The Bowe Bergdahl defense

I’ve been waiting patiently for news out of the Bergdahl sentencing hearing that would indicate that the Army is tired of the BS and has decided on a sentence, but the defense has droned on about poor Bowe. A mental health doctor testified yesterday that Bergdahl suffers from PTSD that he caught before he joined the military from his childhood. His childhood PTSD has been exasperated by his treatment as a POW, according to ABC News;

The doctor also provided insights into Bergdahl’s way of thinking, saying that while he’s intelligent, he is also “naive.”

Morgan compared Bergdahl to a child who jumps into things without thinking about the consequences. Bergdahl wants to do the right thing but doesn’t always know the right way to go about it, Morgan said.

“Once [Bergdahl] gets an idea that makes sense, he wants to do it,” Morgan said, adding later that Bergdahl knew walking off of his Army post “would get him in trouble.”

During his examination, Morgan administered five separate tests on Bergdahl to determine if the soldier was trying to fake a mental illness.

Bergdahl passed every test but one, which Morgan said is designed for civilians — not prisoners of war — and could explain why Bergdahl tested so highly on the probability for malingering, or faking an illness.

“The fact that they don’t see something wrong doesn’t mean there’s not something wrong,” Morgan said.

“People with mental health illness are not dumb,” he added.

The article continues with testimony from a woman who runs a cat rescue shelter in San Antonio. Apparently, while Bergdahl was there, he brought her 24 cats – she calls him the “Cat Whisperer” and offered him a job.

NBC News says that an intelligence agent described Bergdahl as a “Goldmine” of information on the Haqqani network during his debriefing in the days after his release;

Amber Dach, who spent 16 years in military intelligence, was the primary analyst assigned to Bergdahl’s case for the five years after he disappeared. She described how eager he was to help intelligence officials at a hospital in Germany days after he was returned to U.S. authorities. Although his voice was weak and raspy, he helped authorities and even drew diagrams in his downtime to bring to his next debriefing session.

Dach and another official who debriefed Bergdahl testified that his time in Germany was extended partly so he could offer additional time-sensitive intelligence.

“He was very motivated to just download all of the details that he recalled,” Dach testified. “It was a gold mine. It really reshaped the way we did intel collection in the area.”

Bergdahl testified on his own behalf and broke down during his testimony, according to another NBC News link;

In an unexpected move, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl took the stand in his sentencing hearing Monday, breaking down several times and apologizing to those who were wounded while searching for him after he abandoned his post in Afghanistan.

“I was trying to do something good and it turned bad,” Bergdahl said, reading from a statement at the beginning of his testimony. “My words alone can’t relieve the pain. … I think about what I did every day for the last eight years.”

Well, see, here’s the thing – Bergdahl went AWOL. He left his post in the face of the enemy. He caused other people to sacrifice their own well-being because of his actions. He might have been a “gold mine” of intelligence, but only because he walked straight into the arms of the enemy. He may suffer mental issues, but because of his own actions when he consciously left his weapon on his bunk and walked out of his compound and into the arms of the enemy.

He may be contrite about his crimes, but there was malice aforethought, when he sent his personal belongings home to his parents in the days before he walked into the arms of the enemy. His intentions are irrelevant – he didn’t discuss those intentions with his mates, who would have been able to convince him not to walk off his post and into the arms of the enemy.

There are no mitigating circumstances, other than the fact that Bergdahl, the cat whisperer, is a selfish goofball. He deserted his unit in combat because a private first class thought he knew better than his experienced combat leaders. Bergdahl disregarded the harm he would cause to his mates for some sense of superiority.

Category: Army News