US General: Freed Bergdahl May
Face Investigation
Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl.
Tuesday, 03 Jun 2014 12:32 PM
Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, recently released
after five years as a captive of the Taliban, may still be disciplined if the
army finds evidence of misconduct, the U.S. military's top officer said
Tuesday.
General Martin
Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
was speaking after claims from members of Bergdahl's unit that he had been
captured after abandoning his post.
The New York Times cited a former military
official as saying Bergdahl slipped away from his base near the Afghan border
with Pakistan,
leaving a note saying he had become disillusioned with the army and the war and
was going to start a new life.
"Our army's leaders will not look
away from misconduct if it occurred," Dempsey said.
The general stressed that Bergdahl, who
was taken as a private and promoted while in captivity, was innocent until
proven guilty, and that the military would continue to care for him and his
family.
"The questions about this particular
soldier's conduct are separate from our effort to recover ANY US service
member in enemy captivity," Dempsey wrote in his statement.
"This was likely the last, best
opportunity to free him. As for the circumstances of his capture, when he is
able to provide them, we'll learn the facts."
Bergdahl was released over the weekend in Afghanistan in a
prisoner exchange for five high-level Taliban militants who had been held at
the US prison in Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba.
President Barack Obama has come under fire
from Republicans and other critics who say the swap will encourage others to
try to take American soldiers or diplomats hostage.
Obama's aides have defended the deal as an
appropriate attempt to save the life of a captured soldier's whose health was
believed to be deteriorating.
On Tuesday Obama defended his decision,
saying his administration had consulted with Congress about that possibility
"for some time."
But Obama brushed aside questions about
the circumstances surrounding Bergdahl's capture, saying the U.S. has an
obligation to not leave its military personnel behind.
"Regardless of the circumstances,
whatever those circumstances may turn out to be, we still get an American
solider back if he's held in captivity," Obama said during a news
conference in Poland.
"We don't condition that."
On the Facebook page of his unit, the 1st
Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, many
posters slammed Bergdahl as a deserter who should be held accountable for his
actions.
"Now he can stand trial for deserting
his post," wrote Brandon Fall, USA Today reported.
Those who served with him are also raising
questions. "Bergdahl was a deserter, and soldiers from his own unit died
trying to track him down," Nathan Bradley Bethea, who said he served in
Bergdahl's unit, wrote in the Daily Beast.
In an exclusive Newsmax interview Monday,
he team leader who supervised Bergdahl said he had mixed feelings about his
homecoming.
"I'm definitely happy for his
family," Sgt. Evan Buetow said of Bergdahl in an interview with Newsmax
TV's "America's
Forum." "I mean, he's an American citizen; I'm happy that he's back
and that we can hopefully get closure to this whole incident."
But Buetow, who now works in law
enforcement, said that he's still mystified by his platoon-mate's decision to
"walk away" from his post, his mission and his fellow troops into the
grasp of the Afghan insurgents they were fighting.
"I just want to ask him why,"
said Buetow.
Buetow also echoed the charge made by
other platoon members that Bergdahl's actions cost the lives of soldiers sent
to search for him.
"So yes, as a direct result of him
leaving, several soldiers died," said Buetow.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a measured defense Monday of the
prisoner swap, noting that many of America's allies make similar
deals.
The former secretary of state was asked
about the exchange by the moderator at an event in a Denver suburb. Clinton said she did not second-guess people
who make such tough decisions, but said the American tradition of caring for
its citizens and soldiers was a "noble" one.
She also noted that countries like Israel have
made similar swaps, citing that country's decision to exchange more than 1,000
Palestinian prisoners for one of its soldiers in 2011.
"This young man, whatever the
circumstances, was an American citizen — is an American citizen — was serving
in our military," Clinton
said. "The idea that you really care for your own citizens and
particularly those in uniform, I think is a very noble one."
Joint Chiefs of Staff
Martin
E. Dempsey is the chairman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
and was the chief of staff for the U.S. Army.
Note: Joseph
W. Ralston was the vice chairman for the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, is an advisory board member for the Wheelchair
Foundation, and a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank).
Mikhail
Gorbachev is an advisory board member for the Wheelchair
Foundation, was the general secretary for the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union, and the president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
Colin L.
Powell was the chairman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
and an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
James
E. Cartwright was the vice chairman for the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, a U.S. Marine Corps
general, and is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
Edmund
P. Giambastiani Jr. was the vice chairman for the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, a U.S. Navy
admiral, and is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
Marc
Grossman was a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and a
special representative for Afghanistan.
Richard
C. Holbrooke was a special U.S.
envoy for Afghanistan,
and a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
Zalmay
Khalilzad was the U.S.
ambassador for Afghanistan,
and is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank), and Amnesty International.
George Soros
is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations,
a co-chair, national finance council at Ready for Hillary,
the and was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open
Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for Amnesty
International, and the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Amnesty
International declared Guantanamo Bay prison
the 'Gulag of our times' in 2005.
John R.
Allen is a fellow at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), was a U.S. Marine Corps
general, a commander for the International Security
Assistance Force in Afghanistan, and the supreme allied commander Europe nominee for NATO.
NATO is the
overseer for the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
International
Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan is the NATO
mission in Afghanistan.
Stanley
A. McChrystal was the commanding officer for the International
Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan,
a U.S. Army general, and a staff director
for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
William
A. Owens was the vice chairman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
a U.S. Navy admiral, an honorary
trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank),
and a senior military assistant to the secretary for the U.S.
Department of Defense.
Guantanamo
Bay prison is a Cuba-based detention camp for the U.S. Department of Defense.
Chuck Hagel
is the secretary at the U.S. Department of Defense
for the Barack Obama administration, and was
the chairman for the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
Ivo H. Daalder
is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), was a senior
fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank),
and a NATO U.S. permanent representative.
Wesley K.
Clark is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), was a U.S. Army general, and a NATO
supreme allied commander for Europe.
Norman W.
Ray was a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank), a vice admiral for the U.S. Navy,
and an assistant secretary general for NATO.
James
L. Jones Jr. is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), was a U.S. Marine Corps general, and a NATO supreme
allied commander for Europe.
Robert
E. Hunter is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and a NATO U.S.
ambassador.
Andrew
Goodpaster was the chairman for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and a NATO supreme allied commander for Europe.
George
A. Joulwan is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), was a U.S. Army general, and a NATO supreme
allied commander for Europe.
Karl Eikenberry
was a U.S. Army lieutenant general, a deputy
chairman of military committee for NATO, and a U.S. ambassador, commander of combined forces
for Afghanistan.
William E.
Odom was an assistant chief of staff for intelligence for the U.S. Army, a senior fellow at the Hudson
Institute (think tank), and a director at the National
Security Agency (NSA).
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Hudson
Institute (think tank).
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to
Promote Open Society.
Matthew
G. Olsen was the general counsel for the National
Security Agency (NSA), a director at the Guantanamo
Review Task Force, and is a director at the National
Counterterrorism Center.
National
Counterterrorism Center is a division of the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA), a U.S. government center for threat
analysis for Terrorism, manages the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, and Terrorist Threat Integration Center was the predecessor
agency.
John O.
Brennan was the interim director at the National Counterterrorism Center, the founding director
for the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, George J. Tenet’s chief of staff, and is the CIA director former
assistant to the president for homeland security & counterterrorism at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for the Barack Obama administration.
George J.
Tenet’s chief of staff was John O. Brennan,
a director at the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA), Judith A. Miscik
was his executive assistant, and a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank).
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank).
George Soros
is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations,
and was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open
Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the International
Rescue Committee, and the Aspen
Institute (think tank).
Judith A.
Miscik was George J. Tenet’s executive
assistant, a director at the International Rescue
Committee, the deputy director of intelligence for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and is the president
& vice chairman for Kissinger Associates, Inc.
Henry A. Kissinger
is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank), an overseer at the International
Rescue Committee, the founder of Kissinger
Associates, Inc., a member of the Bohemian
Club, a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), was a lifetime
trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank),
and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Henrietta
Holsman Fore is a trustee at the Aspen
Institute (think tank), and a member of the Belizean
Grove.
Ann E.
Dunwoody is a member of the Belizean
Grove, a U.S. Army 4-star general, and the commander for
the U.S. Army Materiel Command.
Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody, U.S. Army
Materiel Command commanding general
June 2, 2010
Martin
E. Dempsey was the chief of staff for the U.S. Army,
and is the chairman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
No comments:
Post a Comment