry. "He had a notion he was a survivalist, claimed he knew how to survive with nothing because he grew up in Idaho…. Before we deployed… him and I were talking about what it would be like," Fry recalls. Bowe looked at his friend and made no bones about his plans. "If this deployment is lame," Bowe said, "I'm just going to walk off into the mountains of Pakistan."

4) Bergdahl's unit in Afghanistan — part of the Obama surge — was beset by deficits of leadership, "a collapse in unit morale and an almost complete breakdown of authority."

The unruly situation was captured by … a British documentary filmmaker [whose] footage shows a bunch of soldiers who no longer give a shit: breaking even the most basic rules of combat, like wearing baseball caps on patrol instead of helmets.

5) As his tour dragged on, the hellish reality of war — including seeing an Afghan child run over by an American truck — weighed on Bergdahl, who came to see America's presence in Afghan as "disgusting."

"I am sorry for everything here," Bowe told his parents. "These people need help, yet what they get is the most conceited country in the world telling them that they are nothing and that they are stupid…

"We don't even care when we hear each other talk about running their children down in the dirt streets with our armored trucks."

6) After receiving an email from his father exhorting him to "OBEY YOUR CONSCIENCE," Bowe slipped out of his unit's barracks on June 30th, 2009. One man versus the wilds of Afghanistan, Bergdahl was equipped with just a knife, water, a digital camera and his diary. Barely 24 hours later, he'd be taken prisoner. Bergdahl's capture is recorded in radio intercepts later released by WikiLeaks:

"WHAT HAPPENED. IS THAT TRUE THAT THEY CAPTURED AN AMERICAN GUY?"
"YES THEY DID. HE IS ALIVE."

7) Bergdahl could have been freed in a prisoner exchange almost immediately, but the American officer in charge did not pull the trigger on a prisoner swap:

Tribal elders from the nearby village...had been asked by the Taliban to arrange a trade with U.S. forces. The insurgents wanted 15 of their jailed fighters released, along with an unidentified sum of money, in exchange for Bowe. The officer hedged, unwilling or unable to make such a bargain, and no deal was struck.

8) There was an official cover-up — one that included White House pressure on the New York Times and AP to keep Bergdahl's name out of the papers.

[T]he Pentagon also scrambled to shut down any public discussion of Bowe. Members of Bowe's brigade were required to sign nondisclosure agreements [forbidding] them to discuss any "personnel recovery" efforts – an obvious reference to Bowe…. As Bowe's sister, Sky, wrote in a private e-mail: "I am afraid our government here in D.C. would like nothing better but to sweep PFC Bergdahl under the rug and wash their hands of him."

9) At one point during his captivity, Bergdahl escaped:

For his part, Bowe does not appear to be a willing hostage. [In] August or September [of 2011], he reportedly managed to escape. When he was recaptured, he put up such a struggle that it took five militants to overpower him. "He fought like a boxer," [said] a Taliban fighter who had seen Bowe.

10) Negotiations to bring Bergdahl home have been in the works for years — with Obama originally imagining the prisoner swap as an election-year overture toward a durable peace with the Taliban.

President Obama [has] announced that the United States will now pursue "a negotiated peace" with the Taliban. That peace is likely to include a prisoner swap – or a "confidence-building measure," as U.S. officials working on the negotiations call it – that could finally end the longest war in America's history. Bowe is the one prisoner the Taliban have to trade. "It could be a huge win if Obama could bring him home," says a senior administration official familiar with the negotiations. "Especially in an election year, if it's handled properly."

11) But the swap didn't have the backing of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Pentagon chief Leon Panetta, who weren't ready to negotiate an end to the war, preferring the bloody path of counterinsurgency operations.

...Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, are very wary about making a swap for Bowe. "Panetta and Hillary don't give a shit about getting him home," says one senior U.S. official involved in the negotiations. "They want to be able to say they COINed their way out of Afghanistan, or whatever, so it doesn't look like they are cutting and running."

12) The negotiations were also impeded by Senator John McCain, who was typically level-headed in this exchange with future Secretary of State John Kerry.

McCain, who endured almost six years of captivity as a prisoner of war, threw a fit at the prospect of releasing five Taliban detainees.

"They're the five biggest murderers in world history!" McCain fumed.

Kerry, who supported the transfer, thought that was going a bit far. "John," he said, "the five biggest murderers in the world?"

McCain was furious at the rebuke. "They killed Americans!" he responded. "I suppose Senator Kerry is OK with that?"

13) The bureaucratic clusterfuck in Washington had even led Bergdahl's heartbroken father to seek his own negotiations with Bowe's captors — explaining Bob Bergdahl's beard and controversial command of conversational Arabic and Pashto.

Bob has considered going over to Pakistan – he's grown a bushy beard, and he has sent his own YouTube video, directed at the Taliban, asking for his son's release. "I'll talk to them," he says. "I'll bring him home myself."

Hastings Original Story
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/ne ... r-20120607

[Just Me]

It'll be interesting to see who is right in this:

Bergdahl-for-Taliban swap: why Pentagon officials think it's not a bad deal

While top GOP lawmakers and commentators are charging that it was wrong for the United States to barter with terrorists for the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, defense officials and analysts are defending the negotiations, saying the release of the Taliban leaders is not so dire for US armed forces.

[planosteve]

The story of Michael Hastings is a strange one. He's the journalist that wrote the story that got McChrystal fired as the head military man in Afghanistan. Sometime later he told a friend he was on to a big story. The next morning while it was still dark he crashed his car into a tree in Los Angeles. He died in a ball of fire. He was on a suburban street and was estimated to be traveling around 70 miles per hour. Where he was headed and why is unknown as is why he was driving so fast. He was not know as being reckless.

[glenn/dallas]

I was a sailor aboard the USS Mauna Kea, supplying ammo to Nam in the very early war years. I would expect anyone on my ship that just left their post to be punished to the fullest. Its war time kiddos, you dont do that.