Barry's 'Hero' - Traitor Bergdahl: Taliban Treated Me Better Than The Army

[easyt65]

The traitor Barry claimed to have served 'Honorably and with distinguish', the guy who was chained to a bed for years before his release was secured by the US, has claimed that his captors - the Taliban - treated him better than the US Army.


'Bowe Bergdahl, the US Army sergeant who plead guilty to desertion charges last week, said in interview published yesterday that the Taliban who captured him treated him better than the United States Army.
Bergdahl was captured in 2009 by Jihadis after he abandoned his post in Afghanistan. He spent five years as a prisoner of war. ... “I keep thinking back to the soldiers whose lives where lost, Mike, in the search and rescue efforts for Bowe Bergdahl,” said Dana. “The six soldiers … and he says the Taliban treated him better that the US Army.”


I guess we should have left his ass with them, then....

 

[easyt65]

...and 'Mis-Behavior Before The Enemy'.

 

[waltky]

Granny says he may've had a momma, but obviously she didn't teach him nuthin'...

Bergdahl Confronted by Wounds Comrades Suffered in Searches
26 Oct 2017 — The wounds and hardships soldiers suffered during their fruitless search for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured by the Taliban after walking off his post in Afghanistan, are being described in painful detail at his sentencing hearing.

Bergdahl, who suffered five years as an enemy captive after abandoning his remote post in 2009, pleaded guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy last week and faces a maximum of life in prison. Prosecutors made no deal, so the judge has wide leeway to determine punishment. The Army judge, Col. Jeffery R. Nance, said Wednesday that he's still considering a defense motion to dismiss the entire case over the unfair command influence they say is reflected in comments Donald Trump made as a candidate and reaffirmed as president, that Bergdahl should be put before a firing squad or thrown from a plane without a parachute. More testimony on dangerous search missions is expected Thursday after a Navy SEAL described his career-ending leg wound on Wednesday.

Col. Clinton Baker leaves the Fort Bragg courthouse after testifying in Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's sentencing hearing on Oct. 25, 2017, on Fort Bragg, N.C.​

Retired Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer James Hatch said his team's helicopters came under fire as they landed near the Pakistan border, following information on Bergdahl's possible whereabouts. He said the mission, led in the days after Bergdahl disappeared was hastily planned, and their only objective was finding the soldier. A military dog leading them through a field located two enemy fighters that the team had seen at a distance. Hatch said the fighters sprayed AK-47 bullets at them, killing the dog. He was hit in the leg. "I screamed a lot. It hurt really bad ... I thought I was dead," said Hatch, who entered the courtroom with a limp and a service dog. Hatch said he believes he would have died if a comrade hadn't quickly applied a tourniquet. Hatch has subsequently had 18 surgeries. A soldier whose hand was shattered by a rocket-propelled grenade during a separate search for Bergdahl could testify Thursday. Another soldier suffered a traumatic brain injury on that mission.

The 31-year-old soldier from Hailey, Idaho, has said he was caged by his captors, kept in darkness and beaten, and tried to escape more than a dozen times before President Barack Obama brought him home in 2014 in a swap for five Taliban prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Nance said Monday that he would be fair and hasn't been influenced by Trump, but that he does have concerns that the president's comments are affecting public perceptions about the case and its outcome. Nance ruled in February that comments Trump made as a civilian candidate didn't constitute unlawful command influence. The defense says Trump revived his campaign comments the day of Bergdahl's plea hearing, by saying he thinks people are aware of what he said before.

Bergdahl Confronted by Wounds Comrades Suffered in Searches | Military.com

See also:

SEAL Testifies in Bergdahl Trial: 'He’s an American -- He Had a Mom'
25 Oct 2017 | Special operators risked their lives to rescue Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl even though they knew he had deserted because "he had a mom," a former Navy SEAL seriously wounded during the search testified Wednesday.

Retired Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Jimmy Hatch took the witness stand in a Fort Bragg courtroom and described a quickly planned mission aimed at recovering Bergdahl after his unit received information about the soldier's possible location in eastern Afghanistan about a week after his disappearance. "Somebody's going to get killed or hurt trying to find this kid," Hatch recalled telling another member of his SEAL team before boarding helicopters to fly to the location where they believed they might find Bergdahl. Hatch's testimony Wednesday opened the sentencing phase of Bergdahl's court-martial, which could last several days. Last week, Bergdahl, 31, pleaded guilty to charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, admitting he unlawfully left his post in June 2009, endangering his fellow troops as they launched operations to recover the missing soldier.

Under questioning from the lead prosecutor, Army Maj. Justin C. Oshana, Hatch recalled his uneasy feelings about the mission to retrieve Bergdahl and how hours later he was the one grievously wounded in a fight when an enemy fighter sprayed AK-47 fire at him, hitting him just above the right knee and shattering his femur. Hatch said he nearly bled to death. Despite his concerns, Hatch said the SEAL team members were willing to take the risk to recover Bergdahl. "He's an American," Hatch said, adding later, "and he had a mom." After his injury, Hatch went through 18 surgeries to repair his leg, but has been left with a permanent limp. He was forced to retire from the SEALs, in which he had served for nearly 26 years. The judge, Army Col. Jeffery R. Nance, who is expected to sentence Bergdahl next week following additional witness testimony, will likely hear testimony about two additional servicemembers wounded on a mission to rescue Bergdahl.

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl leaves a motions hearing during a lunch break in Fort Bragg, N.C.​

Defense attorneys are expected to call witnesses to testify about Bergdahl's mental state and the horrid conditions and torture that he faced during five years of captivity by a Taliban-linked militant group in Pakistan. Bergdahl said during his plea hearing Oct. 16 that he walked off Observation Post Mest on June 30, 2009, in an attempt to walk to a nearby base to complain about problems that he perceived in his chain of command. He said his actions were "inexcusable," as he entered a guilty plea without any pre-trial agreement with the Army to cap his potential sentence. Within hours of leaving the outpost in Paktika province, Bergdahl was captured by Taliban fighters and eventually smuggled into Pakistan, where he was held. He was released in May 2014 in a controversial prisoner exchange for five Taliban commanders who had been held in the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Bergdahl was charged with "misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command, unit or place" and "desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty" in March 2015.

He faces a maximum punishment up to life imprisonment, reduction in rank to private, forfeiture of all pay and a dishonorable discharge. On Wednesday morning, Nance was expected to announce his decision on an Oct. 17 defense motion to limit Bergdahl's maximum sentence to no punishment or at least no confinement because of a comment last week by President Donald Trump. Trump recently referenced disparaging comments about Bergdahl that the president repeatedly delivered as a candidate when he was questioned Oct. 16 during a White House news conference about the soldier's court-martial. Defense attorneys earlier this year unsuccessfully attempted to have their client's case dismissed over Trump's campaign trail rhetoric. They documented more than 60 instances when Trump referred to Bergdahl, including calling him a "dirty, rotten traitor," and promising to review Bergdahl's case if he was elected president.

Eugene Fidell, Bergdahl's lead attorney, asked Nance on Monday to limit Bergdahl's sentence to alleviate any perception the judge -- an active-duty Army officer under Trump's command -- and other Army officials were influenced by the commander in chief, which would amount to unlawful command influence. Prosecutors countered that Trump's statement Oct. 16 did not disparage Bergdahl or refer to any particular punishment the soldier should receive, thus Nance had no need to limit the maximum potential punishment. "I'm still considering it," Nance said of the motion. The judge will have to rule on it before he sentences Bergdahl, who has remained on active duty since he was released, serving in a desk job at Joint Base San Antonio and has not been held in pretrial confinement.

SEAL Testifies in Bergdahl Trial: 'He’s an American -- He Had a Mom' | Military.com

 

[asaratis]

Send the son of a bitch back to them!

 

[westwall]

Send the son of a bitch back to them!

Airmail, sans parachute.

 

[waltky]

Bergdahl recommended to get 14 years...

Prosecutors Recommend 14 Years in Prison for Bergdahl
2 Nov 2017 -- Defense attorneys recommended Bergdahl receive no jail time, but instead they suggest the judge hand him a dishonorable discharge.

Army prosecutors on Thursday recommended Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was held captive by the Taliban for years after walking off his post in Afghanistan, serve 14 years in a military prison for deserting and endangering his fellow troops. However, defense attorneys recommended Bergdahl receive no jail time, but instead they suggested the judge hand him a dishonorable discharge, arguing the soldier faced enough punishment at the hands of Taliban-linked Haqqani militants in Pakistan during his five years of captivity. The judge overseeing Bergdahl's case, Army Col. Jeffery R. Nance, indicated in his courtroom at Fort Bragg on Thursday that he could determine the soldier's fate by Friday but promised to spend hours deliberating. In closing arguments of a sentence hearing Thursday, Maj. Justin C. Oshana, the lead prosecutor, argued despite Bergdahl's suffering, which included beatings, long-term isolation in a small cage and subjection to videos of beheadings, he deserves to be further punished for his actions that led to massive search operations across eastern Afghanistan. In addition to prison, Oshana recommended Nance hand down a punitive discharge and reduce Bergdahl in rank to E-1 private.

Army Capt. Nina Banks, in closing arguments for the defense, countered Bergdahl's documented mental health conditions precluded him from understanding the chain of events that would transpire after he walked off his post, a decision she called a "horrible mistake" for which he has already suffered and apologized. "Justice is not rescuing Sgt. Bergdahl from his Taliban captors and the cage he spent years inside only to place him in a cell," she said. Bergdahl pleaded guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy charges, admitting leaving his post endangered his fellow troops. He faces a maximum punishment up to life imprisonment, reduction in rank to private, forfeiture of all pay and a dishonorable discharge.

Bergdahl leaves the Fort Bragg courtroom facility after the defense and prosecution rested in a sentencing hearing on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017, in Fort Bragg, N.C.​

Bergdahl's decision to walk of Observation Post Mest on June 30, 2009 impacted hundreds of troops who, in many cases, spent weeks searching for signs of his location, Oshana said. And for three servicemembers, he argued, the soldier's decision was life-changing when they suffered career-ending injuries on missions that would not have been launched had Bergdahl not deserted. "Sgt. Bergdahl does not have a monopoly on suffering as a result of his choices," the prosecutor told Nance on Thursday, more than one week after the sentence hearing began. "The difference is all of the [other] suffering stems from his choice." Former Navy SEAL Senior Chief Petty Officer Jimmy Hatch, then-Army Spc. Jonathan Morita and retired Army Master Sgt. Mark Allen were all shot on operations about a week after Bergdahl disappeared from his post in Paktika province. Allen, who was shot in the head, was left permanently paralyzed and unable to speak. Oshana contrasted Allen's condition with Bergdahl's. Both have suffered from bed sores and immobility -- Allen as the result of his gunshot wound and multiple surgeries including the removal of portions of his brain, and Bergdahl's as a result of the Taliban restraining him in positions from which he could not move for months at a time, he said.

They've both suffered pain, Oshana added. "Mark Allen is in pain all of the time," the prosecutor said. "The only difference is that Sgt. Bergdahl can tell someone where his pain is -- Master Sgt. Allen cannot." But defense attorneys said Bergdahl is not to blame for Allen's condition. Instead, Banks argued Thursday, Allen's injuries, like Bergdahl's own, were caused by the Taliban and should be kept in perspective for sentencing. "[Bergdahl] is apologetic and remorseful for those servicemembers' injuries," she said. "We don't have a situation here where there is malice and ill-will. The same enemy that held captive and tortured Sgt. Bergdahl for five years is responsible for those injuries."

Defense attorneys have laid out their case showing Bergdahl has been cooperative with the government since the day that he returned to the United States. He was released from the Taliban in May 2014 in a controversial prisoner exchange for five Taliban commanders who had been held at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Defense witnesses testified he has provided the intelligence community valuable information about the Haqqani's captor network and helped the Pentagon's Joint Personnel Recovery Agency update their policies for Afghanistan. Additionally, Banks said in her statement that Bergdahl has faced humiliation back in the United States, as a regular subject of negative campaign trail statements by President Donald Trump. Nance has said he would consider Trump's campaign statements, which the president seemed to endorse recently, when handing down Bergdahl's sentence. "Sgt. Bergdahl has been punished enough," Banks said. "Sgt. Bergdahl paid a bitter price for the choices that he made."

Prosecutors Recommend 14 Years in Prison for Bergdahl | Military.com