Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, a POW for five years at the hands of the Taliban, may now face lifetime imprisonment in America for desertion and misbehavior in 2009. The punishment is a complete shift from the two previous military officials’ opinions in September that more prison time for Bergdahl would be “inappropriate”.
General Robert B.
Abrams, head of Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg Courtesy: US ARMY
Monday’s decision to reject the ‘slap on the wrist’ penalty comes from General Robert Abrams, head of Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg. Since then, Republicans have lined up to as if to flog the embattled soldier.
Senator John McCain, chairman of the Armed Forces Committee and a former POW in Vietnam, recently told the Boston Herald that Sergeant Bergdahl was “clearly a deserter”. Months earlier, GOP presidential candidate frontrunner Donald Trump called Bergdahl a “traitor” who should have “been executed.”
Bergdahl’s lawyer, Eugene Fidell, defends his client’s right to a fair trial with the following statement:
“We again ask that Donald Trump cease his prejudicial months long campaign of defamation against our client…We also ask that the House and Senate Armed Services Committees avoid any further statements or actions that prejudice our client’s right to a fair trial.”
Bergdahl is not Benghazi
Bergdahl shouldn’t be used as a pawn for political gains of either General Abrams nor the Republican party and The New York Times editorial board agrees.
In their recent op-ed titled “Mr. McCain’s Irresponsible Remarks About Sgt. Bergdahl“, they say, “Republicans have exploited the case to criticize President Obama for the prisoner swap he authorized to secure the soldier’s release,” adding, “Mr. McCain’s remarks are particularly troubling because Gen. Robert Abrams, the top commander at Fort Bragg, N.C., who will make the final decision on the Bergdahl case, will most likely appear before Mr. McCain’s committee for confirmation should he be promoted to a higher post in the future.”
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) Courtesy:cCain.senate.gov
Leveraging the 2012 attacks on the American consulate in Benghazi is an attack on U.S. officials and their handling of the deadly incident and GOP 2016 candidate, Carly Fiorina, used it against then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at Tuesday’s GOP Debate.
The question was whether or not it’s best to leave Mideast dictators in power, to which Fiorina says, “Although she wasn’t prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn’t listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks.”
Bergdahl is different. He was a soldier in his early 20’s who says he left his base to find other Army officers to complain about his issues with his chain of command.
He was not elected to office and he doesn’t deserve to be under their level of scrutiny.
Say what you mean and mean what you say
The GOP should go after Obama, not Bergdahl. Their real beef is with Obama’s decisions in 2014 to negotiate a deal where he would swap the American POW for five Taliban detainees he plucked from the controversial detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. House Republicans even issued a report citing the recklessness of the whole deal.
Next steps
The New York Times reports that the “Army did not elaborate on Monday’s decision by General Abrams, or on why he decided that Sergeant Bergdahl should face the potential for a far more serious punishment than what the two independent Army fact-finders had recommended.”
Remember, General Abrams could still back down and suggest a nonjudicial punishment or recommend Bergdahl’s discharge from the military.
Bergdahl’s next hearing will take place at Fort Bragg, that date is TBD.
Chloe Sommers is the Executive Editor and Chief Political Managing Editor of the Never Daunted Radio Network. You can reach her on Twitter @ChloePalma