Bergdahl released, but eventually charged...

Tidewater said:

His Awesomeness, The One, has once again displayed his Awesome negotiating skills, swapping five terrorists (who are probably already back on the battlefield killing Americans) for a deserter. He could have saved us a lot of trouble by just telling the Talibs, "No thanks. We don't want his butt back."

Now, let's take those awesome negotiating skills to Tehran...

Click to expand...

Tidewater said:

His Awesomeness, The One, has once again displayed his Awesome negotiating skills, swapping five terrorists (who are probably already back on the battlefield killing Americans) for a deserter. He could have saved us a lot of trouble by just telling the Talibs, "No thanks. We don't want his butt back."

Now, let's take those awesome negotiating skills to Tehran...

Click to expand...

CoachJeff said:

So Obama (maybe illegally) traded 5 Taliban guys for one American who the government is now charging with a capital offense.

In retrospect maybe the US could have just sent the terrorists 5 bullets instead and saved the plane fare for Bergdahl.

What a mess.

Click to expand...

Tidewater said:

Right before Obama names Bergdahl National Security Adviser.

Click to expand...

AV8N said:

To be fair, "Death to America!" is the Iranian equivalent of "What's up?", "Hello!", and "Gesundheit!". Sort of a multiuse word like "Aloha!".

Click to expand...

Washington (CNN)Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl told the military he left his unit in eastern Afghanistan in July 2009 intending to walk to the nearest U.S. military outpost to report wrongdoing, believing he could not trust his own commanders to deal with his concerns, according to sources familiar with the Army investigation. It is the clearest indication yet of the motive behind his decision to leave his post.

Bergdahl was planning to report what he believed to be problems with "order and discipline" in his unit, a senior Defense official tells CNN. A second official says Bergdahl had "concerns about leadership issues at his base."

This information is part of the report presented to General Mark Milley who this week decided to charge Bergdahl with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. This information outlines what could be a key part of Bergdahl's defense, which the army is already aware of.

Click to expand...

Bamaro said:

Well, its a unique defense

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/27/politics/bergdahl-intended-to-walk-to-nearest-base/

Click to expand...

"We were literally going back to the FOB Sharana the next day," then-Sgt. Evan Buetow, Bergdahl's team leader, told CNN. "If for whatever reason Bergdahl had complaints, he could have brought them to the attention of senior officers before our five-day mission, or easily could have waited a few more hours till we returned to the FOB."
Then-Specialist Josh Cornelison, the platoon medic, said the base was "a lengthy drive away from" Observation Post Mest, where Bergdahl was last seen by his fellow troops.
"And he wanted to walk back? Knowing full well how many times we'd been blown up on the way there and back? Everyone knew bad dudes were around and watching us move to and from OP Mest," Cornelison said.

---

"His conduct in leaving that equipment behind is so damaging ... If your intent was to go from one COP to another in order to make a report you would never leave your equipment behind. It just defies common sense."

Click to expand...

A 2009 NCIS investigation into Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s activities while in Afghanistan reveal that there is clear evidence Bergdahl was “going over to the other side with a deliberate plan,” Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer said on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" Monday night.

Shaffer, a former military intelligence officer and Fox News contributor, said two senior sources told him that the Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigation included a forensic review of his computer, which show Bergdahl’s apparent intent to travel to Uzbekistan.

“He was going to go off to Uzbekistan,” Shaffer told Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly. “He had made contact with local Afghans and wanted to be moved to Uzbekistan and then made contact with the Russians because he wanted to talk to Russian organized crime ...

Click to expand...

The military has scheduled an initial court appearance known as an Article 32 hearing for Bergdahl on Sept. 17 at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The proceeding is similar to a civilian grand jury, and afterward the case could be referred to a court-martial and go to trial.

---

For Bergdahl, the Article 99 offense allows the prosecutors to seek a stiffer penalty than the desertion charge, which in this case carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Bergdahl's attorney, Eugene Fidell, has argued his client is being charged twice for the same action, saying in a previous television interview that "it's unfortunate that someone got creative in drafting the charge sheet and figured out two ways to charge the same thing."

Click to expand...

Tidewater said:

You have to feel for his attorney. He has to play some card, and his hand is pretty weak.

Click to expand...

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who faces a possible life sentence for endangering the soldiers who searched for him after he left his Afghanistan base in 2009, had a “severe mental disease or defect” at the time, one of his lawyers said Thursday.

The diagnosis was made later by an independent Army psychiatry board, said the defense lawyer, Lt. Col. Franklin D. Rosenblatt of the Army. Because of his psychological problems, Sergeant Bergdahl washed out of Coast Guard basic training three years earlier, Colonel Rosenblatt said, and had to obtain a waiver to join the Army.

Click to expand...

Sergeant Bergdahl washed out of Coast Guard basic training three years earlier, Colonel Rosenblatt said, and had to obtain a waiver to join the Army.

Click to expand...