June 2, 2014

6 soldiers killed searching for ‘deserter’ POW, fueling backlash

June 2, 2014 | 10:31am

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Six soldiers died in the frantic search for Sgt. Bowe Bergdhal immediately after his mysterious disappearance five years ago, fueling the increasing backlash over the POW’s recovery.
Former platoon mates of the now-recovered serviceman accused Bergdhal of deserting his post and blamed him for the unnecessary deaths of comrades.
“I was pissed off then and I am even more so now with everything going on,” former Sgt. Matt Vierkant, a member of Bergdahl’s platoon, told CNN. “Bowe Bergdahl deserted during a time of war and his fellow Americans lost their lives searching for him.”
Accounts of Bergdahl’s disappearance on June 30, 2009, have varied wildly.
And now CNN is reporting that at least six soldiers were killed in subsequent searches for Bergdahl in rugged Paktika Province in the ensuing days and weeks.
The six men reportedly killed while searching for Bergdahl were identified as Staff Sgt. Clayton Bowen and Pfc. Morris Walker on Aug. 18, 2009; Staff Sgt. Kurt Curtiss on Aug. 26; 2nd Lt. Darryn Andrews and Pfc. Matthew Michael Martinek on Sept. 4; and Staff Sgt. Michael Murphrey on Sept. 5.
“He walked off,” said another comrade of Bergdahl’s, former Pfc. Jose Baggett.
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Pictures of the soldiers who were killed as depicted on the Facebook pagePhoto: Facebook
“He left his guard post. Nobody knows if he defected or he’s a traitor or he was kidnapped. What I do know is he was there to protect us and instead he decided to defer from America and go and do his own thing. I don’t know why he decided to do that, but we spend so much of our resources and some of those resources were soldiers’ lives.”
Critics of the recovered soldier have even built a Facebook page, “Bowe Bergdahl is NOT a hero.”
It links to an online petition demanding Bergdahl’s prosecution.
“Punish Bowe Bergdahl for walking off base with intent to not support the War On terror. Bowe Bergdahl broke several Articles under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and needs to be punished not rewarded,” according to the petition.
“Bowe Bergdahl, directly disobeyed the following articles Article 86 AWOL and Article 85 Desertion. both articles call for trial by court martial. He is not a hero and is directly responsible for several military members death. Bring punishment to Bowe Bergdahl and let the public know that the military holds all members to the same standard,” the petition states.
‘HE LEFT HIS GUARD POST. NOBODY KNOWS IF HE DEFECTED OR HE’S A TRAITOR OR HE WAS KIDNAPPED.’
 - Former Pfc. Jose Baggett, Bergdahl Comrade
Bergdahl’s former squad leader, Greg Leatherman, struck a more conciliatory tone.
“I’m pleased to see him returned safely,” Leatherman told CNN. “From experience I hope that he receives adequate reintegration counseling. I believe that an investigation should take place as soon as health care professionals deem him fit to endure one.”
Bergdahl was released on Saturday, in exchange for five Taliban leaders who had been locked up at Guantánamo Bay.
But the five-for-one trade didn’t sit well with soldiers who believe Bergdahl left of his own accord.
“I don’t understand why we’re trading prisoners at Gitmo for somebody who deserted during a time of war, which is an act of treason,” Vierkant said.
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Mohammed Nabi served as chief of security for the Taliban in Qalat, Afghanistan, and later worked as a radio operator for the Taliban’s communications office in Kabul.
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Sources: Intelligence community investigated Bergdahl’s conduct

James Rosen
A senior official confirms to Fox News that the conduct of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl -- both in his final stretch of active duty in Afghanistan and then, too, during his time when he lived among the Taliban -- has been thoroughly investigated by the U.S. intelligence community and is the subject of "a major classified file."
In conveying as much, the Defense Department source confirmed to Fox News that many within the intelligence community harbor serious outstanding concerns not only that Bergdahl may have been a deserter but that he may have been an active collaborator with the enemy.
The Pentagon official added pointedly that no relevant congressional committee has sought access to the classified file, but that if such a request were made, key committee chairs would, under previous precedent, likely be granted access to it. Separately, the Pentagon confirmed Monday that it is looking into claims Americans died during the search for Bergdahl. 
The administration announced over the weekend that Bergdahl's release had been secured, in exchange for five Taliban prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. President Obama was joined by the soldier's parents in making a public statement on the release Saturday evening from the Rose Garden. 
Sources told Fox News that many officials in the Executive Branch are "quite baffled" by the White House's decision to allow the president to stand alongside Bergdahl's father this past weekend, given the father's history of controversial statements, emails and online posts.
Asked Monday about reports that Bergdahl's father was communicating on Twitter with a man described as a Taliban spokesman, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney declined to comment on those reports but defended the administration's handling of the release.  
"The fact is they are the parents of Sergeant Bergdahl. Their son was held in captivity for five years," he said. "And it was absolutely the right thing to do, for the commander in chief, for this administration to take action to secure his release, the last prisoner of war from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars."
Asked whether Obama stands by National Security Adviser Susan Rice's claim Sunday that Bergdahl served with "distinction," Carney said the president "stands by actions that he took as commander in chief" to secure his release. 
Another administration official, whose duties are focused on counterterrorism, told Fox News when asked about the status of any investigations into Bergdahl's initial disappearance and his conduct over the last five years: "Everybody's looking at this. He's not going to get a free pass" in the interrogations that Bergdahl will face during his repatriation process. "He's going to have a lot of questions to answer -- a lot. Is he a hero? No."
Although this source had not seen the classified file described by the Pentagon source, the counterterrorism official agreed that given the high priority attached to the Bergdahl case over the last five years, the need for clarity about Bergdahl's actions before and during his time with the Taliban "would have been a high priority for intelligence tasking."
Asked if the process of repatriation would include questioning of Bergdahl geared towards determining whether he engaged in any forms of collaboration with the enemy, the counterterrorism official replied: "Of course. ... It's there. This is extremely untidy."
Officials noted that there were more than 50 cases in the Korean War where U.S. service personnel categorized as POWs were investigated for possibly having collaborated with North Koreans or the Chinese during that conflict.
James Rosen joined Fox News Channel (FNC) in 1999. He currently serves as the chief Washington correspondent and hosts the online show "The Foxhole."

U.S. concluded in 2010 that Bergdahl walked away

Associated Press 
By KEN DILANIAN and DEB RIECHMANN2 hours ago
A Pentagon investigation concluded in 2010 that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl walked away from his unit, and after an initial flurry of searching the military decided not to exert extraordinary efforts to rescue him, according to a former senior defense official who was involved in the matter.
Instead, the U.S. government pursued negotiations to get him back over the following five years of his captivity — a track that led to his release over the weekend.
Bergdahl was being checked and treated Monday at a U.S. military hospital in Germany as questions mounted at home over the swap that resulted in his freedom in exchange for the release of five detainees who were sent to Qatar from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo, Cuba.
Even in the first hours of Bergdahl's handoff to U.S. special forces in eastern Afghanistan, it was clear this would not be an uncomplicated yellow-ribbon celebration. Five terrorist suspects also walked free, stirring a debate over whether the exchange would heighten the risk of other Americans being snatched as bargaining chips and whether the released detainees — several senior Taliban figures among them — would find their way back to the fight.
U.S. officials said Sunday that Bergdahl's health and safety appeared in jeopardy, prompting rapid action. "Had we waited and lost him," said national security adviser Susan Rice, "I don't think anybody would have forgiven the United States government." She said he had lost considerable weight and faced an "acute" situation. Yet she also said he appeared to be "in good physical condition."
One official, who spoke on grounds of anonymity because the person wasn't authorized to discuss the subject by name, said there were concerns about Bergdahl's mental and emotional as well as physical health.
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U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl
This undated image provided by the U.S. Army shows Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. U.S. officials say the only A …
On Monday, a U.S. military hospital in Germany reported Bergdahl in "stable condition and receiving treatment for conditions requiring hospitalization" after arriving from Afghanistan. The Landstuhl Regional Medical Center said Bergdahl's treatment "includes attention to dietary and nutrition needs after almost five years in captivity" but declined to release further details. It said there "is no pre-determined amount of time involved in the reintegration process" for the 28-year-old soldier.
Two officials said Monday that the Taliban may have been concerned about his health, as well, since the U.S. had sent the message that it would respond harshly if any harm befell him in captivity.
Republicans in the U.S. said the deal for Bergdahl's release could set a troubling precedent. Arizona Sen. John McCain said of the Guantanamo detainees who were exchanged for him: "These are the hardest of the hard core."
And in Kabul Monday, the Afghan Foreign Ministry called the swap "against the norms of international law" if it came against the five imprisoned Taliban detainees' will. The ministry said: "No state can transfer another country's citizen to a third country and put restriction on their freedom."
Tireless campaigners for their son's freedom, Bob and Jani Bergdahl thanked all who were behind the effort to retrieve him. "You were not left behind," Bob Bergdahl told reporters, as if speaking to his son. "We are so proud of the way this was carried out." He spoke in Boise, Idaho, wearing a long bushy beard he'd grown to honor his son, as residents in the sergeant's hometown of Hailey prepared for a homecoming celebration.
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The five detainees left Guantanamo aboard a U.S. military aircraft flying to Qatar, which served as go-between in the negotiations. They are to be banned from leaving Qatar for at least a year. Among the five: a Taliban deputy intelligence minister, a former Taliban interior minister with ties to the late al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and a figure linked by human rights monitors to mass killings of Shiite Muslims in Afghanistan in 2000 and 2001.
Questions persisted, too, about the circumstances of Bergdahl's 2009 capture. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel declined to comment on earlier reports that the sergeant had walked away from his unit, disillusioned with the war. Such matters "will be dealt with later," Hagel said.
But the former Pentagon official said it was "incontrovertible" that he walked away from his unit.
The military investigation was broader than a criminal inquiry, this official said, and it didn't formally accuse Bergdahl of desertion. In interviews, members of his unit portrayed him as a naive, "delusional" person who thought he could help the Afghan people by leaving his army post, the official said.
U.S. military and intelligence agencies had made every effort to monitor Bergdahl's location and his health, the official said, through both signals intelligence and a network of spies.
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White House press secretary Jay Carney speaks during …
White House press secretary Jay Carney speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washin …
Nathan Bradley Bethea, who served as an officer in Bergdahl's unit, said in an article Monday on the Daily Beast website that Bergdahl was not on patrol, as some reports have suggested.
"There was no patrol that night," he wrote. "Bergdahl was relieved from guard duty, and instead of going to sleep, he fled the outpost on foot. He deserted. I've talked to members of Bergdahl's platoon_including the last Americans to see him before his capture. I've reviewed the relevant documents. That's what happened."
Hagel, visiting troops in Afghanistan, was met with silence when he told a group of them in a Bagram Air Field hangar: "This is a happy day. We got one of our own back."
At the White House on Monday, press secretary Jay Carney said the exchange "was absolutely the right thing to do." in much the same tone as the president over the weekend, he said: "The United States does not leave our men and women behind in conflict."
"In a situation like this, you have a prisoner of war, a uniformed military person that was detained," Carney said.
In weighing the swap, U.S. officials decided that it could help the effort to reach reconciliation with the Taliban, which the U.S. sees as key to more security in Afghanistan. But they acknowledged the risk that the deal would embolden insurgents.
Republicans pressed that point. "Have we just put a price on other U.S. soldiers?" asked Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. "What does this tell terrorists, that if you capture a U.S. soldier, you can trade that soldier for five terrorists?"
___
Associated Press writers Darlene Superville in Washington, Rahim Faiez in Kabul, Afghanistan, Lolita C. Baldor at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan and Zarar Khan in Islamabad contributed to this report.
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