Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
These are my thoughts. I can remain silent no longer, the father began. He stood in a black shirt, his bushy blond beard worn long, the kind sported by most militant men in the war-racked region. In the three-minute video, he mentioned several high-ranking Pakistani generals by name, thanking them for their sacrifices. Then he went on to thank the Taliban forces that were holding his son. Strangely to some, he said, we must also thank those who have cared for our son for almost two years. We know our son is a prisoner, but at the same time a guest in your home. He then addressed his son, sending his love and assuring him: Weve been quiet in public. But we havent been quiet behind the scene.
That video, along with other social media postings the 54-year-old Bergdahl made after his son was captured near the Afghan-Pakistani border in 2009, have come under greater scrutiny in the wake of the Obama administrations controversial prisoner swap, in which the U.S. secured the 28-year-old sergeants release by freeing five Taliban leaders held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Back home, critics are demanding that the U.S. Army prosecute the younger Bergdahl for deserting his post before his capture, as has been claimed by other soldiers in his unit. But the father is now under increased public scrutiny as well. Bob Bergdahl, many say, was waging his own undeclared war at home.
Over the years, residents of this small resort town in the shadow of the Sawtooth Mountains watched as he slowly changed over the long months of his sons ordeal. Always private, the conservative Presbyterian everyone knew as the local UPS deliveryman further retreated into his shell. Hed moved to Idaho with his wife, Jani, after dropping out of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Bowe and his sister, Sky, were born there. The elder Bergdahl learned Pashto, the language of his sons captors, studied Arabic and immersed himself in the stories of other Americans held abroad. He began growing his hair and beard in solidarity with his son its length and unruliness reminders to Wood River Valley residents of how long his son had been in captivity.
Few mentioned the beard, knowing its significance. Bob delivered packages to our office and most everyones offices, said Hailey Mayor Fritz Haemmerle, a local lawyer who has known Bergdahl for 30 years. Youd see him doing his job, but you never knew what to say. Its one of those touchy subjects, like when someone dies. What do you say to the family? Its not an easy conversation to have. The change in Bobs visage told the story. And it was a drastic change.
MORE
Everybodys improving their own areas, improving the villages around them, making life better and making it easier for us to leave we started the engine, we walk away, said Nick Tabaczka, then a staff sergeant in Blackfoot Company (the same unit as Bergdahl) and now a University of Alaska Anchorage student. When all this happened, everything changed. After Bergdahl disappeared, we started doing our rescue missions back to back, said Kenneth Nall, then a private and now a stay-at-home dad. Thats when people were starting to get hurt all the time, because we had pushed so many more soldiers in theater to look for this guy. Nall himself was badly injured when his Army vehicle struck an improvised bomb in the search for Bergdahl.
The first jubilant moments when Bergdahl was released by the Taliban on May 31 in a swap for five Guantanamo prisoners quickly turned sour and political. Some in Congress objected to the swap. Members of Bergdahls Second Platoon, interviewed in national media, in some cases in arrangements made by Republican strategists, described Bergdahl as a deserter. The former soldiers said at least two Anchorage-based soldiers were killed in action because of him.
With the issue simmering on the national stage, four former soldiers from Bergdahls company, including three from the platoon that split duty at Outpost Mest with Bergdahls platoon, agreed to an interview last week. They said they wanted to express solidarity with the soldiers from the Second Platoon, at least on the point that the Army should investigate Bergdahl as a deserter who endangered his fellow soldiers and should be held to account in a court-martial if the facts warrant. But they also said they had no interest in getting involved in the partisan politics surrounding Bergdahls release and said they were happy he can now come home even if his destination is a brig and not his hometown of Hailey, Idaho.
The four, Tabaczka, 34, from Manistee, Mich.; Nall, 35, from Lubbock, Texas; former Sgt. Johnathan Rice, 27, from Daytona Beach, Fla.; and former Spc. Ryan McNeely, 27, from Buchanan, Mich., all remained in the Anchorage area as civilians after leaving the Armys 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, based at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. They served in the Brigades 2009 deployment to Afghanistan with the 150-soldier Blackfoot Company of the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment. Rice approached the Anchorage Daily News / Alaska Dispatch last week to express his opinions on Bergdahls release.
'They had lost their man'
Obama giving five top echelon Taliban leaders in trade for a hostage is insane. Think about WWII and trading 4 of Hitler's cabinet members and one Rommel for a hostage.
Because that's the equivalent to what Obama did. One is a mass murderer of Afghan civilians. By virtue of this over the top trade's bizarreness there has to be more to it.
Or at least I hope there is. Because if not it means this administration is more royally fucked up than any of us thought.
Pardon my french there but this is really whacked out.
Obama giving five top echelon Taliban leaders in trade for a hostage is insane. Think about WWII and trading 4 of Hitler's cabinet members and one Rommel for a hostage.
Because that's the equivalent to what Obama did. One is a mass murderer of Afghan civilians. By virtue of this over the top trade's bizarreness there has to be more to it.
Or at least I hope there is. Because if not it means this administration is more royally fucked up than any of us thought.
Pardon my french there but this is really whacked out.
Obama giving five top echelon Taliban leaders in trade for a hostage is insane. Think about WWII and trading 4 of Hitler's cabinet members and one Rommel for a hostage.
Because that's the equivalent to what Obama did. One is a mass murderer of Afghan civilians. By virtue of this over the top trade's bizarreness there has to be more to it.
Or at least I hope there is. Because if not it means this administration is more royally fucked up than any of us thought.
Pardon my french there but this is really whacked out.
Republicans have NOTHING to offer the middle class.
Is there a bigger story behind the Bergdahl exchange? | On Air Videos | Fox News
You Obama ass kisser GO.. Because I am sure you will defend his sorry ass
Sure there is a bigger story. Republicans have NOTHING to offer the middle class.
Obama giving five top echelon Taliban leaders in trade for a hostage is insane. Think about WWII and trading 4 of Hitler's cabinet members and one Rommel for a hostage.
Because that's the equivalent to what Obama did. One is a mass murderer of Afghan civilians. By virtue of this over the top trade's bizarreness there has to be more to it.
Or at least I hope there is. Because if not it means this administration is more royally fucked up than any of us thought.
Pardon my french there but this is really whacked out.
Republicans have NOTHING to offer the middle class.
Democrats had two years to make the middle class strong, but social issues were more important. Get some new talking points.
Sure there is a bigger story. Republicans have NOTHING to offer the middle class.
Which if true would be much better then the destruction that the democrats have offered the middle class for the last 8 years they have been in power. How you can blame the minority party for what the majority has done is anyone's guess.
Sure there is a bigger story. Republicans have NOTHING to offer the middle class.
