The drama surrounding the official prisoner swap in exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has left a lot of Americans wondering just what happened in the days leading up to Bergdahl’s going AWOL and eventual capture by the Taliban back in 2009.
Sgt. Bergdahl is now on trial on counts for desertion and misbehavior before the enemy; if convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison. His attorneys, however, aren’t prepared to go down without a fight.
Defense counsel is planning to argue that Bergdahl couldn’t be a deserter because it was never his intention to desert. Instead, they say Bergdahl simply wanted to leave and go to the closest forward operating base to lodge a complaint against his unit.
Bergdahl’s platoon mates’ response? One man says its “asinine.”
Watch:
This isn’t the first time Buetow has spoken out in defense of his men. Back in February, he and fellow platoon member Cody Full penned an op-ed explaining what was happening on the ground the day that Bergdahl walked away:
“On June 30, 2009, in Mest Malak, Afghanistan, Bowe Bergdahl left his unit and deserted the U.S. Army,” the two wrote in a USA Today op-ed. “We know he deserted because we were there when he did it.”They laid out several examples of where they found Sgt. Bergdahl’s statements disingenuous, including his claims of falling behind on a patrol and walking off base without his weapon.“No one walks off an OP in Afghanistan unaccompanied for any reason,” they wrote. “And no one goes anywhere without his weapons. Reports that Bowe had often previously left the base alone are inaccurate.”…The two soldiers said in the op-ed that the evidence is clear and irrefutable that Sgt. Bergdahl is guilty.“We are confident that the overdue report from political and military leaders on Bergdahl’s actions, sitting pin a general’s desk since October, comes to the same conclusion,” they wrote. “It has to because the facts are clear. Whatever the reason is for the late report and confused reporting about whether Bergdahl is set to be charged with desertion, justice is being denied to those of us who were abandoned by a fellow soldier.”
Right now, conservatives should be working hard to keep this story in the news. This country exchanged 5 dangerous, al-Qaeda-linked terrorists in exchange for Bergdahl’s freedom; his decision to walk away from his unit for any reason is much more serious than the Obama Administration would like to admit.
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