Critics blast PoW father’s ‘Islamic’ comments
His Administration had secured the release of America’s only known prisoner of war after years of negotiations and now he had invited the soldier’s parents to join him on the steps of the White House to proclaim the deal.
The images from the Rose Garden of a smiling President placing his arms supportively around Robert and Jani Bergdahl, whose son Bowe was freed in return for the release of five Taliban leaders in Guantanamo Bay, were broadcast around the world.
But past comments by Bergdahl condemning US foreign policy — not to mention his bushy Islamic-looking beard, his command of Pashtu and Arabic and his use of an Islamic greeting while standing next to Obama — have now been seized on by conservative critics of the President.
There was outrage on some social media sites yesterday at what appeared to have been a message that the soldier’s father issued via Twitter, which has since been removed from his account.
“God will repay the death of every Afghan child, ameen!” the message read, using the Islamic equivalent of Amen.
In the same message, he repeated his view that all Guantanamo detainees should be released.
Bergdahl’s appearance and statement at the White House quickly became fodder for critics of the deal to free the Taliban leaders in return for the release of his son.
Bergdahl spoke in the Afghan language of Pashtu in comments aimed at his son, who reportedly is strug- gling to remember English.
And in Arabic, he also used a standard Islamic phrase meaning “In the name of Allah, the most merciful” as he thanked those involved in reaching the deal.
He had learned some Pashtu and Arabic to make a video appeal directly to the Taliban for his son’s freedom.
He also said that he grew a beard as a personal memorial to his son’s plight, although he has not so far shaved to celebrate his release.
His appearance and language in the Rose Garden, deploying what some right-wing websites denounced as an “Islamic victory cry”, were immediately seized upon by critics and fuelled speculation that he had converted to Islam.
However, locals in their hometown of Hailey, Idaho, said the couple were still regular church-goers who had home-schooled their children and made sure they attended Sunday services.
Former military comrades of Bowe Bergdahl have continued to denounce him as a “deserter” whose actions cost the lives of six soldiers killed searching for him.
The political backlash grew as Mullah Omar, the Taliban’s supreme spiritual leader, hailed the release of his five former allies as a “big victory” and “great achievement”.
Pro-Taliban media issued pictures of the released men being greeted by allies in Qatar, where they will live under a travel ban for the next year under the terms of the deal brokered by the Gulf emirate.
Bergdahl is recovering in a US military hospital in Germany, where his condition is described as stable.
His version of how he came into the hands of Islamic extremists in 2009 is not known and the Pentagon has not listed him as a deserter.
Nathan Bradley Bethea, an officer who served with Bergdahl in the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, dismissed reports that the soldier might have been seized as he lagged behind on a patrol and said that members of his platoon had always known that he had walked off base in Afghanistan’s Paktika province during the night.
He said that the US military launched daily search missions for Bergdahl, effectively de-railing counter-insurgency operations in the region.
Bergdahl’s critics named soldiers who were killed in ambushes, firefights or by improvised explosive devices in August and September 2009 during search operations for his suspected captors.