SEASON TWO: EPISODE 01
DUSTWUN
In the middle of the night, Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl grabs a notebook, snacks, water, some cash. Then he quietly slips off a remote U.S. Army outpost in eastern Afghanistan and into the dark, open desert. About 20 minutes later, it occurs to him: he’s in over his head.
https://serialpodcast.org/season-two/1/dustwun
Topic: Sgt. Bergdahl Arraigned on Desertion Charge (Read 931 times)
Bergdahl: Taliban asked me if Obama is gay
By Beckie Strum December 24, 2015 | 12:00pm
Bowe Bergdahl compared his first year in Taliban captivity — starved, stinking and chained to a bed — to being tossed in a closet and forgotten.
“Picture someone taking a bag, throwing it into the closet, shutting the door and just forgetting about it. That was basically how they treated me,” he said.
In the third episode of the popular podcast “Serial,” which is focused on Bergdahl’s alleged desertion from the Army in 2009 and subsequent five-year captivity by the Taliban, he details the misery of his first year held hostage — ending in a dramatic escape attempt that lasted 8½ days.
The interview was conducted by filmmaker Mark Boal (“The Hurt Locker,” “Zero Dark Thirty”) as part of a project on Bergdahl’s life. He lent the recordings to “Serial,” which is hosted by Sarah Koenig.
Bergdahl said he saw his first chance at escape soon after his abduction in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province, when a water delivery temporarily distracted his captors. He managed to slip off the chains binding his hands and feet and unlatched the flimsy wire holding the door to his cell closed.
He was free for only 15 minutes, running barefoot over rocks and climbing onto a roof and covering himself in mud to hide, he said in audio used by the podcast. He was caught in moments and hauled back into his cell, where men beat him with a rubber hose. They then blindfolded him and moved him to a new home, in what he now believes was North Waziristan in Pakistan, he said.
His new living arrangements were filthy and painful.
“In the new place, they put me on an Afghan bed and they chained my feet to the ends of the bed and chained my hands to the tops of the bed so that basically I was spread-eagle on the bed and blindfolded. And that’s how I spent the majority of the next three months,” he said.
He was allowed to use the bathroom twice a day and could shower around once a month. He developed bedsores and chronic diarrhea as a result.
“The time deprivation, too much light or too much darkness and too much randomness, it just wears away at you and drives your nerves into the ground. The constant worry ‘Am I going to die today?’ or is something worse going to happen,” he said.
Although watching over Bergdahl was a high honor, the guards were often bored and would pass the time by making videos of him, interrogating him with ridiculous questions or shaving his beard into shapes they found amusing, he said.
“They ask you, is Obama gay and sleeps with men?” he recalled. His young guards were also curious about where US military bases got their prostitutes, alcohol and drugs, and were obsessed with American soft drinks, he added.
“They love Mountain Dew. If you want to piss people off in that country, all you do is cut off their sugar supply,” he said.
Eventually, Bergdahl was moved to what he described as a wooden fortress and placed in a cell with an open window. By that time he had managed to squirrel away a few objects — an 8-inch piece of PVC pipe, a random key, an empty soda bottle, a nail and a wooden slat — from which he was able to hatch his next escape plan.
“I practiced all the nights before, counting the hours down until everything was silent so I knew everyone was asleep,” he said.
He shimmied from his window down a rope made from bedding and the chains he’d removed from his hands and feet. When he hit the ground, it was like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, even though he knew the road to safety would be perilous.
‘Picture someone taking a bag, throwing it into the closet, shutting the door and just forgetting about it. That was basically how they treated me.’
- Bowe Bergdahl
“I had to basically come to terms with the fact that this was very much like a suicide mission — one way out and I was searching for a needle in a haystack as far as being saved,” he said.
The darkness would be his downfall.
A few hours into his journey, he accidentally stepped off a cliff in the dark and badly injured his left side. Unable to walk, Bergdahl crawled across the rural, hilly landscape and tried to stay hidden in shelters made of sticks for the next week. To survive, he ate a few blades of grass and drank filthy water.
Sick and starving, he recalled the anguish of seeing American drones pass overhead at night but having no way to contact them.
“I’d seen like six drones moving across the sky. It’s not a nice feeling you’re so close but things are so stacked against you, you can’t do anything but keep going,” he said.
The Taliban search team found him on day eight, so frail and sick that they only ripped out some of his hair and beard — as opposed to beating him — as punishment.
Despite the risks, his failed escape plan seemed better than the alternative.
“It was like OK if I’m going to die, either from exposure out there or being shot while I escape, it’s better than having my head cut off because I saw enough of those movies or videos to know what that would be like,” he reasoned.
“That escape was the last time I saw stars since until the night Special Forces picked me up,” he said.
http://nypost.com/2015/12/24/bowe-bergdhal-details-escape-attempts-while-in-taliban-captivity/
By Beckie Strum December 24, 2015 | 12:00pm
Bowe Bergdahl compared his first year in Taliban captivity — starved, stinking and chained to a bed — to being tossed in a closet and forgotten.
“Picture someone taking a bag, throwing it into the closet, shutting the door and just forgetting about it. That was basically how they treated me,” he said.
In the third episode of the popular podcast “Serial,” which is focused on Bergdahl’s alleged desertion from the Army in 2009 and subsequent five-year captivity by the Taliban, he details the misery of his first year held hostage — ending in a dramatic escape attempt that lasted 8½ days.
The interview was conducted by filmmaker Mark Boal (“The Hurt Locker,” “Zero Dark Thirty”) as part of a project on Bergdahl’s life. He lent the recordings to “Serial,” which is hosted by Sarah Koenig.
Bergdahl said he saw his first chance at escape soon after his abduction in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province, when a water delivery temporarily distracted his captors. He managed to slip off the chains binding his hands and feet and unlatched the flimsy wire holding the door to his cell closed.
He was free for only 15 minutes, running barefoot over rocks and climbing onto a roof and covering himself in mud to hide, he said in audio used by the podcast. He was caught in moments and hauled back into his cell, where men beat him with a rubber hose. They then blindfolded him and moved him to a new home, in what he now believes was North Waziristan in Pakistan, he said.
His new living arrangements were filthy and painful.
“In the new place, they put me on an Afghan bed and they chained my feet to the ends of the bed and chained my hands to the tops of the bed so that basically I was spread-eagle on the bed and blindfolded. And that’s how I spent the majority of the next three months,” he said.
He was allowed to use the bathroom twice a day and could shower around once a month. He developed bedsores and chronic diarrhea as a result.
“The time deprivation, too much light or too much darkness and too much randomness, it just wears away at you and drives your nerves into the ground. The constant worry ‘Am I going to die today?’ or is something worse going to happen,” he said.
Although watching over Bergdahl was a high honor, the guards were often bored and would pass the time by making videos of him, interrogating him with ridiculous questions or shaving his beard into shapes they found amusing, he said.
“They ask you, is Obama gay and sleeps with men?” he recalled. His young guards were also curious about where US military bases got their prostitutes, alcohol and drugs, and were obsessed with American soft drinks, he added.
“They love Mountain Dew. If you want to piss people off in that country, all you do is cut off their sugar supply,” he said.
Eventually, Bergdahl was moved to what he described as a wooden fortress and placed in a cell with an open window. By that time he had managed to squirrel away a few objects — an 8-inch piece of PVC pipe, a random key, an empty soda bottle, a nail and a wooden slat — from which he was able to hatch his next escape plan.
“I practiced all the nights before, counting the hours down until everything was silent so I knew everyone was asleep,” he said.
He shimmied from his window down a rope made from bedding and the chains he’d removed from his hands and feet. When he hit the ground, it was like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, even though he knew the road to safety would be perilous.
‘Picture someone taking a bag, throwing it into the closet, shutting the door and just forgetting about it. That was basically how they treated me.’
- Bowe Bergdahl
“I had to basically come to terms with the fact that this was very much like a suicide mission — one way out and I was searching for a needle in a haystack as far as being saved,” he said.
The darkness would be his downfall.
A few hours into his journey, he accidentally stepped off a cliff in the dark and badly injured his left side. Unable to walk, Bergdahl crawled across the rural, hilly landscape and tried to stay hidden in shelters made of sticks for the next week. To survive, he ate a few blades of grass and drank filthy water.
Sick and starving, he recalled the anguish of seeing American drones pass overhead at night but having no way to contact them.
“I’d seen like six drones moving across the sky. It’s not a nice feeling you’re so close but things are so stacked against you, you can’t do anything but keep going,” he said.
The Taliban search team found him on day eight, so frail and sick that they only ripped out some of his hair and beard — as opposed to beating him — as punishment.
Despite the risks, his failed escape plan seemed better than the alternative.
“It was like OK if I’m going to die, either from exposure out there or being shot while I escape, it’s better than having my head cut off because I saw enough of those movies or videos to know what that would be like,” he reasoned.
“That escape was the last time I saw stars since until the night Special Forces picked me up,” he said.
http://nypost.com/2015/12/24/bowe-bergdhal-details-escape-attempts-while-in-taliban-captivity/
Nobody goes to the military without signing some kind of paperwork.
Bergdahl needs to rescind his signature off all the paperwork by published and government recorded letter stating something to the effect of, "In the past I had thought that my signature on such paperwork was a benefit for myself. At this time I find that there is no benefit. So, I rescind my signature, ab initio, off any and all paperwork that I may have signed, which paperwork may have caused my entry into the military, had there been any signed paperwork."
If the military won't accept such rescission of signature, he will have to take them to court via the regular court system. If they accept, and still don't like something about him, they will have to take him to court via the regular court system.
Bergdahl needs to rescind his signature off all the paperwork by published and government recorded letter stating something to the effect of, "In the past I had thought that my signature on such paperwork was a benefit for myself. At this time I find that there is no benefit. So, I rescind my signature, ab initio, off any and all paperwork that I may have signed, which paperwork may have caused my entry into the military, had there been any signed paperwork."
If the military won't accept such rescission of signature, he will have to take them to court via the regular court system. If they accept, and still don't like something about him, they will have to take him to court via the regular court system.
When this lying pig of a president should be spending time overseas with the troops during Christmas and he's off on vacation with his sow and piglets.
I guess that soldiers move around in an occupied country and some of them get killed. That´s how it is. The military doesn´t tie casualties from reconnaissance missions et cetera specifically to a search for the guy. We´re not talking some Hollywood nonsense here.
When and where did they say that and do they still stand by it?
nothing you wont have already seenhttp://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/02/we-lost-soldiers-in-the-hunt-for-bergdahl-a-guy-who-walked-off-in-the-dead-of-night.html
Obama to service members: We never take you for granted
By Kevin Bohn and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 1714 GMT (0114 HKT) December 26, 2015
Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama thanked troops and their families for their service during Christmas Day remarks at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, noting the six service members who died earlier this week after a suicide attack in Afghanistan at Bagram Air Force Base.
"Even though we have been able to reduce the number of folks who are deployed in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, there are still folks over there every single day and it's still dangerous, as we saw this past week with the outstanding brave Americans who were killed," said Obama, who was joined by first lady Michelle Obama.
"And so we never take for granted all what all of you to for the American people. You help keep us free. You help keep us strong. And whatever service you're in, we are extraordinarily grateful for everything you do every single day. And we hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas."
By Kevin Bohn and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 1714 GMT (0114 HKT) December 26, 2015
Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama thanked troops and their families for their service during Christmas Day remarks at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, noting the six service members who died earlier this week after a suicide attack in Afghanistan at Bagram Air Force Base.
"Even though we have been able to reduce the number of folks who are deployed in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, there are still folks over there every single day and it's still dangerous, as we saw this past week with the outstanding brave Americans who were killed," said Obama, who was joined by first lady Michelle Obama.
"And so we never take for granted all what all of you to for the American people. You help keep us free. You help keep us strong. And whatever service you're in, we are extraordinarily grateful for everything you do every single day. And we hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas."
The military has admitted that nobody died looking for the guy so there´s no reason to believe that bunk anymore.
Here´s a tip: If you´re gullible by nature, make a habit of following up from time to time on the crap you´re being fed. Since most of it is badly disguised and outright lies it´s obviously subject to change.
the kenyan ape has sought to portray bergdahl as a good guy and military officials have to say what they're told to say, i'm going by what people who served with him saidHere´s a tip: If you´re gullible by nature, make a habit of following up from time to time on the crap you´re being fed. Since most of it is badly disguised and outright lies it´s obviously subject to change.
When and where did they say that and do they still stand by it?
The military has admitted that nobody died looking for the guy so there´s no reason to believe that bunk anymore.
Here´s a tip: If you´re gullible by nature, make a habit of following up from time to time on the crap you´re being fed. Since most of it is badly disguised and outright lies it´s obviously subject to change.
the kenyan ape has sought to portray bergdahl as a good guy and military officials have to say what they're told to say, i'm going by what people who served with him said Here´s a tip: If you´re gullible by nature, make a habit of following up from time to time on the crap you´re being fed. Since most of it is badly disguised and outright lies it´s obviously subject to change.
whatever you think about american foreign policy this guy is a disgusting traitor, people died because of him
The military has admitted that nobody died looking for the guy so there´s no reason to believe that bunk anymore.
Here´s a tip: If you´re gullible by nature, make a habit of following up from time to time on the crap you´re being fed. Since most of it is badly disguised and outright lies it´s obviously subject to change.
whatever you think about american foreign policy this guy is a disgusting traitor, people died because of him
Glad to note that so many people here have convicted him without a trial. Very American.. Until such time as he is convicted this man is a soldier.
What about the testimony of his brothers in arms, all rejected by the imam golfer in chief? The imam golfer told us he was innocent.
Glad to note that so many people here have convicted him without a trial. Very American.. Until such time as he is convicted this man is a soldier.
They promoted him twice in absentia, which probably means that they realized their own mistake but too late. You don´t have a guy like this in freakin foxholes. If you want to keep him in the Army, you got to start assimilating him right away. Try to make an officer out of him. If that doesn´t get rid of his excess moral baggage and misgivings about war then fire him. Or whatever they do in such cases, desk job somewhere maybe.
"I´ve brushed my teeth and I´ve washed my balls. That´s pretty much it":
Bowe Bergdahl: exclusive footage days before capture by the Taliban
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meS738lB3jY
"I´ve brushed my teeth and I´ve washed my balls. That´s pretty much it":
Bowe Bergdahl: exclusive footage days before capture by the Taliban
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meS738lB3jY
Lest we forget Obama will surely pardon Bergdahl prior to him leaving office.So what if searching for Bergdahl endangered lives the only thing important to Barack Hussein Obama is his image, and oh what a sorry image it is. Unqualified to be Commander-in-Chief as well as president convincing the minority and welfare leeches to elect him to office with the aid of the national ?
Now; that is one intelligent looking grunt. It´s probably not a good idea to have TOO much brain activity going on down in the ranks...
As I understand it; his friend, a lieutenant, was killed by a roadside bomb and his mood seemed to darken so to speak. This took place right before he disappeared.
As I understand it; his friend, a lieutenant, was killed by a roadside bomb and his mood seemed to darken so to speak. This took place right before he disappeared.
Clearly the guy wasn´t very happy about things in the Army...and America...just before he disappeared
------------------------------
mom, dad
The future is too good to waste on lies. 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. [...] [Three good sergeants had been forced to move to another company] [...] and one of the biggest shit bags is being put in charge of the team. [...] [My battalion commander was] a conceited old fool. [...] 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. ... The US army is the biggest joke the world has to laugh at. It is the army of liars, backstabbers, fools, and bullies. The few good SGTs are getting out as soon as they can, [...] I am sorry for everything here. These people need help, yet what they get is the most conceited country in the world telling them that they are nothing and that they are stupid, that they have no idea how to live... We don't even care when we hear each other talk about running their children down in the dirt streets with our armored trucks... We make fun of them in front of their faces, and laugh at them for not understanding we are insulting them [...] I am sorry for everything. The horror that is america is disgusting. There are a few more boxes coming to you guys. Feel free to open them, and use them.[1]:4
wiki
Private Bergdahl in 2009
------------------------------
mom, dad
The future is too good to waste on lies. 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. [...] [Three good sergeants had been forced to move to another company] [...] and one of the biggest shit bags is being put in charge of the team. [...] [My battalion commander was] a conceited old fool. [...] 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. ... The US army is the biggest joke the world has to laugh at. It is the army of liars, backstabbers, fools, and bullies. The few good SGTs are getting out as soon as they can, [...] I am sorry for everything here. These people need help, yet what they get is the most conceited country in the world telling them that they are nothing and that they are stupid, that they have no idea how to live... We don't even care when we hear each other talk about running their children down in the dirt streets with our armored trucks... We make fun of them in front of their faces, and laugh at them for not understanding we are insulting them [...] I am sorry for everything. The horror that is america is disgusting. There are a few more boxes coming to you guys. Feel free to open them, and use them.[1]:4
wiki
Private Bergdahl in 2009
Five years of being held by the Taliban.
That would have been sufficient punishment even if he was guilty of desertion.
Why top that with another 5 years of imprisonment?
That would have been sufficient punishment even if he was guilty of desertion.
Why top that with another 5 years of imprisonment?
Wasn´t it supposed to be much more since it´s a general court-martial? It´s pretty strange, they promoted the guy twice while he was in captivity, he went away as a private and was a sergeant when he came back.
Maybe morale in the ranks has been dropping and they want to send a message, who knows. It must be pretty disheartening to partake in all these war scams that never seem to have any real objective apart from fattening weapons manufacturers, always be winning according to the command although every scam always seems to be crumbling. All it leaves is death, destruction and chaos. Most honest soldiers probably aren´t going to be very happy with such scammy and immoral warfare. And it probably isn´t healthy for morale in the military, especially in such a militarized country as the United States, to always have such a thoroughly fake "Commander in Chief", one that doesn´t have any military experience and doesn´t have the slightest clue about it all. The yes-men around him are probably just about the same. And so the soldiers in all likelihood have no trouble seeing the connection between incompetent command and fraudulent war. One leads to the other as we´ve seen for decades now. And it keeps getting worse.
Five years of being held by the Taliban.
That would have been sufficient punishment even if he was guilty of desertion.
Why top that with another 5 years of imprisonment?
That would have been sufficient punishment even if he was guilty of desertion.
Why top that with another 5 years of imprisonment?
Sgt. Bergdahl Arraigned on Desertion Charge
Could Face Prison Term in General Court-Martial
by Jason Ditz, December 22, 2015
Former prisoner of war Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was arraigned today on charges of desertion related to his “disappearance” in Afghanistan, during which he was held by the Taliban for five years. He could face five years in prison on the desertion charge.
Sgt. Bergdahl was held by the Taliban from 2009 until 2014, when he was recovered in a prisoner swap. The swap proved extremely controversial, with hawks opposing both the release of Taliban in an exchange as well as recovering Bergdahl at all.
A preliminary hearing on Bergdahl ended with a recommendation of a special court-martial, which would’ve only resulted in misdemeanor-level charges, but the Army ultimately decided the more serious general court-martial.
A lot of the hawks’ narrative against Bergdahl centered around claims of troops killed searching for him, though the military subsequently admitted that was not the case, and that there wasn’t a single soldier killed in the failed attempts to recover him.
http://news.antiwar.com/2015/12/22/sgt-bergdahl-arraigned-on-desertion-charge/
Could Face Prison Term in General Court-Martial
by Jason Ditz, December 22, 2015
Former prisoner of war Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was arraigned today on charges of desertion related to his “disappearance” in Afghanistan, during which he was held by the Taliban for five years. He could face five years in prison on the desertion charge.
Sgt. Bergdahl was held by the Taliban from 2009 until 2014, when he was recovered in a prisoner swap. The swap proved extremely controversial, with hawks opposing both the release of Taliban in an exchange as well as recovering Bergdahl at all.
A preliminary hearing on Bergdahl ended with a recommendation of a special court-martial, which would’ve only resulted in misdemeanor-level charges, but the Army ultimately decided the more serious general court-martial.
A lot of the hawks’ narrative against Bergdahl centered around claims of troops killed searching for him, though the military subsequently admitted that was not the case, and that there wasn’t a single soldier killed in the failed attempts to recover him.
http://news.antiwar.com/2015/12/22/sgt-bergdahl-arraigned-on-desertion-charge/
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