The odd case of Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl got even weirder during his Article 32 hearing conducted by Army officials Thursday and Friday last week. The Article 32 procedure is the military equivalent of a civilian grand jury, except that the accused has quite a few more rights. Unlike a typical grand jury, the Article 32 is presented before a single hearing officer, not held in secret, allows defense counsel to be present and to cross-examine witnesses, and to call their own. All of this occurred at Bergdahl’s hearing.
Bergdahl’s attorneys, led by the experienced civilian defense lawyer, Eugene Fidell, managed to present this account to the Article 32 hearing officer without calling their client to the stand and subjecting him to cross-examination. Instead, they called General Dahl who repeated Bergdahl’s account, and added for good measure that he did not believe Bergdahl deserved to be imprisoned for his offenses. They also presented witnesses that testified as to Bergdahl’s mistreatment by the Taliban, his suffering at their hands, and the permanent mental and physical injuries he sustained as a result.
Overall, it appears that Fidell and his team of Army defense lawyers damaged the prosecution and laid the groundwork for a recommendation of leniency by the Article 32 hearing officer. The defense position is that Bergdahl left his post, but did not desert, since he was on he was on his way to another Army post, and planned to report there. Thus, at most according to the defense, he is guilty of AWOL, a much less severe offense than desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. It is not clear that the prosecution made a compelling case otherwise. The hearing officer’s recommendation is not binding on the convening officer, General Robert Abrams, but carries great weight.
All this was clever lawyering by Bergdahl’s legal team. Presumably they allowed Bergdahl to convey his story to Dahl back in 2014 calculating that if Dahl bought it, he might recommend not going forward with the prosecution. That Fidell has been calling for the Army to release Dahl’s investigative report, suggests that the general either made such a recommendation, or was extremely ambivalent about going forward. Even if, as was the case, the Army did move to prosecute, Fidell figured on calling Dahl to the stand as a way of having Bergdahl in effect “testify” without risking a damaging cross-examination.
All of this raises the question of whether or not anything Bergdahl told Dahl was in fact true. Unless Bergdahl is exposed to cross-examination, and perhaps even then, it might be pretty hard for the Army to rebut his account. But even if it is true, the Army should not accept that desertion (or leaving one’s combat post) by soldiers who disagree with their “incompetent” commanders is a minor offense. Anyone who has been in any army knows that many, if not most soldiers at any given time believe their officers and NCOs to be incompetent fools. Not infrequently, this is true, as it has been throughout history. However, all militaries count on these “fools” to run the show, there being nobody else to do so. Were the Army to cut Bergdahl a break because he was also a fool to have left his post, it would be tantamount to sanctioning such action in the future, which undermines the very essence of military discipline.
Lastly, is the uncomfortable but compelling suspicion that this entire fiasco is a setup that will allow the Army to escape the Bergdahl case without embarrassing President Obama, who not only traded the Taliban terrorists for the soldier, but feted his family and proclaimed him a hero. Watching relatively inexperienced Army prosecutors blow a case against accomplished civilian defense lawyers is not entirely unusual. But it is also possible that the Army deliberately made it easy on Fidell and his team, and seeing a shadow boxing loss at the Article 32 as a political win.
Article 32 hearings are a good way for the military to dispose of cases that they don’t like, since they give the appearance of having brought the manner to a mini-trial and are comparatively fair compared to civilian grand juries. At least as reported, Bergdahl’s Article 32 doesn’t appear to have made a good case against him for anything more than an AWOL charge, which I think would suit the Army just fine. It would allow the Army to dispose of the case through something less than a General Courts Martial, preserve Bergdahl’s veteran benefits for his apparent physical and psychological disabilities, and not extend the matter into the election year, embarrassing Obama and his increasingly likely successor as Democrat nominee, Vice-President Biden. Call me cynical, but I think that is where we are headed.
#1
Yet another twist; COL(Ret) Hunt said tonight on Fox that intelligence collection had revealed conversations on Bergdahl's cellie by Taliban, and another cellie used by the Taliban that Bergdahl had in fact defected to the Taliban. Hunt indicated these reports had not been part of the official Army investigation.
#2
Confirmed - Col. Hunt came onto Howie Carr's show during the 4:00 PM segment yesterday saying just that, before he went on O'Reilly a few hours later.
Posted by: lord garth ||
09/22/2015 6:28 Comments ||
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#4
I'd still like to read the initial Serious Incident Report (SIR) dealing with this soldier's disappearance. Please attach to it as well, the initial AR 15-6, and sworn statements from platoon members, along with contact information on the iron major who probably wrote it. Yes, that's right, the original SIR which was written within the first 24-48 hours of his disappearance.
The generals can go to the club for a round of golf. No need to hear from them. This appears to be a common case of AWOL in a war zone.
#5
Probably nothing here, but if the Bergdahl swap for 5 terrorists is somehow connected to the tragic loss of an AMBO in Benghazi. Say a desperate 'Plan B' or something equally as sinister, could we have the details of that arrangement as well ?
Just something to quiet the conspiracy theorists and wild-eyed doubters. I'm sure you'll understand.
#6
Were the Army to cut Bergdahl a break because he was also a fool to have left his post, it would be tantamount to sanctioning such action in the future, which undermines the very essence of military discipline.
As the Village People music plays in the background.
What about the fact that several died looking for this jerk? Is there some doubt that he left his post and went native? Cover up of a very bad deal?
The next president is going have to do some house cleaning by asking for some early retirements.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
09/22/2015 19:57 Comments ||
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#8
The way some of these generals have sold their country's security for political gain the next round of cleaning needs to be done with a firing squad.
[DAWN] OVER the last several months, in its responses to the action being taken against it during the Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... operation by the Rangers and police, the MQM has traversed much of the terrain that lies between baleful defiance and tight-lipped restraint. The statement issued by its coordination committee on Sunday, however, appears for the first time to cross into the realm of abject capitulation. In it, the MQM has appealed to the establishment for clemency similar to that announced for "the estranged Baloch people" and to "heal the wounds of Mohajirs by forgetting past bitterness". The statement also reiterates the party's unwavering loyalty to Pakistain.
When a political party in an ostensible democracy appeals to the establishment for clemency, there is clearly something amiss. The MQM's victim narrative does not behoove the fourth-largest party in the National Assembly, with a formidable vote bank -- particularly in Karachi and Hyderabad. In the last two elections, almost a quarter of all votes cast in Sindh went to the MQM. At the same time, the party's democratic credentials have often been called into question on account of its activists' strong-arm tactics at the hustings, to enforce strike calls, etc. Since the Karachi operation began, the allegations have expanded to include a slew of criminal activities ranging from extortion to murder. Nevertheless, the results of Karachi's NA-246 by-election in April, held under close scrutiny while the operation was in full swing, were telling: the MQM won with 74pc share of valid votes, in a poll with a 37pc turnout -- far higher than the norm for a by-election. Firstly, this illustrates that the party has an important role to play in the country's political landscape, and it should go about doing so -- shorn of its bad boy element -- especially with local elections around the corner. Secondly, when supporters of a party -- especially one based on ethnicity -- perceive it is being subjected to unduly partisan treatment, the sympathy vote will come into play. That can also, more worryingly, engender a siege mentality. Here the role of the powers that be is relevant, something the MQM, unwittingly or otherwise, has alluded to in its statement. The establishment's predilection for meddling in politics -- which has contributed in no small measure to the MQM's periodic rise and 'fall', and to the birth of the MQM-Haqiqi as a counterbalance -- does not take into account the dangers inherent in marginalising a large chunk of the population.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
There are a lot of reasons I don't watch Republican political debates. One of them is that I might throw a whiskey glass at the television screen every time one of the contendors tries to show how tough he or she is by excoriating Vladimir Putin. Big talkers. My fellow Republicans oscillate between the view that Russia is about to implode and the view that Putin is about to make war on NATO. Both views are equally silly. Putin is playing a weak hand skillfully, trying to keep Russia in the game as a world power (if not a superpower). He also rules the one Christian country that has been fighting a war with Islamic terrorists for decades. After years of colossal American blunders in the Levant, there's no way we can exclude Putin from a seat at the table. That's a fact of life, and all the bloviating in the world won't change it. It's also a fact that Russia has interests which sometimes run counter to ours and sometimes coincide with ours. Where our interests coincide, we should work with Russia; where our interests diverge, we should foil Russia. That's called Realpolitik and it's what great powers do for a living.
Because the Obama administration is so beguiled by its anti-colonial, blame-America version of Wilsonian idealism, Putin just might play the pivotal role in the Levant during the next eighteen months. Below is an essay I posted under the title "Vladimir Putin: Spoiler or Statesman?" at Asia Times.
#1
FTA: "Russia and China were playing a balance-of-power game not much different than Washington’s"
Uh, no. Washington's game (aka the Obamagenda) is not at all about pursuing a balance of power, but about DIS-empowering the USA in the pursuit of a dys- or u-topian fantasy.
#2
FTA: "The odds of such an outcome remain slim, to be sure, and not least because the Obama administration would have to take the sort of action it seems congenitally unable to take."
The Obama administering is pursuing utterly different goals than what Spengler talks about in this article. Congenital abilities have nothing to do with that.
#3
FTA: "That raises an interesting question: can the rest of the world work around the vacuum that has become American foreign policy? "
Years earlier, IIRC, Spengler himself wrote that "when the cat's away, the mice will kill each other."
#4
My gut feeling is that Islamic terrorism will be, historically, a flash in the pan. Today's violence represents the death throws of the 7th Century, fueled by petro dollars. It will burn out in our lifetimes.
The long war is against totalitarianism, which today takes the form of Putin in Russia and to a lesser extent the Chinese. This war is already over 100 years old and will still be fought by our great-grandchildren -- assuming Champ can't find a way to lose in the next 18 months.
#5
Iblis - I hope you are right. My own take is tragically different. As I see things, the main battle for the rest of this century will be a global existential conflict between Islam and everything that is not Islam.
Sadly, I think that Islam is going to win, to the everlasting detriment of human civilization - as it will have once existed.
I envision isolated surviving pockets of non-Islam, existing on the fringes - with all of these groups lamenting "What the hell were our great-great-grand ancestors THINKING, back at the turn of the last century, to have allowed the pestilence of Islam to have grown from a relatively weak influence in a prosperous world, to becoming the dominant power on earth.
Demographics will have been part of the answer, along with depraved complacency, and distraction by elite political correctness.
[Hurriyet Daily News] Only a few weeks ago, the al-Assad regime seemed in danger of losing the swath of land from Latakia to Damascus to the assaults of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Jabat al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... and others. Today, Russia has taken over and brought in heavy weapons. Not only can Bashir al-Assad breathe a sigh of relief, but the entire Syrian scene should now be revisited from three different angles.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2015 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[10 views]
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#1
I ask you, what would you do if you were Vlad. Double down? Yes or course, or lose it all, no more cards please. He must enjoy watching the second order effects of flooding Europe with hungry mooslims.
#2
Let Putin help Assad to fight ISIS. It is better than Putin fighting in Europe and currently nobody in the West is seriously willing to get into the mess.
Putin will end up putting his honor/reputation on the line to support Assad and it could very well eat away at that credibility as the war goes increasingly nasty. If he wins we all win, if he loses we at least see ISIS injured and held at bay in the process until the US gets a serious government again.
#3
I'd often felt that when the Cold War ended the US and UN should have tried to get as many Russian peacekeepers out there into the world's hotspots because they were willing to do it, and needed a shot of pride at the time. Instead we let them flounder until Vlad showed up to give them their pride again. It was a bad call Ripley, it was a bad call.
#4
I'm thinking there's a fatal helicopter crash in Bashir -Al- Assad's future. Tidies up everything nice and neat.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
09/22/2015 16:17 Comments ||
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#5
I'm thinking there's a fatal helicopter crash in Bashir -Al- Assad's future
Another Hafizullah Amin you mean? Very likely when you dance with the bear.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
09/22/2015 20:53 Comments ||
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#6
Wid the ISIS/ISIL now setting up in Afghanistan = AFPAK, + poten to dominate the TTP + Other major Militia Groups, Putin's fear is for Russia being outflanked by the Hard Boyz in disparate Central Asia + Russian Far East, the latter of which Russia still has to contend wid LT Chinese designs for control of same.
I may be wrong, but widin the scope of fighting + defeating the Islamist-Jiahdist threat IMO Putin = Russia is prob covertly happy as a lark = NOT TOO UPSET/ANGRY about US plans to deploy circa 20 ultra-modern NucBombs to GERMANY???
* PRAVDA > [CSTO Meeting] RUSSIA TO INCREASE ITS MILITARY PRESENCE IN CENTRAL ASIA.
ARTIC = Russia's new goal is to push or extend its borders AFAP ala WW1, + espec WW2 + aftermath.
AH YES, US-ALLOWED SSSHHH ...CCCCCC "SPHERE(S) OF INFLUENCE" FOR AMERIKA'S NEW RUSSIAN OWG CO-SUPERPOWER "PAR" SIBLING???
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PRO-HEZBOLLAH DAILY [Al-Akbar] CLAIMS PARTY IN SYRIA PACT WID RUSSIANS, RUSSIA, IRAN, SYRIA + IRAQ FORM NEW "P4+1" ANTI-TERROR [anti-ISIS, AQ Al-Nusra, etal.]]ALLIANCE.
ARTIC = RUSSIA is repor coordinating its Pro-Assad/Syria efforts wid HEZBOLLAH + KURDISH [Other?] FORCES.
* SAME > [Twitter = paraph] IT HAS BECOME BUT IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANTI-ASSAD REBEL/JIHADI FORCES TO MOVE AROUND IN SYRIA WIDOUT BEING CLOSELY MONITORED BY THE RUSSIANS.
VERSUS
* BIGNEWSNETWORK > [UPI] GEESE FLY IN FORMATION WID [French] PILOT AT CHINESE AIR SHOW.
Darth Vlad's famous failure to impose his mighty Sith mind-control on Siberian Cranes may cause him to want or order these French Geese to be wiped out.
["STAR WARS: ATTACK OF THE CLONES" = JAR-JAR BINKS + GUNGAN ARMY VS DARTH SIDIOUS + GALACTIC REPUBLIC'S DRONE ARMY here].
Its either that, or "KLINGON EMPEROR KALES + EMPIRE VERSUS THE THREAT-TO-THE-EMPIRE CUTE TRIBBLES".
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
