In 2012, Rolling stone reporter Michael Hastings revealed that Bowe Bergdahl had not only planned his desertion, he had actively sought out the Taliban.

The following year, Michael Hastings died in a single-vehicle automobile crash (explosion) in his Mercedes C250 Coupé at approximately 4:25 a.m. in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles on June 18, 2013, under suspicious circumstances.

In July 2012, Hastings published a ten-thousand word article titled America’s Last Prisoner of War, which had drawn the attention of the FBI.

Not only had Hastings revealed the details leading up to Bowe’s desertion, he had also exposed that the unit was out of control, and lacked any form of effective leadership.

Excerpt from America’s Last Prisoner of War:

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.

America’s Last Prisoner of War:

‘From the start, everything seemed to go wrong. In April, Lt. Fancey was removed from his post for clashing with a superior officer. He was replaced by Sgt. 1st Class Larry Hein, who had never held such a command – a move that left the remote outpost with no officers. According to four soldiers in the battalion, the removal of Fancey was quickly followed by a collapse in unit morale and an almost complete breakdown of authority.’

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‘Three good sergeants, Bowe said, had been forced to move to another company, and “one of the biggest shit bags is being put in charge of the team.” His battalion commander was a “conceited old fool.” The military system itself was broken: “In the US army you are cut down for being honest… but if you are a conceited brown nosing shit bag you will be allowed to do what ever you want, and you will be handed your higher rank… The system is wrong. I am ashamed to be an american. And the title of US soldier is just the lie of fools.”

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The unit, for its part, continued to bungle even the most basic aspects of military duty. During the last week of June, the platoon spent a day resupplying at Forward Operating Base Sharana. When someone in the unit lost his weapon, everyone in the platoon had to drop what they were doing and look for it.

In 2012, the Obama administration had “encouraged” the Bergdahl’s to refrain from speaking about Bowe. Was this done because too much was being revealed about Bowe’s desertion, and the Obama administration was working on a prisoner swap that would leave a nation in shock.

[Watch] Bowe Bergdahl’s Platoon Leader Said Bergdahl Had ‘Deserted’ And Army Slapped Them With a Gag Order

Bowe’s father, Robert Bergdahl, had gone on a very public campaign, criticizing the Obama administration for killing Afghanistan civilians, and had even said that one of the Taliban captors of his son had his child murdered by a CIA drone.

Robert Bergdahl went so far as to post a video on YouTube, where he appealed directly to this son’s captors, stating: “…We must also thank those who have cared for our son for almost two years…We have wept that God may show his beneficence, his mercy and that his peace may come upon the people of Pakistan. As-salamu alaykum [peace be upon you].”

Hastings investigation had also revealed Bergdahl’s anti-American sentiments, and published the shocking emails Bowe sent to his father that said: “I am ashamed to be an American… The horror that is America is disgusting.”

“The future is too good to waste on lies,” Bowe wrote. “And life is way too short to care for the damnation of others, as well as to spend it helping fools with their ideas that are wrong. I have seen their ideas and I am ashamed to even be american. The horror of the self-righteous arrogance that they thrive in. It is all revolting.”

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A 22-page secret FBI report dated June 11, 2012, obtained by investigative reporter Jason Leopold, shows that both Hastings and former Afghanistan war veteran and co-writer Matt Farwell were under an intense FBI investigation in early 2012.

The FBI report reflected Hastings findings that Bergdahl had deserted, and that he had systematically planned it by shipping his personal belongings home.

Why did the Obama Administration work so hard to trade high level Taliban for a known deserter, and then play up the ceremony as if he were a hero.

Staff Sergeant Joseph Biggs had known Michael Hastings since 2008, when the journalist was embedded in his unit in Afghanistan, and told Fox News that Hastings was working on “the biggest story yet” about the CIA before his untimely death.

Biggs was responsible for releasing an email (pictured below) that Hastings wrote 15 hours before his car crash in which the journalist stated he was “onto a big story” and needed “to go off the radar for a bit.”

Biggs tweeted that the reason he released the email was because Hastings’ other friends and colleagues who received it were “too scared” to do so.

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Bowe Bergdahl was charged with desertion, and misbehavior before the enemy; the first carries up to five years in prison, the latter up to life. A conviction on either could strip him of his rank and all pay and earn him a dishonorable discharge.

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