Army Refuses to Release Findings of Bergdahl Investigation

By: Thomas Rose (Breitbart) According to a report in the San Antonio News Express the US Army has completed but is refusing to release its investigation into the suspected desertion of Army PFC Bowe Bergdahl who walked off his base in Afghanistan in 2009. He subsequently fell into the hands of Taliban forces who held him captive for five years. His release, which was orchestrated and executed by the Obama Administration without the consent of Congress, swapped Bergdahl for the five most senior Taliban commanders held in captivity has arguably become the most controversial prisoner exchange in the history of the country.

Bergdahl, who was released in May of this year, is currently stationed at Fort Sam Houston U.S. Army North in San Antonio, TX. The army report was authored by Brigadier General Kenneth Dahl and, according to a US army spokesman, is now being “reviewed by commanders." There are no plans, said Army Spokesman Wayne Hall, to make public the findings of the investigation.

Fox News is reporting however that the findings will be released to the public, but only after the November 4 midterm elections.

The Bergdahl-Taliban exchange unleashed a firestorm of criticism that continues to this day. Never before had the United States military knowingly released a senior commander of an active enemy force in war time. Even senior Defense Department officials were forced to concede that the “Taliban Five," as they subsequently became known, were all expected to resume direct command of enemy forces at war with the United States.

Every one of the men who served with the Idaho native and has spoken out publicly claims Bergdahl clearly deserted his unit in 2009 before he was captured by the Taliban. Bergdahl’s release, announced by President Obama while surrounded by Bergdahl’s parents in the Rose Garden, remains one of the most devastating public relations disasters experienced by this White House. With the President at his side, Bergdahl’s father, speaking in Arabic thanked Allah for his son’s release and praised his son for seeking out the Taliban. S

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jadelt

Well if I had good news I would not want it to impact the elections either. I keep the good news all to myself.

jd50ae

:-J

raisindot

jd50ae:
With the President at his side, Bergdahl’s father, speaking in Arabic thanked Allah for his son’s release and praised his son for seeking out the Taliban.

If for one you actually WENT TO THE SOURCE AND WATCHED THE VIDEO rather than doing your usual regurgitation of FOX and right-wing lies, you might actually have a point to make.

If you watcn the video, Berghdal's father say, "I'd like to say to Bowe right now, who’s having trouble speaking English, bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim."(The phrase translates to “In the name of Allah, the merciful, the compassionate.”)

Now, contrary to what your right-wing news gods tell you, this is not a terrorist phrase. It's a standard Arabic Islamic phrase spoken by 2 billion Moslems and is the equivalent of a Christian saying. "Praise Jesus" or "Praise the Lord." Since Berghdal converted to Islam, it makes perfect sense for a father to be speaking a phrase commonly used by Muslims in everyday life. Was he not thinking about the political ramifications of his statement? Probably not. He's naive at best, an idiot at worst, just like his son. But the statement in itself is not treasonous or anti-American. If it is, then seven million patriotic Muslim-Americans who use this phrase all the time are traitors.

As for the other lie, nowhere in his White House speech did Bergdahl's father praise Bowe for seeking out the Taliban. Nor did he mention the Taliban at all. He did go out of his way to praise the military for bringing Bowe back. Yet another Fox right-wing lie deflated.

Bigshizza

So...? How about donating some time to worthwhile causes in your community?

jd50ae

Bigshizza:
So...? How about donating some time to worthwhile causes in your community?

I do.

webmost

I see a story attributed to Thomas Rose. I don't know who that is. Apparently circulated by Breitbart. I have no idea what that is. Derived, it says, from a San Antonio newspaper which I have never read. In the middle of this story, I see this one sentence: "Fox News is reporting however that the findings will be released to the public, but only after the November 4 midterm elections." Then back to the newspaper story.

Is that the lie you lambaste Fox news for telling, then? Are you saying that we WILL see the findings before the election?

raisindot

webmost:
I see a story attributed to Thomas Rose. I don't know who that is. Apparently circulated by Breitbart. I have no idea what that is. Derived, it says, from a San Antonio newspaper which I have never read. In the middle of this story, I see this one sentence: "Fox News is reporting however that the findings will be released to the public, but only after the November 4 midterm elections." Then back to the newspaper story.

Is that the lie you lambaste Fox news for telling, then? Are you saying that we WILL see the findings before the election?

No, if you had read my message you would see in the requote from the OP's message that I was challenging. I don't doubt at all that the release of the military findings will be withheld until after the election. However, It's not the veracity of that part of the OP's message that I was questioning. I was questioning a false statement that said that the father had publicly stated in his White House comments that he was glad his son had been captured by the Taliban.

The3Stogies

Won't release before the election because either way it will be bad. Innocent he gets all his back pay and public opinion will be the judge based on the facts they know. If he is guilty then the trade was complete BS, a photo op and public opinion will be the judge. Either way it will be bad.

webmost

raisindot:
webmost:
I see a story attributed to Thomas Rose. I don't know who that is. Apparently circulated by Breitbart. I have no idea what that is. Derived, it says, from a San Antonio newspaper which I have never read. In the middle of this story, I see this one sentence: "Fox News is reporting however that the findings will be released to the public, but only after the November 4 midterm elections." Then back to the newspaper story.

Is that the lie you lambaste Fox news for telling, then? Are you saying that we WILL see the findings before the election?

No, if you had read my message you would see in the requote from the OP's message that I was challenging. I don't doubt at all that the release of the military findings will be withheld until after the election. However, It's not the veracity of that part of the OP's message that I was questioning. I was questioning a false statement that said that the father had publicly stated in his White House comments that he was glad his son had been captured by the Taliban.

Oh. And here I thought you were blaming all the wicked lies of the world on Fox News.

Allahu Akbar.

raisindot

webmost:

Oh. And here I thought you were blaming all the wicked lies of the world on Fox News.

Oh, certainly not. Even Fox News doesn't have that level of capabilities. But I can't fault 'em for tryin'.

jd50ae

Meanwhile a US Marine sits in a mexican prison. Maybe if the guns he had were part of holder's Fast and Furious he would be home by now.

raisindot

jd50ae:
Meanwhile a US Marine sits in a mexican prison. Maybe if the guns he had were part of holder's Fast and Furious he would be home by now.

Andrew Tahmooressi is in prison not for being an ex-Marine but for breaking Mexican gun laws--laws we in the U.S. convinced Mexico to pass and enforce to try to make a dent in violent cross border activities-- by illegally bringing guns into the country. And he didn't just "accidentally" cross the border and was no stranger to Mexico. He had actually been in Tijuana the day he was arrested, checking in and out of a hotel then returning home and then driving his truck across the border. And he had crossed the border before, and when he was caught by Mexican customs officials, he was driving away from the U.S. border, not from it. He tried to escape from prison and was caught. And far from being in a "Midnight Express" hell, he is in relatively (by Mexican standards) comfortable cell, gets two hours of phone time each day, gets visited by a pastor and has been visited by his family and is being represented by one of Mexico's most well known defense attorneys, a man who successfully represented a Mexican mayor accused of drug trafficking. His incarceration is a lot more "humane" than the average Mexican gets for similar infractions. That he was a war hero in Afghanistan and suffers from PTSD is completely irrelevant and doesn't absolve him of breaking the law, any more than it does for active or ex-soldiers who commit any other crime, here in America or elsewhere. He knew was he was getting into when he crossed the border with guns. Where exactly he was going and with whom he was meeting is only known to him. This man is not a POW. And the U.S. is not morally obligated to bring him back. But it's very likely that he'll never face trial in Mexico and will be returned through back-channel negotiations.

http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-ra-tahmooressi-spin-machine-20140807-column.html#page=1

webmost

Is it illegal to desert?

raisindot

webmost:
Is it illegal to desert?

Under military law, of course it is. And if after Bergdahl's military trial it's determined, through the presentation of evidence and through whatever the military considers to be its due judicial process, rather than trial by social media an d forum posters, that he did desert, he should punished accordingly. At the moment, he is innocent until proven guilty.