| Submit your comments on this article | |||
| Afghanistan | |||
| Bergdahl "ashamed to be an American" | |||
| 2014-06-02 | |||
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the last known American POW, was freed after five years in captivity — an ordeal that began and ended in Afghanistan under a shroud of mystery.
Bergdahl's parents, who had lobbied continuously for his ÂÂrelease, had not seen him by Saturday night, but intimated that he faces an arduous recovery from his ordeal. Bergdahl is speaking in what appears to be Pashto, said his dad, Bob Bergdahl. It was not clear whether his son can still even speak English, Bob said.
"We will continue to stay strong for Bowe while he recovers," said his mom, Jani. The search for Bergdahl began soon after he went missing on June 30, 2009, in the same rugged wilds of southeastern Afghanistan where NFL player-turned-Army Ranger Pat Tillman was killed. Bergdahl's mysterious disappearance from the small military outpost there and the subsequent revelation that he was in enemy hands prompted questions that still linger. Soon after the capture, Taliban commander Mulvi Sangeen claimed a drunken Bergdahl was snatched while he stumbled to his car in the Yousaf Khel district of Paktika. The US military called that a lie, and in one of the videos taken during his captivity, Bergdahl himself said he was captured while lagging behind a patrol. But in the weeks before his capture, Bergdahl had made murky statements that suggested he was gravitating away from the soldiers in his unit and toward ÂÂdesertion, a member of his platoon told Rolling Stone. "He spent more time with the Afghans than he did with his platoon," former Spc. Jason Fry told the magazine in 2012. As a teen, the home-schooled son of Calvinists took up ballet — recruited to be a "lifter" by "a beautiful local girl," Rolling Stone reported — "the guy who holds the girl aloft in a ballet sequence." The strategy worked — Bergdahl, who also began dabbling in BuddÂÂhism and tarot card reading — soon moved in with the woman. Even as a teen, he could fire a .22-caliber rifle with precision. At age 20, he traveled to Paris and started learning French in hopes of joining the French Foreign Legion. His application was rejected, and he was devastated, the magazine reported. Bergdahl would drift for years, working mainly at a coffee shop near home. He briefly considered moving to Uganda to help villagers being terrorized by militias before deciding on a different ÂÂadventure. "I'm thinking of joining the Army," he told his folks after ÂÂalready having signed up. Bergdahl's dream was to help Afghan villagers rebuild their lives and learn to defend themselves, his dad told the magazine. "The whole 'COIN' thing," Bob explained, referring to America's strategy of counter-insurgency. "We were given a fictitious picture, an artificially created picture of what we were doing in ÂÂAfghanistan," the dad said. Bowe Bergdahl would detail his disillusionment with the Afghanistan campaign in an e-mail to his parents three days before he went missing. "I am sorry for everything here," he wrote. "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." Bergdahl also complained about fellow soldiers. The battalion commander was a "conceited old fool," he said, and the only "decent" sergeants, planning to leave the platoon "as soon as they can," told the privates — Bergdahl then among them — "to do the same." "I am ashamed to be an American. And the title of US soldier is just the lie of fools," he concluded. "I am sorry for everything. The horror that is America is disgusting." Bob Bergdahl responded in an e-mail: "OBEY YOUR CONSCIENCE!" One night, after finishing a guard-duty shift Bowe Bergdahl asked his team leader whether there would be a problem if he left camp with his rifle and night-vision goggles — to which the team leader replied "yes." Bergdahl then returned to his bunker, picked up a knife, water, his diary and a camera, and left camp, according to Rolling Stone. The next morning, he was reported missing, and later that day, a drone and four fighter jets ÂÂbegan to search for him. Weeks of searching turned into months. The military pushed his parents and fellow soldiers to sign nondisclosure agreements. But before everyone signed, a comrade from his unit publicly called on Facebook for Bergdahl's execution as a deserter. Propaganda videos of his captivity — which featured Bergdahl denouncing American foreign policy — were released. At least once, in 2011, the prisoner, looking more haggard, fought back and tried to escape. "He fought like a boxer," a Taliban fighter told Newsweek. Why Bergdahl was captured in the first place remained a mystery by the time high-level US government talks began in 2012 regarding a trade for his release. "Frankly, we don't give a s—t why he left," one White House official said at the time. "He's an American soldier. We want to bring him home."
| |||
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #22 OldSpook, while what you wrote was meant to be satiric, it expresses an ideal that is so, so wrong. Which of course is the point of the words you wrote. I am truly overwrought. I hope I never meet this kid, because I would just beat him until I could no longer lift my arms. As bad as he is, whoever is responsible for making his colleagues sign non-disclosure agreements is worse. We need to know who that political-officer was, and shame him/her into exile, after a hearty tar and feathering. |
| Posted by: rammer 2014-06-02 23:10 |
| #21 So, for Obama, "honor and distinction" involves walking off your post, and deserting in time of war. OK, glad we have that straight now. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2014-06-02 22:42 |
| #20 Amen, Crazyfool, but don't bury him with bacon, that is too good for him. Just with the hooves and offal. |
| Posted by: rammer 2014-06-02 22:29 |
| #19 Correction. The same Susan Rice who, with full knowledge of the truth, lied (as in knowingly told a falsehood) to the American public on national TV and afterwards about the cause of Benghazi. She is a known and proven liar. If he did desert his post and joined the Taliban then have a very national and public trial first so everyone knows what kind of despicable being he is and the full story and cost of his actions so his name becomes a household word. Then hang him, publically. He doesn't deserve the honor of even a firing squad. And to top it off bury him with hogs. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2014-06-02 22:11 |
| #18 *please delete the prior* Now that we have him back, let's hang this deserter high. It would emphasize what we value--loyalty; esprit de corps; and a commitment to bring everyone home. Because he disrespected those values, six members of his platoon, who were dedicated to those values, came home in a box. |
| Posted by: rammer 2014-06-02 22:07 |
| #17 President Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, said on ABC that Bowe Bergdahl "served the United States with honor and distinction" and that "Sergeant Bergdahl wasn't simply a hostage; he was an American prisoner of war captured on the battlefield" Same Susan Rice who told us that Benghazi was caused by a video. |
| Posted by: Squinty 2014-06-02 21:43 |
| #16 As a true, faithful Muslim, Bergdahl would never even think of going into a bar. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2014-06-02 19:42 |
| #15 Miss Cleo sez that Ol' Bowe may be soon wishing he were back where camel urine frappe's are not frowned upon. Would love to see the video of his next time going into a bar. |
| Posted by: Uncle Phester 2014-06-02 18:43 |
| #14 Of course he's the Left's Hero. He loathes avarything the United States used to stand for. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2014-06-02 16:20 |
| #13 Shitbag Blue Falcon |
| Posted by: newc 2014-06-02 15:33 |
| #12 And Bergdahl, right back at you. if you are not tried and convicted I expect you to give up your passport and stay away from the country you loath. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2014-06-02 14:38 |
| #11 Sometiems I wish we were the type of country that would implant slow acting poisons into POWs we free (but know will return to hostilities despite promises). Something that would be wraith of God like in its pain. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2014-06-02 14:37 |
| #10 He went AWOL and joined the enemy. Teaching the enemy how to take a cell phone and turn it into a road side bomb detonator, teaching them how to ambush his fellow soldiers, the Hussein Regime was calling him a POW. A lie. He now speaks only the Taliban language his family says. He has been and is a threat to this country. |
| Posted by: Bubba Graiting8281 2014-06-02 13:47 |
| #9 Isn't that called desertion in time of war? At one time I believe that would be a capital offense and a firing squad would be called for. It's said he can no longer speak English? Has anyone ever heard of losing a language? Losing the ability to speak or hear perhaps - but a language? Perhaps someone can clarify. I think he simply refuses to speak the dirty infidel language and it does provide a convient excuse for not answering questions. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2014-06-02 10:39 |
| #8 Congressman? From California? Maybe he could oust the old biddy from San Francisco. Idaho, Sun Valley, Idaho. According to Wikipedia, Bergdahl told Fry before their deployment to Afghanistan, "If this deployment is lame, I'm just going to walk off into the mountains of Pakistan." |
| Posted by: Bobby 2014-06-02 08:17 |
| #7 Bowe Bergdahl will be just fine. He will lay low through the election cycle, begin interviews, book deals, guest appearances on msnbc and CNN and then talk of running for congress. |
| Posted by: Airandee 2014-06-02 06:52 |
| #6 Michelle should invite him for tea. Serve him a good Lunch. And I bet the Taliban are laughing their asses off. He walked off his post and went over and we traded him for five ...Moslem gentleman. Thank Hussein that in his wisdom we have such a President. he's obviously the Messiah and the smartest man in the room. Why, I am getting a thrill up my leg just thinking of him. Don't you? Check the back of your Obama Card for his picture and a brief inspirational message. |
| Posted by: Big Thromoth3646 2014-06-02 05:38 |
| #5 Perhaps now he can say.... 'For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country' |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-06-02 04:03 |
| #4 "ashamed to be an American" American - that was the nationality of the people who died looking for him after he went walk-about, wasn't it? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2014-06-02 03:58 |
| #3 Something here isn't right. The father seems to be a collaborator type. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2014-06-02 03:53 |
| #2 Did anyone pick up on the fact that Papa Islami said he sent several folks to Germany to see him at the hospital, and that he was supposed to listen to them and do what they say. Sounds like he has got some ACLU lawyer types already. |
| Posted by: BigEdLB 2014-06-02 00:07 |
| #1 for a US Ambassador, we have no assets to help him for US Veterans we have no doctors to see them but for a deserter and possibly a traitor, we will move mountains to see he is safe and sound |
| Posted by: lord garth 2014-06-02 00:05 |