Every week on Monday morning, the Council and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher’s Forum with short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture or daily living. This week’s question: Should Bowe Bergdahl Be Tried For Desertion? Will He Be?
Robert Avrech, Seraphic Secret: Bode Bergdahl should have a fair trial — and then he should face a firing squad. Will this happen? Nope. Obama will make sure this ghastly excuse for an American will never have to answer for his treason.
GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD: Absolutely. Maybe even other charges too.
Yet for now – right now – we don’t know that he was a deserter yet. We only know that he was AWOL.
An earlier Pentagon report says he had a habit of wandering off base in CONUS and the Stan.
Now this may indeed mean he’s a goob or a doofus yet it doesn’t prove he was a deserter.
Which is hopefully what serious charges will prove or unprove.
A trial may ferret out the diff betwixt desertion and defection.
The distinction is important. If he’s a defector — joined the enemy to fight against his country — then he deserves deserves killing, the way we kill other enemies in the field, the way we killed Anwar al-Awlaki, an American who had openly joined al-Qaeda.
The Noisy Room: Yes, Bergdahl should be tried not only for desertion, but treason. He defected to the enemy, trained them and knowingly aided and abetted them. That warrants the death penalty for treason. Will he be? Nope. Not in this political climate and not as long as the Progressive Marxists wield control and power in the United States.
I wholeheartedly agree with Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch at PJ Media. There are five solid indications that Bergdahl is a traitor:
1. His conversion to Islam and self-description as a “Mujahid.”
In 2010, the Taliban claimed that Bergdahl converted to Islam. It was also reported that he was training Jihadists to make bombs and use them against American troops. Fox News, last week, released secret documents showing just that. Why do you think he lived among them for five years unmolested and kept his head intact? He was handed over as a brother and his captors expressed regret at not getting to say goodbye. These documents and information were buried by those in the know. I believe that the Obama Administration and the military knew from the beginning that Bergdahl was a defector and a traitor.
His fellow soldiers have just been released from gag orders/non-disclosure agreements where they were threatened with prosecution if they brought details to light of Bergdahl’s circumstances. They would have violated them any way, because honor dictates that the truth be told, damn the consequences. Do the math. It could very well be Obama and company did not want Bergdahl’s conversion publicized after high profile events such as the Fort Hood massacre. Now that he is released, investigation and prosecution would further ‘embarrass’ team Obama. It will be stonewalled and buried — trust me. Both sides of the aisle, in fact, will fight to make it go away and fade from memory.
Robert Spencer nailed it:
To investigate, much less to try Bowe Bergdahl, despite the fact that evidence of his misconduct continues to mount, would require an honest president, a robust opposition party, and a media determined to uncover the truth. Strike one, strike two, strike three.
2. The note Bergdahl left behind is damning.
In said note, Bergdahl stated he was disillusioned with the Army and America in general. He stated he was renouncing his American citizenship and wanted to go find the Taliban. He proceeded to do so. He should be considered an enemy combatant.
3. His email to his father.
In a treasonously worded screed, Bergdahl wrote to his father in heartfelt terms: “I am sorry for everything here. 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.” He declared: “I am ashamed to be an American. And the title of US soldier is just the lie of fools. I am sorry for everything. The horror that is America is disgusting.”
Right back at you asshat. We find you disgusting and worse. For his father’s part, he lovingly told his son: “OBEY YOUR CONSCIENCE!” I believe his whole family has converted to Islam and Obama’s smile at the utterance of an Islamic prayer during a news conference at the White House by the father is very, very revealing. Nothing new to me as I have suspected Obama’s allegiances from the beginning, but it is telling to mainstream America.
4. Panic at the Defense Department.
Enough panic to cause a full investigation to be launched. Fox News reported Monday that Bergdahl — “both in his final stretch of active duty in Afghanistan and then, too, during his time when he lived among the Taliban — has been thoroughly investigated by the U.S. intelligence community and is the subject of ‘a major classified file.’ In conveying as much, the Defense Department source confirmed to Fox News that many within the intelligence community harbor serious outstanding concerns not only that Bergdahl may have been a deserter but that he may have been an active collaborator with the enemy.”
5. The accuracy of attacks using IEDs.
From Former Army Sgt. Evan Buetow:
“Bergdahl is a deserter, and he’s not a hero. He needs to answer for what he did.” Even worse, Buetow recounted that days after Bergdahl vanished from the U.S. base, there were reports that he was in a nearby village looking for someone who spoke English, so that he could establish communications with the Taliban. Soon afterward, Buetow recalled, “IEDs started going off directly under the trucks. They were getting perfect hits every time. Their ambushes were very calculated, very methodical.”
Bergdahl told the Taliban where the trucks would be and when. He showed them how to build the bombs and kill troops. Treason n’est-ce pas?
We traded the Gitmo 5 for a defector that according to Colonel David Hunt, “called his unit the day after he deserted to tell his unit he deserted.” Nathan Bradley Bethea, a former infantry officer who served with Bowe Bergdahl pointed out not only that Bergdahl was a deserter, but that men died looking for him. Army intelligence knew where Bergdahl was being kept several times, but Special Forces negated rescue each time because he was deemed a deserter. Why rescue him now? Political cover for Obama and to distract from multiple scandals, specifically the VA scandal. Obama also wants the war in Afghanistan to cease and wants to empty Gitmo, regardless of the repercussions. The Pentagon also came to the same conclusion in 2010 on Bergdahl: “Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl walked away from his unit, and after an initial flurry of searching the military decided not to exert extraordinary efforts to rescue him, according to a former senior defense official who was involved in the matter.” An official said that the evidence that Bergdahl had deserted was “incontrovertible.”
When fellow soldiers decried the ‘hero’s welcome’ afforded Bergdahl, the Administration called them psychopaths and accused them of “swift-boating” Bergdahl. Alinsky is alive and well within Obama’s government. Discredit and marginalize those who resist right on cue.
Bergdahl should be dragged into a military court and he should be forced to testify and stand for his sins of desertion, defection and treason. Then he should be summarily executed. Will it happen? Not a chance in hell.
The Independent Sentinel: Bowe Bergdahl should most definitely be tried for desertion. He left without permission twice and the second time he left, he said he was going to find the Taliban. He contacted his base the next day and verified. He hid from his brothers as they searched for him. He abandoned them. He might also be a traitor.
I support the military who served with him who have said to a man so far that he deserted.
I doubt he will be tried. He might be tried for being AWOL.
There is a cover up underway in my opinion.
Outside of the NY Times articles, we have no idea what is going on with Bergdahl now except what Mr. Obama and his compliant media want us to know. We do know his father and the government hand picked the doctors working with him. The administration and the media are setting us up for a PTSD defense.
JoshuaPundit: The worst Bergdahl can be tried for is desertion, and that seems self evident. A Pentagon investigation in 2010 stated conclusively that he did in fact desert. He can’t be tried for treason, because we are not and have never been in a legal, constitutionally declared war against either Afghanistan back when the Taliban ruled it or against the Taliban themselves. And that’s something we can blame Bush for. A proper declaration of war against al-Qaeda and nations aiding and abetting them would have changed the whole ballgame. But the powers that be deliberately wanted things kept fuzzy for reasons I’m sure are obvious to most thinking people by now.
I doubt he will be tried. This was never about Bowe Bergdahl, but about President Obama’s mania about closing down Club Gitmo and freeing the inhabitants no matter what. As such, anything that reflects badly on Bergdahl reflects badly on the Prevaricator-in-Chief’s judgment, and we can’t have that.
Bergdahl’s defense if he is tried will be that he suffered a mental breakdown, and he is undoubtedly being groomed and told what to say and what not to say by lawyers and advisers sent by the Justice Department. They’ve already started by releasing the fact that poor Bowe is refusing to meet with his parents… he’s simply too stressed out from all that torture and stuff, which we have no way of verifying… it will simply be Bowe’s word against those heartless Republicans and those ‘swiftboating soldiers’, as the White House is already referring to Bowe’s fellow soldiers who have broken their silence about what a de facto traitor and foul ball he actually was. That will be the media line, heart rending accounts on the cruel captivity he suffered under the Taliban, and no doubt the New York Times and MSNBC will lead the charge shilling for him not to be punished.
If by chance he is tried, he’ll simply be given a medical/psychiatric discharge and sent somewhere quiet to work with his ghost writer on the multi-million dollar book deal that will undoubtedly be forthcoming.
I hate with a passion to be so cynical, but that’s how I see it going down. If I’m right (and I hope I’m not) the reaction this will generate from our military and from young men and women thinking of enlisting is obvious.
Ask Marion: Unless there are some mitigating factors, like Bode Bergdahl was some kind of a deep CIA operative (and I find that possibility about as remote as me winning 1-million dollars tomorrow), I absolutely believe that Bergdahl should be tried for desertion. And because of the White House’s bungled handling of this entire swap and the uproar it has caused, thank goodness, I believe that they will at least begin the process of a Court Martial.
But I fear that Bergdahl’s defense will go down the insanity route, using some type of the Stockholm Syndrome or PTSD argument. So even with all the prior information about his studying the Taliban’s language, his odd behavior in general, his note left behind and his Dad’s equally odd behavior, just for starters, Bergdahl will probably be ruled too incompetent to stand trial. But I hope and pray that I am wrong, that the worm has turned, and that Congress, the American people at large and the military will insist and demand more.
Bookworm Room: Yes, he should be tried. Will he be tried? Bill Otis has a more likely answer: presidential pardon.
The Glittering Eye: A 2010 Pentagon investigation found that then-Pvt. Bergdahl had just walked away from his unit, describing the evidence of that as “incontrovertible”. Unless now-Sgt. Bergdahl can produce convincing testimony that’s not the case, he should be tried for desertion. I’m confident that if a new investigation does not find very good reason to doubt the findings of the 2010 investigation, he will be tried.
The Razor: I don’t care much about Bergdahl. At the very least he was a screwed up young man whose actions resulted in the deaths of his fellow soldiers, and who was likely brainwashed while imprisoned by the Taliban. I don’t see his future ending well, and I’ve not familiar enough with the UCMJ to speak on such matters. I’d leave it to his fellow soldiers to decide his fate.
Honestly I’m more concerned about the sanity of our president and this administration. They seem completely detached from reality. Their statements are bizarre and their behavior erratic. I am very worried that this country will stumble into a military disaster while under the management of these crazies that will result in great loss of life. I’m also afraid that this group will seriously damage the very fabric of the Republic with their unconstitutional actions that could undermine the very freedoms we take for granted. The use of the Department of Justice and the IRS as political weapons have done more damage to this Republic than Watergate, yet because Obama is not a Republican (and Nixon wasn’t a Democrat) it will take the passage of Time to play the role of Bernstein and Woodward.
Well, there you have it.
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