Should Bowe Bergdahl Be Court-Martialed?

[flowers]

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/06/bowe_bergdahl_court_martial_the_obama_administration_needs_to_let_the_army.html

Acting as commander-in-chief, President Obama exchanged five terrorist leaders for U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. The rationale was that the United States leaves no soldier behind on the battlefield or in enemy hands. That is half of the equation.

The disconcerting other half is that Bergdahl may have left behind his own unit and gone over to the enemy. In 2009, then Pvt. Bergdahl (automatically promoted in absentia to the rank of sergeant) left his frontline unit under the cover of darkness. Soon after, the Taliban reported him in their custody. For weeks, thousands of American soldiers risked their lives to rescue him. Several of these soldiers have posted explicit, detailed accounts of their exhausting efforts, including the names of several Americans killed during the search or in its vicinity. U.S. military and civilian leaders have generally skirted the issue of whether Bergdahl deserted the army, as Secretary of Defense Hagel did again yesterday on Meet The Press.

“I'm not surprised that there are still questions,” he said,  “and until we get the facts exactly what the condition of Sgt. Bergdahl is, we can't go much further in speculation.”

Hagel was deliberately evasive. Despite his ducking the question, Hagel knows that a lengthy investigation into Bergdahl’s possible desertion has already been conducted, but not released to the public because Bergdahl was still in captivity. Hagel has that investigation. He knows what happened, as do the president and Chief of Staff of the Army.

This ambiguity has put American officials in an awkward position. They are at once celebrating the return of an American captive, regretting the release of five American enemies, and uncomfortably hemming about how America and the Army should welcome back Bergdahl.

[Chieftain]

I believe that very question is being looked into by the US Army at the facility where Bowie al Ameriki is currently secluded.  I would not be surprised if the Army takes him into custody and detains him in the stockade at Fort Leavenworth, awaiting an Article 32 hearing.  The outcome of that legal procedure under the UCMJ is required to determine if there is enough evidence to refer the case to a General Courts Martial.  That's why it makes sense in my mind to send him to Fort Leavenworth because they have detention and legal hearing facilities there to conduct any trial needed.

The other option is to send his ass to Gitmo and hold the hearing there, where he could then be tried by Military Tribunal and shot if found guilty of aiding and abetting the enemy, desertion in the face of the enemy, as well as accessory to the deaths of the other Military members who were sent out to find him.

But then again, we have team Obama, Kerry and Hagel calling the shots here, and the only goal is to make Obama look good no matter what.  Any hearing for Bowie al Ameriki will be put off until after the elections, and never if it can possibly be arranged.  Perhaps a Presidential Pardon is in order, since the poor lad has already been through so much, and it would be so significant for the President's Muslim Outreach.......