What's up with controversy about Bob Bergdahl?

[Tropicana]

Behind the Scenes of Bowe Bergdahl’s Release

In the days and hours leading up to the release ofSgt. Bowe Bergdahl last week, his Taliban captors in Pakistan prepared for a big sendoff. Those selected to physically hand Bergdahl over to U.S. officials at a pre-arranged location on the other side of the border in Afghanistan rehearsed the messages they wanted to convey to the American people. A videographer was assigned to cover the event, for propaganda purposes. And those closest to Bergdahl commissioned a local tailor to make him a set of the local tunic and trousers in white, which, given as a gift, denotes a gesture of respect.“You know we are also human beings and have hearts in our bodies,” a senior Taliban commander affiliated with the Haqqani network, which was holding Bergdahl captive, tells TIME. “We are fighting a war against each other, in which [the Americans] kill us and we kill them. But we did whatever we could to make [Bergdahl] happy.”
The commander, who has been known to TIME for several years and has consistently supplied reliable information about Bergdahl’s captivity, is not authorized by his superiors to speak to the media, so he has asked not to be identified by name. The commander spoke to TIME by telephone from an undisclosed location in Afghanistan.

If time knew where Bergdahl was why didn't they disclose this information covertly?

Bergdahl, who was the only known remaining U.S. prisoner of war from the long conflict in Afghanistan, had learned basic Pashto during his incarceration, and had made several friends among his Taliban captors, according to the commander. The tunic set, along with the woven scarf that can also be worn as a turban, but is draped across Bergdahl’s shoulders in the Taliban

video documenting his release, was a parting gift designed to demonstrate no personal ill will, says the commander: “We wanted him to return home with good memories.”

So dispirited was Bergdahl with the process, says the commander, that he didn’t even believe his captors when they announced his pending release. Bergdahl had been there once before, in March of 2012, when negotiations were so close that he had already been handed over to senior members of the Taliban council in Afghanistan conducting the talks. When they collapsed, Bergdahl was shuttled back to Haqqani captivity in Pakistan’s ungoverned tribal areas along the border. “That’s why he didn’t trust us this time when he was told about his likely release,” says the commander.
It is not entirely clear what made the negotiations more successful this time around, other than the sense of urgency triggered by Bergdahl’s apparent declining health and U.S. plans to significantly reduce military troop numbers in Afghanistan over the next couple years. For the Taliban, it doesn’t matter. They see the exchange as an unmitigated victory. “Our talks finally proved successful for the prisoners’ swap,” says the commander. “We returned our valued guest to his people and in return, they freed our five heroes held in Guantanamo Bay since 2002.”

There was some disgruntlement among Taliban ranks over the terms, admits the Kandahar commander. Some members wanted a ransom payment for Bergdahl, in addition to the release of the Guantanamo detainees. But the leadership prevailed. “We told them that these five men are more important than millions of dollars to us,” he says. He was more tolerant of complaints from Taliban foot soldiers that pointed out that for all the celebrations surrounding the officials’ release, there was no reward or recognition for the Taliban fighters who captured Bergdahl in 2009. But that’s not likely to get in the way of future attempts to kidnap American soldiers, across all ranks.

Asked whether the Taliban would be inspired by the exchange to kidnap others, he laughed. “Definitely,” he says. “It’s better to kidnap one person like Bergdahl than kidnapping hundreds of useless people. It has encouraged our people. Now everybody will work hard to capture such an important bird.”

http://time.com/2826534/bowe-bergdahl-taliban-captors/

Why is the USA withdrawing if part of Afghanistan is still under Taliban control. Some of the people from Afghanistan look Asian as Genghis Kahn passed through that area but they never show these.

[Tropicana]

Where Bowe Bergdahl Goes From Here

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is just days into what could be months or years of recovery







How the Bergdahl Story Went from Victory to Controversy for Obama





Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, Lone American Still Held in Afghanistan, Safely Returned






by Taboola






U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl arrived at a German hospital three days ago, which means he’s just finished the minimum 72-hour decompression period of his “Phase III Reintegration.”

Phase I, initial recovery, occurs “at the forward operating location within hours of recovery.” In Bergdahl’s case this was likely on a military base in Afghanistan. It involves “medical triage, psychological support and tactical debriefing for time sensitive information,” according to a fact sheet given to TIME by the U.S. Southern Command.What does this mean? It’s part of a three-step process to Bergdahl’s reintegration into American society. For someone who’s been gone for five years—one of the longest-held POWs ever treated by the U.S. Southern Command—that process is bound to be a long one.
Phase II is called “decompression” and it happens in a regional hospital — Landstuhl Medical Center, in this case. It lasts a minimum of 72 hours, but it can last longer depending on the medical and psychological needs of the POW. There is no indication of how long Bergdahl will stay in Germany. When he’s ready, he’ll move on to Phase III, which will happen at Brooks Army Medical Center at Ft. Sam Houston in Texas.
Bergdahl’s parents had yet to even speak to him by phone as of Tuesday evening, according to Idaho National Guard Spokesman Timothy Marsano, who has acted as the family’s spokesman for years. After appearing alongside President Barack Obama in the Rose Garden Saturday, Bergdahl’s parents have returned home to Hailey, Idaho. When their son is ready, they will meet him in Texas, where they will spend months helping with his recovery as he enters Phase III.
Phase III is the longest part of reintegration. It involves “establish a perception of control of their life,” having “their emotions normalized” and reengaging “in a healthy life style with family, socially and with work.” It also involves gathering “time sensitive” and “strategic intelligence” and “evidence” to “prosecute criminals.”
Southern Command, which deals with all reintegration cases, developed this protocol after the Vietnam War to help with the flood of hundreds of returned POWs. Since 2007, they’ve treated an Army contractor held hostage in Ethiopia for three months, three Pentagon contractors held in Colombia for more than 5 years, an Army civilian held in Iraq for two months and a U.S. service member held in Colombia for over four months.
“So, yes, obviously this will be one of our longer cases,” says Col. Hans Bush, director of public affairs for U.S. Army South.
Bergdahl’s road home is complicated by an Army investigation into whether he defected or should be held on charges of going AWOL (Absent Without Leave) the June, 2009 night he walked away from his unit in Afghanistan. Normally, POWs who successfully finish Phase 3 return to service. Given the circumstances, though, Bergdahl could be returning to a court martial and potential jail time.
All of which is to say, Bergdahl almost surely won’t make it home for the June 28 “Bowe Is Home” celebration being planned in Haley to mark his release. The celebration was originally planned as a “Bring Bowe Back” event. So, while many questions remain, his family and friends can celebrate that he is, at least partway, back.

http://time.com/2822819/bowe-bergdahl/

I read he is speaking English again but I can't find it.

[lonewolf]

FOX News=conservative spoof

CNN News=liberal spoof

Pick your poison...

[lonewolf]

Why is the USA withdrawing if part of Afghanistan is still under Taliban control. Some of the people from Afghanistan look Asian as Genghis Kahn passed through that area but they never show these.

Because they are not there to win. Unless a military wages total conventional war on another country they cannot win. This is an unconventional war on a secular group located in another country without affiliation.

Someone try to explain it to her if they are so brave...

[Tropicana]

Now this boggles the mind... sorry I don't get it...sometimes I really wonder about some a onoo south of the border.

FBI: Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's parents have received threats



he FBI is investigating threats against the parents of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the latest development in a case that has put the spotlight on the circumstances surrounding his capture in Afghanistan and release by the Taliban.
"We are working jointly with our state and local partners and taking each threat seriously," FBI Special Agent William Facer told CNN in an e-mail on Saturday.
Facer declined to detail the nature and severity of the threats, and a military spokesperson for the Bergdahls declined to comment.
Bergdahl's parents have not been seen publicly since the announcement last week that the soldier had been freed from five years in captivity at the hands of the Taliban in exchange for the release of five detainees at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.

The news comes as a fallen soldier's mother and a former member of Bergdahl's unit continued to assert that troops were killed while searching for the soldier in eastern Afghanistan.
Pentagon and Army officials have looked at such claims, and "right now there is no evidence to back that up," a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, has told CNN.
But former Sgt. Matt Vierkant, a member of Bergdahl's platoon, told CNN's Michael Smerconish that "men were injured and killed in the search for him."
"The mission was to find Bergdahl," Vierkant said.
In the week since Bergdahl was released by the Taliban, a controversy has grown over whether troops were killed, directly or indirectly, in the search.
Former soldiers involved in the operations asserted to CNN this week that at least six soldiers were killed in the search for Bergdahl.

Also making claims of troop deaths in the Bergdahl search is Sondra Andrews, the mother of 2nd Lt. Darryn Andrews, who was killed in September 2009.
She endorsed accusations by former unit members that Bergdahl deserted and caused U.S. troops to die in the search for him -- though Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has said it's "unfair" to Bergdahl and his family to presume anything about his disappearance.
Andrews said she believes her son and other troops "were strictly on a mission looking for Bergdahl."
That information is "based on the men that served with Darryn," she told Smerconish.
Andrews said that military should give her family information "on what Darryn was doing and why they lied to us."
"I'd like to see Bergdahl given an opportunity to tell his story, be on trial, have the witnesses come forward and tell their story and get the truth through that, and then I would like to see the full measure of the law followed for his punishment," Andrews said.

Bergdahl went missing on June 30, 2009, in Afghanistan's Paktika province, where he was deployed with the 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.
An Army fact-finding investigation conducted in the months after his disappearance concluded that Bergdahl left his outpost deliberately and of his own free will, according to the official, who was briefed on the report.
The Army has no definitive finding that Bergdahl deserted because that would require knowing his intent -- something Army officials couldn't learn without talking to the soldier, a U.S. military official told CNN.

Unflippinbelievable!

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/07/us/sgt-bowe-bergdahl-controversy/index.html

[Tropicana]

The video on this one is really informative:

How did 6 die after Bowe Bergdahl's disappearance?

Much attention has been given to the claim made by the former platoonmates of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl that he is partly to blame for the deaths of six soldiers who were killed in the months after Bergdahl disappeared.Some soldiers have gone so far as to say the six died while searching for Bergdahl. Others say he is indirectly to blame -- after Bergdahl vanished, essentially every operation became a mission to find their lost colleague in one way or another, they say.
"I can't really say I blame Bergdahl to the fullest extent," former Staff Sgt. Justin Gerleve, Bergdahl's squad leader, told CNN last week, "but if he wouldn't have deserted us, these soldiers very well could have been in a different place at a different time, rather than the place at the time of their death."



Interviews with soldiers familiar with the specific missions in which the six died suggest the charge is complicated -- but not without merit given how much the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment became focused on "PR" -- personnel recovery -- after Bergdahl vanished from his guard post on June 30, 2009.

"The fact of the matter is, when those soldiers were killed, they would not have been where they were at if Bergdahl had not have left," said former Sgt. Evan Buetow, Bergdahl's former team leader. "Bergdahl leaving changed the mission."
Those charges were repeatedby a noncommissioned officer who requested anonymity because he is still in the Army, one who described himself as a two-time voter for President Obama, lest anyone think his comments were political in any way.
"If Bergdahl hadn't left it's entirely plausible that they wouldn't have had those follow-on missions or been where they were," said the NCO, who served in the 501st.
Some also argue that the personnel recovery mission angered the local population, and created patterns in troops' movement that made insurgent attacks easier.
None of that has been enough to quell critics who accuse the soldiers of smearing Bergdahl and exaggerating the role his disappearance played in the deaths of the six men.
A New York Times story cited by critics of the soldiers from the 501st now calling Bergdahl a deserter doesn't go into much detail about the six men from Bergdahl's battalion, instead focusing on a separate attack that killed two mortarmen.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he didn't "know of circumstances or details of U.S. soldiers dying as a result of efforts to find and rescue Sgt. Bergdahl."
A U.S. official told CNN last week that Pentagon and Army officials have looked at the claims, and "right now there is no evidence to back that up."
The six men killed were in the 501st Infantry. All of them were killed in Paktika Province between August 18 and September 6, 2009, after the intense initial search for Bergdahl concluded but within the two- to three-month period when, by accounts from more than 20 members of the 501st, essentially every mission in the province had a PR component to it. One of those killed was from Comanche Company, two of those killed were in Bergdahl's Blackfoot Company, three were from Headquarters Company.

See full details about how the 6 died here:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/08/us/bergdahl-search-soldiers/

[My Looh]

If it proven that Bergdahl indeed deserted and the Republicans march out the parents of those who died trying to save him in front of the TV cameras (if it has not happened already) then I think that will be the final nail in the coffin for President Obama's foreign policy legacy. The fact that under his term they caught and killed Osama Bin Laden and that he ended both wars will be a distant memory.

[Tropicana]

Here is the deal....IF...until a full investigation has been completed people need to get a grip.

[My Looh]

Here is the deal....IF...until a full investigation has been completed people need to get a grip.

I agree with this. But so far, some of the interviews with those that served with him are not portraying him in a patriotic light, but then again, if it is found that he was suffering from some mental issues while serving which caused him to just drop everything and leave the base then I think that should be taken into consideration just in the same way that those who come back suffering from PTSD are looked at legitimately.

When is someone a coward or when have they decided to break the oath they took when they joined the military and when is someone genuinely considered to be suffering mentally? I guess that is for the psychiatrist to determine. Hopefully the media and the public will respect the findings either way!

[Tropicana]

If you read the story I posted the reports from those who served with him are not consistent. Here is the deal. I have never been in the military and I have no desire to serve in that capacity. I can't even imagine the horror it is for some of these young people when they finally serve "in country".

I have met members of the military on shore leave in Malaysia a couple of times and I even had a long conversation with one of the senior officers. He told me that to serve they have to be 18.....they can be accepted at 17 with parental permission. He said these are young guys from small towns and for many of them it is there first time away from home or travelling.

The bigger question that no one is asking is why any nation would send their youth off like this when they are in the prime of life? We can debate whether or not the missions in Afghanistan and Iraq were justified. I have my own opinion on that but that is a WHOLE other discussion. The bottom line is if these young people were at home with their families, going to university or learning a trade, they would not be in harms way. Do the powers that be weigh their decision to send them off carefully. I dunno....I heard that Colin Powell warned Bush against getting involved in Iraq but President Bush was determined:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/26/colin-powell-worried-us-g_n_3819987.html

Was Bowe Bergdahl terrified? If he wasn't I would be very surprised. Once he got over there, did he have concerns about the mission...and do other soldiers....I'll bet they do. But, this is no reason to attack him and his parents before the facts are known.

[Tropicana]

As Bowe Bergdahl Heals, Details Emerge of His Captivity

gt. Bowe Bergdahl has told medical officials that his captors locked him in a metal cage in total darkness for weeks at a time as punishment for trying to escape, and while military doctors say he now is physically able to travel he is not yet emotionally ready for the pressures of reuniting with his family, according to American officials who have been briefed on his condition.Continue reading the main storySergeant Bergdahl, who was released last Saturday to American commandos in Afghanistan in exchange for five Taliban detainees held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, remains in a military hospital in Germany without access to news media — and thus is oblivious to the raging criticism from some in Congress about the prisoner swap and even from members of his former platoon who say he deserted them. He has received a letter from his sister but has not yet responded, and objects when hospital staff address him as sergeant instead of private first class, his rank when he was captured nearly five years ago after walking off a remote outpost in eastern Afghanistan, the official said.


While medical officials are pressing him for details about his time in captivity to help begin repairing his medical and psychological wounds, these specialists have not yet focused on the critical questions about why he left his outpost and how he was captured by insurgents, the officials said — and there is no predetermined schedule for doing so.
“Physically, he could be put on a plane to the U.S. tomorrow, but there are still a couple of mental criteria to address: the family unification piece and the media exposure piece,” said one American official who has been briefed on the sergeant’s condition.
From the initial briefings given to senior military and civilian officials in the past week, Sergeant Bergdahl, 28, in some ways seems healthier than expected. He suffers from skin and gum disorders typical of poor hygiene and exposure, but otherwise is physically sound, one official said. He weighs about 160 pounds on a 5-foot-9 frame, and is sleeping about seven hours a night.
He shows few if any signs of the malnourishment and other ailments that Obama administration officials said he was suffering when they saw a video of him that the Taliban made in December and released a month later — a video so alarming, American officials have said, it made his release an urgent priority. As talks for Sergeant Bergdahl’s release proceeded after that, his captors may have fed him better, allowed him greater movement and even brought him medical care in preparation for his departure, American officials said.
But Sergeant Bergdahl’s relatively stable health may be cited by those who object to the prisoner swap and have said his condition should not have been grounds for the administration to move rapidly ahead with releasing the Guantánamo detainees without informing Congress.
Last week, he took a short walk just outside his private room at Landstuhl, an American official said. By midweek, he put on his Army uniform for the first time in five years, and was taking longer strolls through the hospital corridors, still conversing only with the team of specialists assigned to help him. The preliminary reports emerging from his doctors and other specialists in Germany offer the most detailed account so far of Sergeant Bergdahl’s physical and mental condition after a week in recovery from an ordeal whose ending has ignited angry reactions from soldiers in his former unit, members of Congress who accuse President Obama of failing to inform them of the secret talks to free the soldier, and other critics who say liberating the Taliban detainees amounts to bargaining with terrorists.

Two American officials, including one senior Defense Department official, who have been briefed on the reports spoke Saturday on the condition of anonymity because of restrictions on the public release of information about Sergeant Bergdahl’s health and an impending investigation into any possible misconduct surrounding the circumstance of his leaving the outpost.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/08/us/after-release-from-taliban-bowe-bergdahl-suffers-from-skin-and-gum-disorders-but-is-physically-sound.html

[Tropicana]

23 Years Old - Taliban Propoganda Film

The interviewer has really strong English.

[Tropicana]

Comparison

Here is a Taliban suicide bomber who was captured when his bomb didn't go off. Mind you he is being interviewed by the media not his captors.

Not sure why he is smiling.

[My Looh]

The bottom line is if these young people were at home with their families, going to university or learning a trade, they would not be in harms way.

The recruitment officers cruise the inner city neighbourhoods where the kids have little or no hope for any kind of future and target perspective recruits. Most of the young ones who have parents that can afford to send them to university or can get them started on the road to learning a trade do not end up serving in the forces. Obviously not true in every case but certainly true in many. Those that end up over in Afghanistan etc.. may very well have instead ended up in a gang and not really outside of harms way at all.

[My Looh]

If you read the story I posted ....

I find the topic interesting and will read it all later when I have time, when the boss leaves to go home.