Did President Obama save a hero, or a traitor? The question has been burning up the news cycle this week as Bowe Bergdahl, a soldier who wandered off his post in Afghanistan, begins his journey home.
If the charges from veterans’ groups and many in the military are true, then Bergdahl was a deserter. But can he be court-martialed? That’s a tough one.
Former Judge Advocate General lawyer and South Texas College of Law professor Geoffrey Corn told the Business Insider that prosecutors would have to prove — without doubt — that Bergdahl, “quit his unit with an intent to remain absent permanently; and he had to have that specific intent.”
Despite accounts from a slew of fellow soldiers, the Pentagon has never considered Bergdhal a deserter; they never even removed him from the Army’s roster. Several of his fellow soldiers are demanding to know why.
Specialist Joshua Fuller of the U.S. Army met and served with Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in Alaska. Fuller joined The Rick Amato Show on One America News Network this week to pull back the curtain.
He was taken aback when he discovered that Bergdhal was not labeled AWOL. “That was astonishing to me, as well as everyone else,” Fuller said.
“It’s much like Benghazi. Everyone knew it wasn’t from a video. It’s the same way here. Everyone, from the top down, pressured us to keep details surrounding Sgt. Bergdahl a secret.”
Spc. Fuller detailed a disconcerting story of Bergdahl before he was taken as a supposed prisoner of war: Mailing personal belongings back home before getting “kidnapped”. Walking off-base he had a knife, a water bottle, and a notepad, before getting “kidnapped.” He spoke about how America should no longer be a world superpower.
Several questions also surround Bergdahl’s father. A tweet sent earlier this week from his account read that he was “still working to free all Guantanamo prisoners.” The tweet was later deleted. It also said, “God will repay for the death of every Afghan child, ameen.”
Shortly after the news of Bowe Bergdahl’s swap broke, SPC Joshua Fuller was among the first of many to label him a traitor. That’s not a word those in the U.S. military throw around often, and the outcry among those in the armed services has been significant.
Fuller told Amato, “He had walked off in the middle of the night. We weren’t in the middle of a firefight or anything. It was very concerning.”
Are these the actions of a hero, or traitor? Did Bergdahl want to join the Taliban forces?
The details chronicled by Fuller were damning: He told Amato, “After Bergdahl left we started getting hit with direct and indirect fire so precise that only one with inside knowledge of how we operate could have shown them.”
Fuller continued, “The IED’s were getting placed on the exact spots in the road to kill the most senior and important person in the vehicle. The Taliban and the Haqqani network started knowing and using tactics that only U.S. personnel trained for and knew how to use; so there is no doubt in my mind that he is an absolute traitor.”
Recent reports show that as many as 14 lives were lost as a result of searching for Bergdahl, “They died as a direct result of going to look for him.”
“That’s not including those who may have died from his helping the Taliban,” Fuller added.
A lack of transparency is one issue; lives lost as a result of it is something else.
Tell me: Does this handover look like a hostage situation?