03-26-2015, 10:48 AM
The Defense of Bowe Bergdahl
![[Image: eugene_fidell_ap_328.jpg]](http://images.politico.com/global/2014/07/17/eugene_fidell_ap_328.jpg)
Bergdahl, in partnership with his defense attorney ^Eugene Fiddel, has released his first public statement since he was released from Taliban captivity. The statement was floated to the press just hours after Bergdahl was charged with Desertion and Misbehaving In Front of the Enemy.
In the statement, Bergdahl doesn't address the fact that he had expressed anger and disillusionment with the United States before deserting his post, leaving his gun and possessions behind. He instead details what he endured when he was immediately thereafter captured by Taliban members and held for 5 years.
He says he was beaten, chained, kept in a cage, escaped a couple of times and was recaptured...
Here's the full statement: http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documen...ords/1487/
He might be telling the whole truth, but I don't consider that a given. I think he is a coward and, whether truthful or not, this statement is an attempt to elicit sympathy and keep him from being imprisoned again, this time in the US.
If it's uncontested or proven that Bergdahl sympathized with the enemy and deserted, do you think what he endured at the hands of his captors should be considered "time served" against his potential sentencing?
Bergdahl, in partnership with his defense attorney ^Eugene Fiddel, has released his first public statement since he was released from Taliban captivity. The statement was floated to the press just hours after Bergdahl was charged with Desertion and Misbehaving In Front of the Enemy.
In the statement, Bergdahl doesn't address the fact that he had expressed anger and disillusionment with the United States before deserting his post, leaving his gun and possessions behind. He instead details what he endured when he was immediately thereafter captured by Taliban members and held for 5 years.
He says he was beaten, chained, kept in a cage, escaped a couple of times and was recaptured...
Here's the full statement: http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documen...ords/1487/
He might be telling the whole truth, but I don't consider that a given. I think he is a coward and, whether truthful or not, this statement is an attempt to elicit sympathy and keep him from being imprisoned again, this time in the US.
If it's uncontested or proven that Bergdahl sympathized with the enemy and deserted, do you think what he endured at the hands of his captors should be considered "time served" against his potential sentencing?