Bowe Bergdahl; “Proof of life”
Several readers have sent us a link to the story that the US has “proof of life” of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, the fellow being held as a prisoner of war by the Haqqani terrorist network, supposedly in Pakistan, according to US intelligence folks;
The video — which was on a thumb drive intercepted by the United States last week — shows a frail, shaky Bergdahl making a reference to the recent death of South African leader Nelson Mandela, the officials said.
Although the Taliban has offered to release Bergdahl in exchange for five Taliban prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay, U.S. military officials told NBC News they believe he is being held hostage by the Haqqani network in neighboring Pakistan.
Bergdahl disappeared when he reportedly walked away from a U.S. military base in eastern Afghanistan in June 2009, carrying only a compass and a bottle of water.
I’ve heard rumors about the circumstances under which he left, but whatever he did, he doesn’t deserve to be treated the way he has by those goat ropers, nor should his punishment be beheading. He just needs to be returned to the US. It should be one of this administration’s priorities. Not getting Bergdahl back before the troops leave Afghanistan would be shameful.
Category: Terror War
I agre. However he came to leave his post and be captured, is a moot point until we get him home. Send them the 5 fuckers they want back, but implant them with a gps device so we can just blow their asses to hell after we get back our man!!
AATW!!
Why hasn’t the US invaded Pakistan? So many of the problems in this war seem to be coming from there, and it IS where Osama bin Laden was found.
I agree that he needs to be returned to the US ASAP.
Bring him home, sort out the details, nuke everything else.
No playing Go Fish with Taliban Gitmo either. First step should be no money unless he’s returned safe and sound. Second step should be return him now, safe and sound, or we glass you over. There is no 3rd step.
Will never understand how difficult it is for these clowns to simply say the words, “No negotiation, no monetary support, no nothing until you have returned Bowie to us.”
It really is not complicated, yet it serves to further the agenda of this administration to pretend that it is.
“carrying only a compass and a bottle of water.”
I’ve watched all the previous videos of Bergdahl I can find, and have seen all the pictures of him in captivity and this statement bothers me. In the video below he is seen in combinations of both his ACUs and PT uniform. Unless he wore his full PT uniform including the windbreaker top on under his ACUs its more likely that he packed a bag. I doubt we will ever get the full story of what happened with him.
http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/13/new-report-says-captive-u-s-solider-left-his-post-willingly/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=1&
Well, he deserted his comrades in Afghanistan, and several good men died during the subsequent search operations. I was in RC East at the time, I talked to guys in his platoon, and I saw the signal traffic. Yes, bring him back. He has much to answer for…but let’s not put more Americans at risk to do so.
@8. I can’t fault your view. Did he walk away from his unit and either surrender himself to enemy or, by his actions, put himself in a postion in which capture was assured? I don’t know. Even assuming that the answer to either question is yes, was he afflicted by some demon of the mind? I don’t know that either. All that we do know with absolute certainty is that he is a prisoner of the Taliban. Now, the question for me is this: If my son were in a position to be asked to volunteer to effect a rescue, would I want him to volunteer? (BTW, I don’t ask whether I would volunteer. That one is too easy.)
Hundreds of thousands of men and women have been through rough tours in Afghanistan. Precisely one has left his sensitive items on his cot, grabbed a water bottle and camera, and wandered outside of the wire looking for a way back to the US via Pakistan.
I should add that I don’t blame folks who are skeptical of my story. I understand that it’s much harsher than most of the news reports and the whitewashed DoD press releases. I was one or two provinces over at the time of the incident. All of us were briefed that the main search was taking place along the Paki border, but some stupid private decided he was “quitting” the Army, walked out of the wire without his gear, was picked up by the enemy while wandering around looking for someone who spoke English, and we were to, “…keep an eye out for his dumb ass.” I talked to guys in his company a few months later in BAF, and all of them were seething with anger.
What I find unforgivable is that he chose a course of action that directly resulted in the deaths of other Americans. When he was captured, the enemy knew there would be a massive search, and many of the search teams were ambushed and took casualties.
Yes, I get that we don’t leave a man behind…but he left his buddies behind, got several of them killed, and betrayed his oath. I’m not sure I could stomach more deaths on his behalf. If he does come back, there must be a reckoning. The families of the dead deserve that much.
Again, I don’t blame folks who raise an eyebrow at this version of events–it doesn’t quite square with most people have heard. All I can say is that the mIRC transcripts of the incident are available online, as are the opinions of men in the 501st who were in his company.
I was working in the A-stan when all this went down,I was told he walk off post looking to but 2 kilo’s of black tar(heroin)to smuggle back to the U S.He got what he deserved,but saying all that,on one should ever be left at the mercy of those goat raping filth.
His current charge is desertion in the face of the enemy.
If we do get him back, he should stand trial. If the charges are found to be true, he should be put against a wall and shot, non-metaphorically.
That we would have to compromise ourselves in order to bring this precious snowflake back home is ridiculous.
That we could use this person’s plight as a reason to go in to that AO and simply lay waste to any and all in that AO, would work, except we can’t actually do what’s required to win wars anymore.
As a national culture, we are only awaiting our own conquest. We have completely given up on even the idea of actually winning wars. Our enemy knows this. Our enemy acts accordingly.
We don’t know why he left his base willingly. Whatever the reason was, he shouldn’t have done it. I’m sure he has learned his lesson, and it’s time for him to be returned home. as for what he has to “answer to,” I personally think he has probably suffered enough.
There’s no such thing as “enough” in the punishment for desertion.
It, traditionally, ends with execution simply because it can’t be taken further.
Grimmy, you may be correct. I just do not care. The fact remains that a member of our armed forces is in the hands of the enemy. Period. I do not care how he got there, it is our obligation to bring him home.
Those who would speak this way publicly about any of us while under the control of the enemy are just adding to any propaganda value any POW has to our enemy.
So, say what you will about this particular POW, but understand that in doing so YOU are aiding and abetting the enemy.
Yep, and I’m sure if he is returned safely, many people (especially TAH readers) will be screaming for his blood for deserting.
Grimmy you state his current charge is “desertion”… Funny, the Army has charged him with no crimes at all as of right now. So no, he has no current charges except in the court of public opinion and lynch mobs that you belong to.
When he comes home there will be questions asked of him. Why not wait until then, and in the meantime a US Soldier charged with no crime is in the hands of our enemey!
AATW!
He turned his back on his country after swearing an oath.
Considering how the government let Ali Hassoun’s deserting traitor ass go on fucking leave to escape punishment, I have absolutely zero faith in the military justice system when it comes to traitors.
This guy made his choice, let him live with it.
You guys don’t even know that he was a deserter! Desertion means you leave your post without any intention of returning. Otherwise he is just AWOL, which is a much different punishment. Now, maybe he was trying to go buy some black tar heroin, as one comment suggested. Certainly a crime…..but worthy of being labeled a deserter? Worthy of us condemning him to die and saying he needs to live with his choices? The guy made a mistake! But let’s not jump to all these conclusions! Let’s focus on the fact that one of OUR soldiers is being held captive and they refuse to release him!
@16 anonymous in jax
Yeah kinda funny:
“we bring you home safe boy”
“thanks”
“well by safe I mean we just change the people who want your blood”
I’m doing the enemy’s will by saying that nothing should be given to the enemy simply because they possess the body (living or dead) of a man who walked away from his post in violation of all standing orders AND reason?
As to his “charges”. That was a bad word choice on my part.
He is guilty, regardless of his excuse. He walked off his post while in an enemy AO. That is desertion.
Of course, we can’t even call treason out when it occurs in plain view without folks getting all screechy, so why should desertion be an issue?
I stand corrected on that.
@anonymous in jax
I totally agree.
In dubio pro reo – not guilty unless proofed otherwise.
Seriosly, if any fucking retard civillian travels to those areas “for leisure” and gets deducted all hell breaks loose in the departments. And a new SEAL movie is born…
But oh god behold you are a service member rumored to have done something wrong. Yay nay well let him live with it?
Did he choose to get kidnapped, abused and death threatend? Don’t think so.
Even if he did make a mistake, he is still an american citizen being held by the enemy.
@19 I think you’re on some heroin with those comments.
How is voluntarily deserting your unit during a war a mistake? He didn’t turn on red when there was a no turn on red sign he didn’t notice…
Whatever, can’t hold anyone accountable for shit any longer, even in the military. There is always some excuse.
This sounds like the script for Hurt Locker 2 already.
People died as a direct result of his choices–choices that were both illegal and immoral. I’m not champing at the bit to risk more lives, either through direct action or concessions, to secure his release.
Who has died as a direct result of his actions? I’m not saying “don’t hold him accountable.” I just don’t get the whole “Anerica! F**k yeah!” attitude where we are so quick to put someone to death for “desertion.” I just don’t believe it’s a “crime” worthy of ending his life. But I guess that’s the logical side of me speaking.
And for the record, I AM a veteran. I even deployed to Iraq as a member of the IRR after I got orders calling me back up. I tell you this because I understand the military mentality. And I want you to know I believe in honoring my commitments. But I also don’t believe desertion is a crime worthy of death.
I was at FOB Chapman when he went missing. We helped look for him. We were told he was drunk, wandered off the base and got kidnapped by the haqqani network.
@Grimmy, There is only one classification to him right now, and that is MIA/POW, there are no charges pending on him, that’s why he keeps getting promoted, and that’s the OFFICIAL word from DOD. There are many different theories as to why he was captured or how, and there is a LOT of people giving him down the road, as this article said, let’s get him home, and then find out what happened, because unless any of these people were standing beside him when he left, then it’s all speculation. It’s wrong on so many levels to tarnish any man’s name without knowing the unabridged truth. If he deserted….hang em high, but until we all know what happened, let’s don’t pronounce him guilty before the fact..! I lost friends too who were looking for him, had a few mangled up also, and each one of them, and their families DON’T hold that guy accountable for it, it was their mission, and they would and did do it for any servicemember who is lost…
If he really did get drunk and wander off base, it could have happened to any number of soldiers! I knew quite a few soldiers who made their own hooch and some who had it sent over to them, despite the fact you’re not supposed to. That makes him a foolish soldier, but what young soldier doesn’t act foolish at times?! In Korea, CQ duty included making rounds around the barracks to make sure no soldiers had passed out drunk outside the building….that way they wouldn’t freeze to death. We need to get this soldier home NOW!
1- get this man safely home.
2- investigate the circumstances of his capture.
3- nothing follows until item 1 is accomplished.
That is all.