Opinion

Deal for Bowe Bergdahl looks worse and worse

The American soldier President Obama portrayed as a heroic POW of the Taliban and traded five jailed Taliban leaders for his release now looks more like the man President Trump called a “no-good traitor” who should “have been executed.”

On Monday, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl admitted deserting his Afghan post as well as misbehaving before the enemy and endangering fellow troops, confirming the betrayal several veterans who served alongside him have alleged for years. Though capital punishment is not in the offing, he does face life in prison at his sentencing later this month.

Bergdahl’s plea sets up a pre-sentence trial starting Oct. 23 at Fort Bragg that’s expected to include dramatic testimony about three troops seriously injured during search-and-rescue missions launched to find him. Two of them suffered disabling injuries: Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Mark Allen, who in 2009 was shot in the head searching for Bergdahl, leaving him confined to a wheelchair and unable to talk; and Navy SEAL Jimmy Hatch, who was shot in the leg on another search the next day, leaving him with a permanent limp.





To garner sympathy from the sentencing judge, Bergdahl’s defense team is expected to play up his alleged mental health problems, including what they claim is paranoia and schizophrenia.

However, Army shrinks found Bergdahl does not suffer from psychological problems that would prevent him from standing trial. And last month, Bergdahl’s lawyers failed to produce for prosecutors mental health records and other evidence detailing any serious condition.

What’s more, Army security officials say Bergdahl exhibited no signs of mental illness since being assigned to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, where he is based. In fact, one fort insider told me that when Bergdahl is not working a desk job in administration, he “regularly bowls” at the post lanes, and was even on a bowling team. (“He has been afforded all the rights and privileges that any other soldier on post has,” including leaves, in spite of his court martial.)





In addition to bowling, the source says Bergdahl also has a fondness for pot: “He has gone on leave at least once, and while he was gone, he was found by police in a marijuana farm” in Mendocino, Calif.

The military official, moreover, noted that Bergdahl was lucid during his evaluation for receiving secret security clearance, a process that included filling out a SF86 questionnaire so he and his lawyers could review classified materials for his case (yes, military brass also gave the suspected deserter and enemy sympathizer access to classified military secrets).

Attempts to reach Bergdahl’s attorneys were unsuccessful.

In 2015, Obama tried to cover Bergdahl in the glory of a war hero, even inviting his parents to the Rose Garden to celebrate the news of his release. The former president maintained he only freed five Taliban leaders to free a soldier who, in the words of his National Security Adviser Susan Rice, served “the United States with honor and distinction.”





But they knew better. They had to have: The Pentagon itself refused to list Bergdahl as a POW. That’s because an internal 2009 Army report found he had a history of walking off his post and more than likely deserted. It also found he shipped his laptop back home to Idaho, and left a note expressing his disillusionment with the war, before ending up in the arms of the Taliban.

Obama had access to this intelligence long before he made his Taliban deal. So why did he trade a known deserter — and likely enemy sympathizer, if not collaborator — for five enemy commanders whom he acknowledged posed a national security risk? Simple: To justify the release from Gitmo of five “forever detainees,” who otherwise would never have been released and would have delayed achieving his promise to antiwar liberals to withdraw from Afghanistan and empty Gitmo.





At the bizarre Rose Garden ceremony, during which Bergdahl’s Taliban-bearded father praised Allah, Obama asserted: “We’re committed to winding down the war in Afghanistan and closing Gitmo.”

An Army intelligence official cited circumstantial evidence linking Bergdahl’s 5-year Taliban captivity and the Taliban’s suddenly more accurate and deadly targeting of US convoys and troops. “They wouldn’t have kept him alive if he hadn’t provided information.”

Meanwhile, at least three of Obama’s freed Taliban leaders have tried to resume their terrorist ties.

With the exchange, Obama compromised national security and directly risked US military lives for politics. “It’s probably a tie as to who is the bigger traitor,” the intelligence official said.

If freeing the Taliban Five is linked to more American deaths, the last commander-in-chief should be held to account for his actions, as well.

Sperry is a former Hoover Institution media fellow.





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