Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s return from POW captivity in 2014 has been plagued from the get-go with questions about what the Obama administration knew when it agreed to trade five high-ranking Taliban officers for his release.
Many have asked whether Obama and his team knew prior to the exchange that Bergdahl, who pleaded guilty last week to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, was captured in Afghanistan in 2009 after he abandoned his post. Many have also asked whether the administration was aware of the charges that the sergeant’s desertion endangered the lives of the U.S. service members who were subsequently sent out to find him.
The way one U.S. Army captain tells it, the Obama White House knew about all of these things – and worked hard to silence the members of Bergdahl’s unit, the legendary 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment.
“I began my career as a military officer at Fort Meade and served as the public affairs officer for Sergeant Bergdahl’s unit before returning to Maryland to attend graduate school this year,” U.S. Army Captain Chase Spears, who is studying now as an Army Advanced Civil Schooling Fellow at Georgetown University, wrote this week for the Baltimore Sun. “I worked and spoke candidly for six years with soldiers who were deployed with the unit when Sergeant Bergdahl disappeared, and I have read the initial investigation.”
He added, “In the days following Sergeant Bergdahl’s desertion, soldiers with knowledge of the facts were forced to sign nondisclosure agreements. The truth about Sergeant Bergdahl was suppressed at the cost of their peace of mind.”
The 501st knew what happened, he added, and they watched in fury as a false narrative about Bergdahl’s capture was created from thin air.
“Though it was common knowledge inside the unit that Sergeant Bergdahl had deserted, the Army allowed the myth to perpetuate that he might have fallen behind on a patrol. Soldiers who knew the truth were afraid to speak up, out of fear that they would be punished,” he wrote.
Recent developments in the Army Sgt.’s desertion trial have brought back questions regarding the Obama administration’s handling of Bergdahl’s release from Taliban captivity, which, oddly enough, overlapped directly with the scandal surrounding the gross mismanagement at the Department of Veterans Affairs office.
The way the Obama administration told it, trading several high-ranking Taliban officials for Bergdahl was worth it, given that the Army sergeant had served with “honor and distinction.”
The White House’s war hero characterization in particular enraged those who knew what happened in Afghanistan in 2009, Spears wrote.
“Sergeant Bergdahl was rescued under the pretense that his health was deteriorating to a critical level. He made the trip back to the U.S. on his own feet, and no serious health issues have since been reported,” Spears’ increasingly critical op-ed read. “Sergeant Bergdahl’s return to the U.S. resembled a well-orchestrated public relations campaign, complete with presidential Rose Garden ceremony.”
“Those of us who know the truth have been waiting three years now to see what the Army and defense would present at trial,” he added.
Not to sound cliché, but this op-ed, along with everything else we know, including Bergdahl’s guilty plea, raises the questions: What did Obama know, and when did he know it?
Did the Obama White House know about the circumstances of Bergdahl’s capture when it agreed to trade several top-ranking Taliban officers, including UN-wanted war criminals, for his release? Did the administration know of the charges that Bergdahl intentionally abandoned his post in Afghanistan in 2009? Did the Obama administration know of the charges that Bergdahl’s reported desertion endangered the safety and lives of the soldiers who were sent to rescue him?
What did Obama and former national security adviser Susan Rice know when they claimed that Bergdahl had served with “honor and distinction”? What did they know when they touted Bergdahl’s release during a much-publicized statement from the Rose Garden?
If the Bergdahl trade was indeed staged as a distraction from the VA scandal, what a scandal that would be. There’s not enough evidence at this time to conclude that Bergdahl’s release was a cheap political stunt, but there are at least enough questions as to say the former president and his team owe us some answers.
