Desertion charge intensifies debate over Taliban swap
Charges that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl deserted and endangered his post in Afghanistan intensify the debate over his politically wrought release: Should he spend years in prison as punishment for endangering soldiers who risked their lives to find him?
Or was five years as a Taliban captive, where he was so isolated officials suggested it had affected his ability to speak English upon his return to the U. S., punishment enough?
Bergdahl, 28, won’t face a death sentence, although the punishment is an option for prosecutors to pursue against deserters in wartime. But his case does raise the question of whether military prosecutors will lock away for life a man the U. S. gave up five imprisoned Taliban commanders to bring home.
A death- penalty case was likely a non- starter after all that had to be sacrificed to bring him home, said Jeffrey K. Walker, a St. John’s University law professor, retired Air Force officer and former military lawyer. In fact, his defence attorney might successfully argue he deserves leniency after years as a prisoner.
“That’s pretty good mitigation evidence,” Walker said. “It wouldn’t surprise me at all if what he ended up with was a dishonourable discharge and no jail time.”
Bergdahl’s “reintegration” when he returned to Fort Sam Houston in Texas suggests how difficult his life was in captivity. He was on a bland diet at first and did not initially have access to a television. He was gradually allowed to venture off the base to go to grocery stores, restaurants and shopping centres. He even had to readjust to the idea that he could control aspects of his life as simple as choosing when to eat, and what.
However, the charges underscore t he military ’s position that the hardship of his captivity doesn’t outweigh the ramifications of leaving his post.
Bergdahl, 28, was captured by the Taliban after leaving his post in June 2009 and held by members of the Haqqani network, an insurgent group tied to the Taliban that operates both in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Before disappearing, Bergdahl had expressed misgivings about the U. S. role in the war — as well as his own.
Last May 31, Bergdahl was handed over to U. S. special forces in Afghanistan as part of an exchange for five Taliban commanders who were imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all if what he ended up with was a dishonourable discharge and no jail time.
JEFFREY K . WALKER