According to a military document Bergdahl was a "CAPTURED SOLDIER". There was no indication in the report that Bergdahl had deserted and no indication that he had not intended to return to his duties at the assigned time. The organized attacks on Private Bergdahl need to stop until there has been an investigation by the military into his statements about the events. He is innocent until proven guilty.
A report at the time of the Bergdahl kidnapping by the Taliban reported following intercepted conversation:
TRAFFIC FROM REDRIDGE: freq 162.1
1- W ARE READY FOR THEM.
2- ALL THE NUMBERS ARE MESS IT. WE ARE WWAITING FOR THEM.
1- LOL THEY KNOW WHERE HE IS BUT THEY KEEP GOING TO WRONG AREA.
2- OK SET UP THE WORK FOR THEM.
1- YES WE HAVE A LOT OF IED ON THE ROAD.
2- GOD WILLING WE WILL DO IT.
1- WE WERE ATTACKING THE POST HE WAS SITTING TAKING EXPLETIVE HE HAD NO GUN WITH HIM. HE WAS TAKING EXPLETIVE, HE HAS NOT CLEANED HIS BUTT YET.
2- WHAT SHEAM FOR THEM.
1- I DONT THINK HE W
2-YES LOOK THEY HAVE ALL AMERICANS, ANA HELICOPTERS THE PLANES ARE LOOKING FOR HIM.
1- I THINK HE IS BIG SHOT THAT WHY THEY ARE LOOKING FOR HIM.
3-CAN YOU GUYS MAKE A VIDEO OF HIM AND ANNOUNCE IT ALL OVER AFGHANISTAN THAT WE HAVE ONE OF THE AMERICANS.
1- WE ALREADY HAVE A VIDEO OF HIM.
http://wikileaks.org/...
Another interaction on the same report:
1- I SWEAR THAT I HAVE NOT HEARD ANYTHING YET. WHAT HAPPENED. IS THAT TRUE THAT THEY CAPTURED AN AMERICAN GUY?
2- YES THEY DID. HE IS ALIVE. THERE IS NO WHERE HE CAN GO (LOL)
1- IS HE STILL ALIVE?
2- YES HE IS ALIVE. BUT I DONT HAVE THE WHOLE STORY. DONT KNOW IF THEY WERE FIGHTING. ALL I KNOW IF THEY WERE FIGHTIING. ALL I KNOW THAT THEY CAPTURE HIM ALIVE AND THEY ARE WITH HIM RIGHT NOW.
This definitely does not sound like a conversation about a voluntary deserter. It sounds more like a guy caught in a latrine.
Until more facts are known we need to welcome our soldier back home. Our soldiers should not be left behind. This was true long before Barack Obama was elected President.
UPDATES
I wanted to share the intercept about the capture in the latrine as quickly as possible after I saw it elsewhere. The howling lynch mob needs to be quieted with facts since they are not allowing time for a reasonable investigation. The facts are not yet clear, but that does not seem to be inhibiting the calls for violence.
According to an article in Rolling Stone:
In the early-morning hours of June 30th, according to soldiers in the unit, Bowe approached his team leader not long after he got off guard duty and asked his superior a simple question: If I were to leave the base, would it cause problems if I took my sensitive equipment?
Yes, his team leader responded – if you took your rifle and night-vision goggles, that would cause problems.
Bowe returned to his barracks, a roughly built bunker of plywood and sandbags. He gathered up water, a knife, his digital camera and his diary. Then he slipped off the outpost.
http://www.rollingstone.com/...
As songsparrow said:
If Bergdahl planned to desert or join the Taliban, why would he care about getting in trouble for taking some of his equipment with him? If caught, he'd already be in trouble for much larger issues.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Laura Clawson shared:
For one thing, in a unit plagued with discipline problems, Bergdahl had walked away more than once before—and had returned of his own accord, according to accounts of a classified report on his disappearance. That throws doubt on Bergdahl's intentions the night he left his unit.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Here is a wonderful statement by US Navy Chief Warrant Officer Jim Wright, retired.
Are we now so filled with foul bilious hatred, are we now so consumed with soul-destroying fear, do we now despise our own selves so much that we would actually protest the return of one of our own?
and
I get that they are so consumed with rage and so filled with naked hate and so programmed with their diseased ideology that it poisons their minds like a computer chip submerged in acid.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
There a quite a few other good diaries on this site. Please feel free to share links in the comments. We need to get the available facts out before this gets any uglier than it already is.