The Army Has Charged Bowe Bergdahl With Something Even Worse Than Desertion
By Randy DeSoto. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who has been accused by fellow soldiers of abandoning his post in Afghanistan, has been charged with desertion and “misbehavior before the enemy,” which carries a potential life sentence.
The Obama Administration traded the so-called “Taliban-Five” Guantanamo detainees for Bergdahl, age 29, securing his release in May 2014. The soldier left his post in Afghanistan in June 2009, having written to his parents beforehand saying he no longer supported the war effort and that he was “ashamed to be an American.” He was reportedly held captive by the Taliban for five years.
According to CNN by accounts of those engaged in the searches, at least six soldiers died in operations seeking to find Bergdahl after he went missing.
The president lauded Bergdahl’s release last year with a Rose Garden ceremony. Obama said to the soldier’s parents, who were in attendance: “[T]oday families across America share in the joy that I know you feel…As President, I know that I speak for all Americans when I say we cannot wait for the moment when you are reunited and your son, Bowe, is back in your arms.”
Among the five Taliban detainees traded to obtain Sgt. Bergdahl’s release were: Abdul Haq Wasiq, who served as deputy minister of intelligence for the Taliban; Mullah Mohammad Fazi, deputy defense minister for the Taliban; Mullah Norullah Noori, a senior military commander; Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa, a former provincial governor who reportedly met with Iran to plot attacks against American forces; and Mohammad Nabi Omari, who has held multiple leadership roles in various terrorist groups.
The “misbehavior before the enemy” charge has seldom been used since World War II. “I’ve never seen it charged,” said Walter Huffman, a retired major general who served as the Army’s top lawyer, according to the Military Times. “It’s not something you find in common everyday practice in the military.” (Read more from “The Army Has Charged Bowe Bergdahl With Something Even Worse Than Desertion” HERE)
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Military Selects Rarely Used Charge for Bergdahl Case
By Jonathan Drew. Military prosecutors have reached into a section of military law seldom used since World War II in the politically fraught case against Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier held prisoner for years by the Taliban after leaving his post in Afghanistan.
Observers wondered for months if Bergdahl would be charged with desertion after the deal brokered by the U.S. to bring him home. He was — but he was also charged with misbehavior before the enemy, a much rarer offense that carries a stiffer potential penalty in this case.
“I’ve never seen it charged,” Walter Huffman, a retired major general who served as the Army’s top lawyer, said of the misbehavior charge. “It’s not something you find in common everyday practice in the military.”
Bergdahl could face a life sentence if convicted of the charge, which accuses him of endangering fellow soldiers when he “left without authority; and wrongfully caused search and recovery operations.”
Huffman and others say the misbehavior charge allows authorities to allege that Bergdahl not only left his unit with one less soldier, but that his deliberate action put soldiers who searched for him in harm’s way. The Pentagon has said there is no evidence anyone died searching for Bergdahl. (Read more from this story HERE)
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