Operation Deserter Storm...... Bergdahl

[Sunni Man]

[ame=http://youtu.be/dzrnWoHYqFs]The Daily Show 9/6/2014 || Operation Deserter Storm: Home Is Where the Hate Is - YouTube[/ame]

 

[chikenwing]

And the left is doing what it can to muddy the waters just as much as anyone,so where does this leave the truth??

 

[waltky]

Report not being released to the public just yet...

Bergdahl investigation finished
October 10, 2014 — The Army said Thursday it has completed an investigation into Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's disappearance from a base in Afghanistan five years ago.

The report by Brig. Gen. Kenneth Dahl is being reviewed by commanders, but is not being released, Army spokesman Wayne Hall said.

Hall said the review process likely would be lengthy, and that “the Army's priority is ensuring that our process is thorough, factually accurate, impartial, and legally correct.”

Now assigned to U.S. Army North at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Bergdahl left an American outpost in the summer of 2009 and fell into the hands of the Taliban. Dahl looked into his actions prior to his disappearance, while the Army said it found no evidence that he helped the enemy while a captive.

Bergdahl investigation finished - U.S. - Stripes

 

[waltky]

Judge says Bergdahl Bears Some Responsibility for Risky Searches...

Judge: Bergdahl Bears Some Responsibility for Risky Searches
Dec 16, 2016 — A military judge weighing evidence of injuries to service members who searched for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl said Friday that the soldier bears some responsibility for risky search missions triggered by him walking off his post in Afghanistan.

The judge, Army Col. Jeffery Nance, said at a pretrial hearing that he still hasn't decided how far he'll let prosecutors go, if at all, in using evidence of the serious wounds. One soldier was shot in the head and suffered a traumatic brain injury; the other required hand surgery. "Sgt. Bergdahl is not responsible for a never-ending chain of events ... But he is responsible for a certain amount of that chain of events," Nance said Friday. The prosecutors, he said, "have got to be able to put on some evidence of endangerment, and the question for me is how far on the spectrum they should be able to go." One of the prosecutors, Army Maj. Justin Oshana, says evidence of the injuries shows Bergdahl endangered his comrades by walking off his post in 2009, and "the endangerment prong is one of the critical pieces of this trial."

But defense attorney Army Maj. Oren Gleich said many other factors that had little or nothing to do with Bergdahl coalesced into the hastily planned mission during which the two soldiers were wounded. "You have to factor in all the intervening causes as to what created a dangerous situation," Gleich said. The judge said he's aiming for the right balance. At a previous hearing, Nance questioned whether jurors would reach unfair conclusions about Bergdahl based on an emotional response to graphic information about the soldiers' wounds. Bergdahl, who was swiftly captured after walking off his post and held captive for five years by the Taliban and its allies, hasn't decided whether to have a trial by jury or judge alone at his court martial, scheduled for April 2017.

He is charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy; the latter could put him in prison for life. Bergdahl has said he walked off intending to alert higher-ups to what he felt were problems with his unit. Prosecutors want to use evidence related to a particular search mission involving a half-dozen U.S. service members embedded with 50 members of the Afghan National Army. Another officer involved in the mission has previously testified that its sole purpose was to search for Bergdahl. The group was attacked near a town in Afghanistan on July 8, 2009. U.S. Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Mark Allen was shot in the head during the firefight; prosecutors say he uses a wheelchair and is unable to communicate. Another soldier had hand injuries because of a rocket-propelled grenade.

Defense attorneys have presented evidence that the mission was shoddily planned, even by the standards of the missing-soldier alert Bergdahl caused. They also questioned whether the wounded soldiers fell within the specific group of military units Bergdahl is accused of endangering. Also on Friday, Nance said he wasn't going to require testimony from government intelligence officials — despite threatening to do so — because progress was made on providing classified evidence to the defense. The Obama administration's decision in May 2014 to exchange five Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for Bergdahl's freedom prompted criticism from Republicans including President-elect Donald Trump, who accused Obama of jeopardizing the nation's safety. Bergdahl, who's from Hailey, Idaho, asked Obama to pardon him before leaving office.

Bergdahl Bears Some Responsibility for Risky Searches, Judge Says | Military.com

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - if he tries to escape - shoot him...

Bergdahl Not on Obama's December Pardon List
Dec 21, 2016 | WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has granted 78 people pre-Christmas pardons, more than doubling the amount allowed during his eight-year tenure. But accused Army deserter Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was not among them.

The White House announced the pardons Monday afternoon alongside Obama’s decision to commute the sentences of 153 other individuals. White House Counsel Neil Eggleston left the door open for additional pardons in Obama’s remaining month in office, perhaps leaving hope for Bergdahl that the president will grant his pardon petition that would spare him a court-martial in April on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. “The president continues to review clemency applications on an individualized basis to determine whether a particular applicant has demonstrated a readiness to make use of his or her second chance, and I expect that the president will issue more grants of both commutations and pardons before he leaves office,” Eggleston wrote Monday in the statement. The vast majority of the pardons granted Monday were to drug offenders who had already completed their sentences. None of the pardons were granted to individuals, like Bergdahl, who had not already been convicted of a crime, which is possible for a president to do but extremely rare.

Several experts on military law and pardon history have told Stars and Stripes that a pardon for Bergdahl is unlikely. The soldier’s lawyer Eugene Fidell declined to comment Tuesday on the pardon request. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said recently that he did not expect Obama to grant pardons to any individuals whose applications had not yet undergone the normal vetting process, which can take several years. Bergdahl, 30, spent five years as a Taliban prisoner after he walked off his base in eastern Afghanistan in June 2009. He was returned to the U.S. military in May 2014 in a controversial exchange approved by Obama for five senior Taliban leaders who had been held in the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is seen leaving a courtroom after a pretrial hearing in Fort Bragg, NC.​

Last year, the Army charged Bergdahl 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.” The more serious misbehavior charge carries a potential life sentence. Berghdal’s trial is scheduled to begin April 18. Last week, the judge overseeing the court-martial barred prosecutors from presenting evidence at that trial of specific injuries to servicemembers wounded while searching for Bergdahl in the days after he disappeared from Observation Post Mest. Prosecutors had hoped to include evidence that two Army National Guardsmen were injured – one permanently disabled by a gunshot to the head – during a mission to recover Bergdahl. Army Maj. Justin C. Oshana, the lead prosecutor, said the injuries best represented Bergdahl’s guilt of the misbehavior charge.

The judge, Army Col. Jeffery R. Nance, disagreed. In his ruling on the evidence, he wrote prosecutors had plenty of additional evidence that showed troops were endangered by Bergdahl’s actions. Including evidence of the soldiers’ injuries at trial was the prosecution’s attempt to “seal-the-deal,” he wrote. But it could unfairly bias the jurors to act on their emotions, Nance concluded. “The accused is not charged with causing anyone’s injury or death,” the judge wrote. “He is charged with endangering the command. While there are similarities in those consequences, they are distinct.” Fidell said he was pleased with the judge’s ruling. Bergdahl has yet to enter a plea to either of the charges against him nor has he decided whether he will face a jury trial or leave his fate to Nance. He remains on active duty in a desk job at Joint Base San Antonio in Texas and has not been subjected to any pre-trial confinement.

Bergdahl Not on Obama's December Pardon List | Military.com

 

[waltky]

Granny says the Donald needs to tone it down so's dey can find him guilty an' hang him...

Prosecutors: Bergdahl to Get Fair Trial Despite Trump Jabs
Feb 06, 2017 | Trump's campaign-trail condemnation of Bergdahl won't prevent the soldier from getting a fair trial, according to prosecutors.

President Donald Trump's campaign-trail condemnation of Bowe Bergdahl — the army sergeant charged with desertion while serving in Afghanistan — won't prevent the soldier from getting a fair trial, according to military prosecutors. Prosecutors are seeking to rebuff Bergdahl's assertion that Trump violated his constitutional rights to due process when, as a presidential contender, Trump called Bergdahl a "traitor" and made other disparaging remarks. Bergdahl will be tried in April on charges alleging that he put the lives of his fellow soldiers in jeopardy when he walked off his post in Afghanistan in 2009.

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl arrives for a pretrial hearing at Fort Bragg, N.C.​

Even though Trump repeatedly suggested that Bergdahl should face stiff punishment, including being thrown out of a plane, prosecutors said in a court filing last week that any reasonable observer would understand that comments by the then-Republican contender amounted to campaign rhetoric and should not be taken literally. "With regards to Mr. Trump's comments that SGT Bergdahl is a 'traitor' or committed 'treason,' such comments were clearly intended to be understood by their colloquial meaning," the prosecutors wrote in the Feb. 1 filing. "It strains credulity to believe that Mr. Trump was seriously suggesting that SGT. Bergdahl should be thrown out of an airplane," prosecutors wrote. An email seeking comment from a White House spokesman wasn't immediately returned.

Prosecutors also argue that the statements can't constitute unlawful command influence because they were made before Trump became president and because they were spread out among other campaign coverage. However, Eric Carpenter, a former Army lawyer who teaches law at Florida International University, said that potential military jurors could be influenced by Trump's comments even if he made them before becoming president. "The prosecution is in a tough spot. These statements are really indefensible, and they have the job of defending them," he said. "No one in the administration has disavowed those comments, so the comments still have life."

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[longknife]

The trial will go ahead and the scumbag will be found guilty, reduced to the lowest rank, forfeit all pay, given a dishonorable discharge, and sent to Leavenworth!

 

[waltky]

Trial scheduled for October...

Navy Seal Testifies About Wound During Bowe Bergdahl Search
22 Jun 2017 | A former Navy Seal testified Wednesday that his military career ended when he was shot in the leg during a hastily planned mission to find Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl after the soldier left his post in Afghanistan.

Retired Senior Chief Petty Officer James Hatch told the judge that his team had about 90 minutes to plan their mission and board helicopters after receiving information about Bergdahl's purported whereabouts shortly after he disappeared in 2009. While pursuing enemy fighters on foot, Hatch was hit by fire from an AK-47. Hatch says he survived because members of his team quickly applied a tourniquet while waiting for a medical helicopter. "They saved me from bleeding to death for sure," he testified during the pretrial hearing. Hatch, who entered the courtroom with a service dog and a limp, said he's had 18 surgeries because of the wound.

Also on Wednesday, the military judge told defense attorneys they can ask potential military jurors about President Donald Trump on a lengthy written questionnaire. Defense lawyers have argued Trump's criticism of Bergdahl will prevent him from getting a fair trial on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. Prosecutors want to use the injuries to Hatch and others as evidence during sentencing if Bergdahl is convicted. The judge, Col. Jeffery Nance, already ruled that the injury evidence can't be used during the guilt-or-innocence phase of the trial scheduled for October.

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl arrives for a pretrial hearing at Fort Bragg, N.C​

A legal scholar not involved in the case, Eric Carpenter, said the decision on the injuries could be pivotal. "This evidence has already been excluded from the guilt phase of the trial, and if it is excluded during the sentencing phase, the heart of the government's case will be gone," said Carpenter, a former Army lawyer who teaches law at Florida International University. "This might make the government more receptive to a deal." Defense attorney Eugene Fidell declined to say after the hearing whether his client is interested in a plea bargain.

The topic also came up during the hearing. Defense attorneys asked the judge to rule that any alleged desertion ended when Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban hours after he left the remote post. They say the determination is needed so they can advise their client on how to plead to the desertion charge. "We need to know so we can tell Sgt. Bergdahl what the consequences are," Fidell told the judge, Col. Jeffery R. Nance. Nance responded that Bergdahl can choose to plead guilty to the lesser offense of unauthorized absence, or AWOL, but that prosecutors could continue pursuing the more serious desertion charge if they weren't satisfied. The judge said he would rule later on the defense's arguments about the duration of Bergdahl's absence.

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[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - charge him what it cost to look fer him when he wandered off...

Lawmakers to Army: Don't Award Bergdahl Back Pay
20 Nov 2017 | One hundred lawmakers are urging the U.S. Army not to award Bowe Bergdahl any back pay -- potentially worth hundreds of thousands of dollars -- for his time in Taliban captivity.

Led by Rep. Rick Crawford, a Republican from Arkansas and a former soldier, the lawmakers in a Nov. 15 letter to Acting Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said that, while they are "happy" Bergdahl was returned, they remain concerned about the circumstances surrounding his disappearance. "At the very least, we know Private Bergdahl's actions, by his desertion admissions in court, jeopardized the lives of his comrades," they wrote. "Despite being given a dishonorable discharge and demotion from sergeant to private, he remains eligible for significant back pay." Bergdahl, 31, who earlier this month dodged a prison sentence for voluntarily walking off his post in 2009 in Afghanistan, could be eligible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in back pay for his nearly five years in Taliban captivity even though he was also sentenced to forfeit his pay of $1,000 per month for 10 months.

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl leaves a motions hearing during a lunch break on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2017, in Fort Bragg, N.C.​

President Donald Trump called the ruling, which included a dishonorable discharge and a reduction in rank to private, "a complete and total disgrace." In a press release, Crawford said captive soldiers normally receive special compensation worth around $150,000, in addition to hostile-fire pay and the basic pay they accumulated during captivity. Bergdahl could be eligible for about $13,500 in hostile-fire pay and about $84,000 in basic pay at the rank of private, according to military pay tables. "I don't believe the pay is deserved," said Crawford, a former sergeant who served as an explosive ordnance disposal technician. "While we should always do everything in our power to bring home prisoners of war, given the circumstances of Bergdahl's capture and his admission of desertion, I don't think it is appropriate to award that pay."

While the letter references "those killed in action who were trying to locate him," Command Sgt. Maj. Ken Wolf, the top enlisted leader in Bergdahl's brigade -- Bergdahl served in Blackfoot Company, 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division -- has said no troops died while searching for him.

But Bergdahl's trial included testimony from survivors who were wounded during missions to find him. Bergdahl, who was held in a cramped cage and beaten by his captors, also testified that he was sorry for the wounds suffered by searchers. It's not clear when the Army may decide on the issue of Bergdahl's back pay. An email request for comment to a spokesperson wasn't immediately returned. The congressman hasn't yet heard back from McCarthy, who will soon be leaving his post as the Army's top civilian. The Senate last week confirmed Mark Esper, defense giant Raytheon Co.'s top lobbyist, for Army secretary.

Lawmakers to Army: Don't Award Bergdahl Back Pay | Military.com