Bergdahl. And Mullen.

[Gracie]

Bergdahl s platoon mates Head of Joint Chiefs knew he walked off base in 2009 Fox News

If Mullen did not inform Obama, and Obama gave up 5 taliban guys, then Mullen needs to be in jail too.

This account was backed up by a third platoon mate, former Specialist Cody Full. The men were split on whether Mullen singled them out because of the Bergdahl connection or whether it was a chance meeting, but they emphasized that at the time, they appreciated the fact that Mullen seemed to speak candidly and openly.

“I don't remember him being taken aback by it at all, you know, he knew what was going on, he answered not confidently but he didn't have to think about it, he didn't want to give us some political answer,” Buetow explained. “He just gave us an answer.

Asked if there was any ambiguity based on the conversation, Vierkant said no. "Without a doubt, he (Mullen) knew he (Bergdahl) deserted or, you know, was suspected of desertion. There was no doubt in my mind that he fully understood what Bergdahl did."

The three said they felt relieved, and grateful to Mullen for the conversation.

The men's account is significant because Mullen reported directly to President Obama and then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and the reported admission comes a full four and a half years before National Security Adviser Susan Rice said Bergdahl served honorably and his parents were called to the White House for a Rose Garden ceremony after he had been swapped for five Taliban commanders.

"If Mullen knew, and now it's alleged that he did know, it would be, it would be unthinkable that he didn't pump this up the chain of command, his chain of command, or, tell the president directly," Brad Blakeman who served in the Bush White House, explained. "At a minimum, this would have been included in the president's daily brief, and at a maximum, it would've been told directly to the President by Mullen."

 

[Care4all]

Jebus...so now Fox is going after our own Military Generals?

 

[Obiwan]

Jebus...so now Fox is going after our own Military Generals?

If he screwed up, he has it coming.

Just ask Bergdahl or Petraeus.

 

[Gracie]

If Mullen KNEW and didn't inform Obama so Obama made an ass of himself by doing what he did to get that deserter back...good for Fox.

 

[waltky]

Give him medals `cause he needs to know...

Lawyer: Bergdahl Should Be Awarded POW Medal, Purple Heart
Jan 12, 2016 | A military lawyer representing accused deserter Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl called for the Army to award his client several medals, including the Purple Heart and the Prisoner of War medal, during a pre-trial hearing Tuesday.

Army Lt. Col. Franklin Rosenblatt said Bergdahl, accused of abandoning his eastern Afghanistan post in 2009 before he was captured by the Taliban, was entitled to the awards and the Army's failure to grant them could bias potential jurors in the trial.

Bergdahl faces a general court-martial on charges of "misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command, unit or place" and "desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty." The misbehavior charge carries a sentence of up to life in prison and the desertion charge as much as five years. "We believe this is a prejudice and casts a semblance of guilt," Rosenblatt said, noting Bergdahl was wearing his dress Blue Army uniform, including a Combat Infantryman Badge and 10 overseas service bars. "We encourage the government to correct that."

In addition to the Purple Heart and POW Medal, Rosenblatt told Army judge Col. Jeffrey R. Nance, Bergdahl should be awarded the Afghanistan Campaign Medal and the NATO medal during the hearing that largely focused on the defense's ability to access classified material related to Bergdahl's case. Nance, who will oversee Bergdahl's court-martial scheduled for Aug. 8-19 at Fort Bragg, said there was time to resolve the issue before the trial, adding any prejudice that could be caused by the lack of medals on future pre-trial proceedings is "minimal."

Bergdahl, 29, remains on active duty at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston assigned to U.S. Army North. He spent five years imprisoned by a Taliban-linked group before he was released in May 2014 in a controversial prisoner swap for five Taliban commanders who had been held in a detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Lawyer: Bergdahl Should Be Awarded POW Medal, Purple Heart | Military.com

See also:

Sergeant Bergdahl seeks freer access to classified documents
Tuesday 12th January, 2016 - Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, in the middle of a military desertion case, wants access to hundreds of thousands pages of classified documents so that his defense is able to prepare well to fight the legal battle ahead of a possible court martial.

At a pretrial hearing on Tuesday Bergdahl's military attorney, Lieutenant Colonel Franklin Rosenblatt, said prosecutors were hampering the defense's ability to prepare by deciding on their own which documents to provide to the sergeant's lawyers. Rosenblatt argued for greater access to gather and use the classified information in the case of Bergdahl, who faces charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, a relatively rare charge that carries a punishment of up to life in prison. "The guy who has the most need to know this information has the least access to it," said Rosenblatt, seeking permission to access Department of Defense computers and search engines, classified documents and witnesses who may disclose classified information..

Captain Michael Petrusic, who leads the prosecution team, said prosecutors expected to give access to thousands of classified documents to the defense ahead of the trial, scheduled for August at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The volume of material is a sign of the complexity of the case, he added. Petrusic said the prosecution is concerned about the protection of such information. In particular, the prosecution mentioned four individuals who have already made public statements and unauthorized disclosures of classified information pertaining to Bergdahl's case.

Bergdahl, 29, is accused of walking out of his combat outpost in Afghanistan in June 2009, and then was captured and held by the Taliban for more than five years before his release in 2014 as part of a prisoner exchange that drew criticism. In March last year, he was charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy by endangering US troops, with the latter offense carrying a sentence of up to life in prison. Colonel Jeffery Nance, the presiding judge, said military security officers would review all classified information and prosecutors would get the chance to object before sensitive details were distributed to Bergdahl and his defense team. "Bottom line, everybody who has access to potentially classified information has to have the proper clearance beforehand," Nance said.

Rosenblatt also raised the issue that Bergdahl has not been awarded the Purple Heart, the NATO medal, the POW Ribbon and the Afghanistan Campaign Medal -- medals that the defense feels Bergdahl deserves. Rosenblatt said the absence of these medals "casts a shadow of guilt" on his client. The defense lawyer said that Bergdahl had earned the medals, and their absence in pre-trial photographs and video footage of him could prejudice potential jurors. Nance disagreed to state the risk of prejudice before trial was minimal. A Fort Bragg spokesman said Bergdahl has not been awarded those military decorations. "Army human resources officials likely will address this in the future," spokesman Paul Boyce said.

Sergeant Bergdahl seeks freer access to classified documents

 

[waltky]

McCain needs to keep quiet until the case is over...

Prosecutors: McCain Comments Shouldn't Derail Bergdahl Trial
Aug 23, 2016 — Attorneys for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl are trying to send his court case "off the judicial cliff" by arguing that U.S. Sen. John McCain improperly swayed military decision-makers with public comments on the case, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The arguments came at a pretrial hearing on defense allegations of "impermissible meddling" by McCain. The defense wants the judge to either throw out the charges or rule that Bergdahl will face no punishment if convicted. Maj. Justin Oshana, an Army prosecutor, argued there is no legal precedent for derailing a military trial because of comments from a member of Congress. "They are asking this court to take a leap off the judicial cliff," Oshana told the judge, Army Col. Jeffery Nance. The defense contends that the prosecution was influenced by McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee. The panel has the power to approve or scuttle assignments for top military commanders.

In September 2015, an officer who oversaw a preliminary hearing recommended that Bergdahl's case be heard by a misdemeanor-level tribunal and said imprisonment wasn't warranted. But the next month McCain told a reporter that the Senate panel would hold a hearing if Bergdahl wasn't punished. Weeks later, Gen. Robert B. Abrams sent Bergdahl's case to a general court-martial, rejecting the hearing officer's recommendation. Defense attorney Eugene Fidell argued that McCain violated Bergdahl's due process rights as well as a military law prohibiting unlawful command influence. Fidell said McCain remains subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice as a retired Navy officer.

But Oshana said the senator wouldn't meet the standard for unlawful command influence because he "doesn't possess the mantle of command." "The fact that no other court has held this should be of grave concern to the court in being asked to be the first to do this," Oshana told the judge. In response, Nance quipped: "I don't want to be the first to do this either way," suggesting a ruling in any direction would break new ground. The judge said he would rule on the motion at a later date. Fidell countered that the lack of legal precedent only shows how egregious McCain's conduct was. "Until last October no retired person subject to the code who was elected to Congress has ever had the chutzpah to do what Sen. McCain did," he told the judge.

MORE

See also:

Judge: Abrams Must Testify About Letters Destroyed in Bergdahl Case
Aug 22, 2016 | The four-star Army general who sent accused deserter Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's case to a felony-level, general court-martial will be required to testify Wednesday about accusations that he destroyed letters related to the case, a military judge has ruled.

Bergdahl's lawyers have asked Col. Jeffery R. Nance to remove Gen. Robert Abrams, the chief of Army Forces Command, from his role as convening authority after he admitted he sent some 100 letters that he received from the public about the case to be burned. Nance's decision came Monday during a pre-trial hearing in which he also determined Berghdahl's attempt to join the French Foreign Legion and his time on a weapons range prior to enlisting cannot be used in his court-martial as evidence of his pursuits of adventure. The hearing will continue Tuesday with discussion about comments made by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that Bergdahl's attorneys have argued impede their client's right to a fair trial.

Last year, the Army charged Bergdahl, 30, with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy after he spent five years in Taliban captivity. The more serious misbehavior charge could send the soldier to prison for the rest of his life. His court-martial is scheduled for February, but Nance said Monday it could be pushed back to a later date. Bergdahl's attorneys argued the letters that Abrams received could have been relevant during sentencing and could have contained information they had the right to view as they prepare for the court-martial. The letters came to light earlier this month when defense attorneys interviewed Abrams, who admitted receiving, "briefly scanning" and placing the letters in a burn bag. The letters were supportive and critical of Bergdahl, according to court documents.

In an affidavit submitted Friday to the court, Abrams wrote he received "the vast majority" of the correspondence after he referred the case to a general court-martial in December. Abrams added none of the letters were from "anyone in the chain of command, the Department of Defense, or the United States government," and he did not consider them "in making any decisions regarding the case." Bergdahl's lawyers have been critical of Abrams' decision to send the case to a general court-martial after the officer who oversaw a preliminary hearing in September 2015 recommended the case be sent to a misdemeanor-level court and said the soldier should not be imprisoned.

MORE

 

[RoshawnMarkwees]

Obama really likes to give the farm away to muslim terrorists. Just ask Iran, who have kidnapped more Americans since Obama gave them ransom money for that previous batch of hostages.

 

[JoeB131]

Obama really likes to give the farm away to muslim terrorists. Just ask Iran, who have kidnapped more Americans since Obama gave them ransom money for that previous batch of hostages.

HOw is giving them back their own money a ransom? How is someone who went to Iran voluntarily and broke their laws a "hostage"?

Words mean things, dummy.