When did the White House find out about Bergdahl?
What did they know—and when did they know it?
As much as the White House might wish it would, the Bowe Bergdahl prisoner swap scandal simply refuses to die.
Last year, the U.S. government released 5 Taliban terrorists in exchange for the life of Bowe Bergdahl, a man who most of the country—and all of his colleagues—believes deserted his post in Afghanistan in 2009. Since then, administration officials have been on offense, defending their actions before Congress, members of the media, and the families of soldiers who kept their posts under fire.
The swap was only half the scandal. Soon after the swap went down, Bergdahl and his parents were invited to the White House for a very public visit, and Susan Rice rode the TV circuit to proclaim that Bergdahl had served honorably and had earned his rescue.
Not so fast, though. New information coming from some of Bergdahl’s platoonmates suggests that then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen knew in 2009 that Bergdahl was at least suspected of desertion—which means that it’s likely the White House knew then, too.
Fox News reports on conversations platoonmate Sgt. Matt Vierkant says he had with Mullen:
After pulling security duty for the chairman, who was doing a swing through Afghanistan in December 2009, Vierkant, along with Evan Buetow and Cody Full, said they met informally with Mullen and about eight other soldiers. After a pep talk about the mission, the three said Mullen asked the squad leaders and platoon leadership to take a break.
“He sat down with all the lower enlisted guys and the team leaders and basically he said, ‘Hey, what do you want to know…You got any questions? He’s like, I’m an open book. Let’s just have a little question and answer session,” Buetow explained.
“So Matt asked him, you know Bergdahl deserted, what’s going on with that? And Admiral Mullen said, ‘Yes, we know all the circumstances surrounding Bergdahl walking away from the OP (outpost,)and we’re still working on getting him back, figuring out where he is and kind of figuring out that whole situation.’”
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.
Catherine Herridge of Fox News explains why this is significant: in 2009, Mullen reported directly to President Obama and then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. If he knew about the alleged desertion, he would have sent that information up the chain of command—straight to the Oval Office, making the administration’s claims of honorable service suspect at best.
Mullen hasn’t offered much comment on this new information, saying only, “[f]rom the moment Sgt. Bergdahl went missing, the U.S. Military was focused on finding him–as it does with any serviceman or woman who goes missing. The exact circumstances were not known then, nor did they drive our decisions. We do not leave our people behind.”
If I were a betting woman, I’d bet that this ends less than favorably for the Obama Administration.
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Comments
“What did they know—and when did they know it?”
Barracula knew he wanted to turn out Islamic pirates from GITMO BEFORE he was elected.
And that’s all that mattered to him. Everything else is just a media circus…another swirl of lies for the Mushroom Media to repeat and defend.
It was NEVER about getting Bergdhal released. It was ALWAYS about getting the Taliban Leaders released.
The WH knew all about Bergdhal deserting. They just thought they could SPIN it with the help of the compliant press and everyone would fall in line.
AMEN!
In opening sentence, correct verb form is “believe”. Most believe.
Whenever you see Admiral Mullen you know that you are going to get obama version of the question. The man is a sycophant for obama and truth is a lost object to him.
Gee, I wonder if Bergdahl will ever face charges. (That’s the story – the same administration that praised Bergdahl is now charging and trying him.)
Bergdhal is being charged and tried by a group within the military that is choosing the difficult truth over the easy lie. Choosing the truth will probably end a lot of careers.
Yes, there was undoubtedly enormous pressure from the White House to whitewash Bergdahl’s crimes and not prosecute him. The fact that the pressure didn’t work indicates that there are at least some honorable people left in our military (despite Obama’s efforts to purge them all in favor of his “progressive” toadies). These people will probably pay a heavy price for their actions, and we owe them our thanks.
Obama’s objective has always been to turn black into white, night into day, up to down, the world upside down and the United States and the rest of the world into a charnel house. The Devil himself would be proud of what Obama’s managed to achieve so far.
Newspeak…blackwhite Orwell didn’t intend for 1984 to become the Democrats playbook. But he obviously knew where they were heading
No one will ever admit it, but the missions in the days/weeks following Bergdahl going AWOL were not “rescue” missions.
Heh. That thought entered my mind, but having no military experience I chalked it up to watching too many war movies. I also wondered if they tried to locate and tag him by drone.
You took that out past what I think BD meant, Henry.
Our military would try to capture Bergdahl, but they wouldn’t try to execute him without knowing…pretty much beyond any reasonable doubt…that he was collaborating with the enemy.
I don’t doubt that they had eyes on him at times, along with other intel, but what they saw would indicate that he was held captive MOST of the time, unambiguously.
Well, tell me what Browndog meant, then.
I think he was implying a “capture” rather than a “rescue” mission.
This is consistent with the conclusion among his peers that the had gone AWOL.
There would be, at that point, nothing to support the execution you suggest.
Oh, c’mon, I already panned my own thought, arising as it did when I first saw the words ‘rescue attempt’ within an initial story about how men had died looking for this guy. In my head, I thought, “heh, ‘rescue’, right”, but what do I know, never was in military, so I chalked it up to too many movies.
I could see a scenario, perhaps, where intell confirms he’s collaborating, not a prisoner, and it’s hurting us, so an x goes on his back. But his platoon mates would be the last asset used to take him out, seems to me.
That is the reason why the Administration told the Army to delay the release of the Bergdahl report. They knew that the report would generate more questions than the answers it allegedly contained. Just maybe this will totally sink Obummer Presidency, although I really doubt it.
Bergdhal is a hero at the Whitehouse. He deserted the USA and went over to the muslim terrorists. That qualifies him as “hero” and having rendered “honorable service”.
obambi got a twofer here, he rewarded Bergdhal for his “heroism” and he got to release 5 more of his buddy’s.
The military prosecution is going on despite the WH protestations. Some people just cannot be bought.