According to his lawyer, Sgt Bowe Bergdahl is being charged with desertion and misbehavior, a finding that dramatically clashes with the Obama administration's description of Bergdahl and the circumstances of his capture when the controversial swap was first announced.
When the administration first announced the Bergdahl-Taliban swap last summer, National Security Advisor Susan Rice made the rounds in the media to defend the trading of five high-ranking Taliban leaders for a man accused by fellow servicemen of abandoning his post. Speaking on ABC June 2, Rice declared that Bergdahl “served the United States with honor and distinction” and suggested he would face no further punishment as he had already "paid an extraordinary price":
RICE: Certainly anybody who's been held in those conditions, in captivity for five years, has paid an extraordinary price. But that is really not the point. The point is that he's back. He is going to be safely reunited with his family. He served the United States with honor and distinction. And we’ll have the opportunity eventually to learn what has transpired in the past years, but what's most important now is his health and well-being, that he has the opportunity to recover in peace and security and be reunited with his family. Which is why this is such a joyous day.
Rice also insisted that Bergdahl was not “simply a hostage” but a “prisoner of war captured on the battlefield”:
RICE: Sergeant Bergdahl wasn't simply a hostage; he was an American prisoner of war captured on the battlefield. We have a sacred obligation that we have upheld since the founding of our republic to do our utmost to bring back our men and women who are taken in battle, and we did that in this instance.
Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that, after an exhaustive investigation, the Army was charging Bergdahl with desertion and misbehavior:
Eugene Fidell, Bergdahl’s attorney, told The Washington Post that his client was handed a charge sheet on Tuesday. Army officials announced they will provide an update in his case at 3:30 p.m. at Fort Bragg, N.C., but declined to discuss new developments ahead of the news conference.
Bergdahl, 28, went missing from his base in Paktika province on June 30, 2009, and is believed to have grown disillusioned with the U.S. military’s mission in Afghanistan. He was held captive in Pakistan by the Haqqani network, an insurgent group allied with the Taliban, until a deal brokered through the government of Qatar was reached last year.
This article is an update of a piece published in 28 Jan 2015.
