Bergdahl to be charged with desertion

[ivwshane]

This was widely report at the time. I'm too lazy to look it up for you. IIRC, villagers told the troops looking for Bergdahl that Bergdahl was actively seeking the Taliban. He was asking them to direct him to the Taliban.

As far as as surrendering - what else was he going to do? IIRC, he left his weapon and other gear back at camp in a pile.

Fern

Sorry, second hand accounts of second hand accounts don't work for me. If you are too lazy to provide a link them don't bother responding. I'm not looking for hearsay.

 

[Fern]

I don't do video's. Look up the televised interviews with the guys from his squad or unit (whatever the military term is).

Fern

 

[ivwshane]

I don't do video's. Look up the televised interviews with the guys from his squad or unit (whatever the military term is).

Fern

Yes because the very people he was complaining about and the very people he abandoned don't have any biases.

Good lord people! Is this really that hard?

 

[Fern]

Yes because the very people he was complaining about and the very people he abandoned don't have any biases.

Good lord people! Is this really that hard?

They would be the only people who could provide the data because they were the ones searching for him and speaking to the local villagers.

BTW: You are awarded bonus points for slandering the soldiers who managed not to desert and instead serve honorably.

Fern

 

[ivwshane]

They would be the only people who could provide the data because they were the ones searching for him and speaking to the local villagers.

BTW: You are awarded bonus points for slandering the soldiers who managed not to desert and instead serve honorably.

Fern

Yeah! Sorry, soldiers are humans and humans have been shown to be despicable at times and soldiers are no different. You better double up on your flag pins, yellow ribbons, and American flags to make up for my heresy.

I take it this your way of saying you don't have any credible information to back up the claims that were made in this thread.

 

[woolfe9998]

I don't see how. There was no jury to prejudice. Bergdahl had a trial by judge, not jury.

Fern

Because the judge felt he had to give a light sentence since Trump opined otherwise and this created at least the appearance of an unfair process. This is why a POTUS should never give an opinion about the outcome of a pending judicial proceeding.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Because the judge felt he had to give a light sentence since Trump opined otherwise and this created at least the appearance of an unfair process. This is why a POTUS should never give an opinion about the outcome of a pending judicial proceeding.

And he's gone and done the same with the NY terrorist. I should think that Trump's mouth would provide part of a defense on being unable to get a fair trial. Probably not work, but as you say the man needs to shut up.

 

[kage69]

Because the judge felt he had to give a light sentence since Trump opined otherwise and this created at least the appearance of an unfair process. This is why a POTUS should never give an opinion about the outcome of a pending judicial proceeding.

Talk about unfit for office. This simple concept you've outlined, layman friendly and brief, is simply too much to comprehend for a narcissist desperately trying to look tough.

I think it hits a button with Trump that a guy like Bergdahl, as bad as he is and suffering from mental issues of his own, still had more nuts than he did and deployed.

 

[Jhhnn]

Because the judge felt he had to give a light sentence since Trump opined otherwise and this created at least the appearance of an unfair process. This is why a POTUS should never give an opinion about the outcome of a pending judicial proceeding.

The judge didn't express any such sentiment at sentencing. You're projecting. We can't know how he felt.

 

[J.Wilkins]

Because the judge felt he had to give a light sentence since Trump opined otherwise and this created at least the appearance of an unfair process. This is why a POTUS should never give an opinion about the outcome of a pending judicial proceeding.

Yup...

This shouldn't even be handled in a civilian court in the first place. I cannot really express my feelings for this enemy combatant but suffice to say, justice has not been served.

The idea of terrorists getting the death penalties and here we have one of their supporters going free shows the ineptitudes of Trump and his supporters minds, they could not connect the sum of 2+2 if their fucking nation depended on it.

 

[J.Wilkins]

The judge didn't express any such sentiment at sentencing. You're projecting. We can't know how he felt.

Sometimes you are an idiot.

 

[Jaskalas]

Now will either of you be providing those links I've asked for?

What I found was this. That instead of a traitor, he was / is mentally ill and the Army had no business recruiting or keeping him.

What the Army Doesn't Want You to Know About Bowe Bergdahl

He testified that Bergdahl joined the Coast Guard in 2006, “looking for some adventure.” He was “interested in saving lives.” He lasted three weeks. “He became overwhelmed and then found himself in the hospital,” Dahl said. “He wasn’t ready for it.” The Coast Guard categorized it an “entry-level separation” and diagnosed him with “adjustment disorder with depression.”
...
This portrait of Bergdahl—awkward, childlike, guileless in his Tom Sawyer schemes—is less dramatic than the plotting traitor cable news portrays, but it’s close to the descriptions provided by those in the Army who knew him best. “My gut tells me he grossly underestimated what he was doing,” another 2nd Platoon soldier tells Newsweek. “I don’t think he was a traitor. I don’t think he intentionally sought out the Taliban. I think he left and [then] said, ‘Oh shit, I made a monumental, horrible decision.’”​

As for claims of his treason...

There is clear evidence,” said former Army intelligence officer Tony Shaffer, “that [Bergdahl] was going over to the other side.” Both Shaffer and Fox News intelligence reporter Catherine Herridge cited senior government sources with access to a 2009 report by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). Bergdahl, Shaffer declared, “was actually trying to offer himself up to the Taliban.”
...
But there is a serious problem with that report: It doesn’t exist. Shortly after the Fox story aired, the NCIS told Newsweek that no one at Fox had called to confirm what the report said or even to verify that it existed. “There are no records of NCIS conducting an investigation of the type being reported,” said Ed Buice, NCIS public affairs officer. “There is no NCIS report.”​

Apparently the narrative surrounding this story on Conservative news is entirely fabricated, despite how widespread it is. We very well may have been duped. Looking for anyone to provide real facts to back up the claims, else I must insist we drop them.

 

[Jhhnn]

Sometimes you are an idiot.

Quote the man & provide the source.

 

[Jhhnn]

Yup...

This shouldn't even be handled in a civilian court in the first place. I cannot really express my feelings for this enemy combatant but suffice to say, justice has not been served.

The idea of terrorists getting the death penalties and here we have one of their supporters going free shows the ineptitudes of Trump and his supporters minds, they could not connect the sum of 2+2 if their fucking nation depended on it.

Bergdahl was court martialed & convicted in a military court.

 

[woolfe9998]

The judge didn't express any such sentiment at sentencing. You're projecting. We can't know how he felt.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...3470754bbb9_story.html?utm_term=.ffc173820c26

It also was overshadowed by President Trump’s accusation that Bergdahl is a traitor who should be executed. Bergdahl’s defense seized on those remarks, arguing they compromised his right to a fair hearing. Nance indicated earlier this week that Trump’s statements could result in a less severe sentence.

Strictly speaking, we don't know how much of a factor it ended up being, but the judge did say he would consider it as factor in mitigation. Do you really think it's a good idea for a POTUS to comment on pending cases like this, providing the defense with an argument they wouldn't have otherwise had? If Trump really wanted the death penalty here, he sure did everything he could to support the opposite.

 

[Brainonska511]

Because the judge felt he had to give a light sentence since Trump opined otherwise and this created at least the appearance of an unfair process. This is why a POTUS should never give an opinion about the outcome of a pending judicial proceeding.

Let's not forget that the judge in this trial is a military officer. That's the big part of undue command influence. Trump is the head of the military and his words can exert undue influence.

 

[ivwshane]

What I found was this. That instead of a traitor, he was / is mentally ill and the Army had no business recruiting or keeping him.

What the Army Doesn't Want You to Know About Bowe Bergdahl

He testified that Bergdahl joined the Coast Guard in 2006, “looking for some adventure.” He was “interested in saving lives.” He lasted three weeks. “He became overwhelmed and then found himself in the hospital,” Dahl said. “He wasn’t ready for it.” The Coast Guard categorized it an “entry-level separation” and diagnosed him with “adjustment disorder with depression.”
...
This portrait of Bergdahl—awkward, childlike, guileless in his Tom Sawyer schemes—is less dramatic than the plotting traitor cable news portrays, but it’s close to the descriptions provided by those in the Army who knew him best. “My gut tells me he grossly underestimated what he was doing,” another 2nd Platoon soldier tells Newsweek. “I don’t think he was a traitor. I don’t think he intentionally sought out the Taliban. I think he left and [then] said, ‘Oh shit, I made a monumental, horrible decision.’”​

As for claims of his treason...

There is clear evidence,” said former Army intelligence officer Tony Shaffer, “that [Bergdahl] was going over to the other side.” Both Shaffer and Fox News intelligence reporter Catherine Herridge cited senior government sources with access to a 2009 report by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). Bergdahl, Shaffer declared, “was actually trying to offer himself up to the Taliban.”
...
But there is a serious problem with that report: It doesn’t exist. Shortly after the Fox story aired, the NCIS told Newsweek that no one at Fox had called to confirm what the report said or even to verify that it existed. “There are no records of NCIS conducting an investigation of the type being reported,” said Ed Buice, NCIS public affairs officer. “There is no NCIS report.”​

Apparently the narrative surrounding this story on Conservative news is entirely fabricated, despite how widespread it is. We very well may have been duped. Looking for anyone to provide real facts to back up the claims, else I must insist we drop them.

Thank you. I wasn't about to search for such claims because I know exactly what type of sites have made those claims and I never ran into a single reputable site that made such claims and I refuse to give any of those sites any hits it ad revenue. Still, this isn't a subject I have been paying close attention to so I could have easily missed such claims and the confidence of the poster making the claims made it sound like it was common knowledge so I seriously expected to be provided with a link. Its a shame that such misinformation is even posted to the internet.

 

[Jaskalas]

Its a shame that such misinformation is even posted to the internet.

To state that such information was "posted" is a mischaracterization by understating its substantial use and propagation from Fox News. I was not following closely either but the gravity of the claims and the length to which they were both repeated and spread made me certain it was fact.

No one I know, not even the President, is aware of a retraction if Fox News ever made one.

Bowe Bergdahl is Fox News' perfect villain for the propaganda machine

But in Week Two of Bergdahl-gazi, Fox has apparently decided that disseminating the propaganda is more important than informing viewers about the identity of those pushing it.

Case in point: Josh Cornelison, a medic who served alongside Bergdahl, went on Fox News Sunday to declare that "the American people need to be educated that Bowe Berdgahl is not a hero". But host Chris Wallace made no mention that the soldier – the same one with whom the New York Times arranged an interview by way of those "Republican strategists" – also happened to be employed by his network.​

 

[bshole]

To state that such information was "posted" is a mischaracterization by understating its substantial use and propagation from Fox News. I was not following closely either but the gravity of the claims and the length to which they were both repeated and spread made me certain it was fact.

No one I know, not even the President, is aware of a retraction if Fox News ever made one.

You see Jask, there is no sewer that the right wing won't happily jump into. Good God the righteous indignation and pretentious preening today was precious. It was simply beyond outrageous that he got off, it undermined national security, it was one of the saddest day in American military history, blah blah blah....

...despite the general who led the investigation of Sergeant Bergdahl's disappearance stating Sergeant Bergdahl should not be punished and the colonel who led the Army's version of a grand jury trial recommending the same; despite the United States military's top prisoner of war expert testifying that Sergeant Bergdahl endured more torture at the hands of the Taliban than any American prisoner of war has endured since the Vietnam War, undoubtedly due to his multiple escape attempts and unwillingness to cooperate with his kidnappers;

There is no forgiveness in this loudly and righteously proclaimed Christian nation, only the scapegoating of a young man and his family for the failures of immoral and unwinnable wars.

Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl's guilty plea begins the end of this phase of an embarrassing, sad and morally absurd saga of American history. Sergeant Bergdahl, who was dismissed from the Coast Guard because of mental illness, recruited into the Army in spite of such issues, and then sent to the frontlines of Afghanistan where he walked away from his base and was captured, kept as a prisoner, and tortured by the Taliban for nearly five years, has been offered almost no compassion, sympathy or forgiveness by large swaths of the American public, political classes, veterans and the media.

The shameful blood-crazed calls for vengeance against Sergeant Bergdahl, screamed across Fox News, talk radio and Twitter, by millions of Right Wing Americans have begun again today with Sergeant Bergdahl's guilty plea. Despite an army investigation finding no Americans were killed by Sergeant Bergdahl's departure of his unit; despite the Pentagon admitting it was known that Sergeant Bergdahl was in Pakistan within a few days of his capture, thus negating the validity of the Right Wing talking points of continuous search missions for Sergeant Bergdahl that jeopardized American lives; despite the general who led the investigation of Sergeant Bergdahl's disappearance stating Sergeant Bergdahl should not be punished and the colonel who led the Army's version of a grand jury trial recommending the same; despite the United States military's top prisoner of war expert testifying that Sergeant Bergdahl endured more torture at the hands of the Taliban than any American prisoner of war has endured since the Vietnam War, undoubtedly due to his multiple escape attempts and unwillingness to cooperate with his kidnappers; and despite repeated calls made by President Trump for Sergeant Bergdahl to be executed, as well as calls for retaliation against the military if Sergeant Bergdahl is not sent to jail by Senator John McCain, clear and blatant forms of wrongful and illegal command influence prohibited by military law against a defendant, Sergeant Bergdahl finds himself today having entered a guilty plea and putting himself at the mercy of a US Army judge.

PS. I think you changed your mind from the first posts you made in this thread. I think better of you for it.

 

[interchange]

When we see in others reminders of things we don't like in ourselves, we project those parts of ourselves on to the other to create an exaggerated picture and attack the other fiercely, as if we are destroying that part of ourselves we don't like by destroying the other.

This phenomenon is most readily identified by a lack of ability or willingness to explore evidence in fear of disrupting the exaggerated picture and by a lack of compassion for the other as not to disrupt the their need to destroy the part of themselves that identifies with the other.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Trump can't STFU which is wrecking the justice system over cases like this.

 

[pcgeek11]

In my opinion, this sentencing is pure BS. I don't think it is right with respect to the charges that he plead guilty to. I know a lot was made out of his time in captivity with the Taliban, but that was pretty much an outcome of his own doing. That shouldn't even come into play. I heard that he is going to appeal his dishonorable discharge. I hope the hell they refuse that at least.

Then we have the Trump statements. I don't see how that could impact anything without a jury trial.

 

[Jhhnn]

In my opinion, this sentencing is pure BS. I don't think it is right with respect to the charges that he plead guilty to. I know a lot was made out of his time in captivity with the Taliban, but that was pretty much an outcome of his own doing. That shouldn't even come into play. I heard that he is going to appeal his dishonorable discharge. I hope the hell they refuse that at least.

Then we have the Trump statements. I don't see how that could impact anything without a jury trial.

Yeh, it's impossible for the Commander in Chief to influence the military chain of command, obviously... or to corrode faith in our justice system...

 

[Puffnstuff]

Yeh, it's impossible for the Commander in Chief to influence the military chain of command, obviously... or to corrode faith in our justice system...

His inability to control his outbursts will play well into the hands of many defendants.

 

[FIVR]

So glad this guy got off without any prison sentence. Anybody who deserts the mass-murdering US military deserves a medal, not a prison sentence.


One day this guy will be looked up to by people all over the world for the stand he took against US state-sponsored terrorism.