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Officer: Bergdahl's Misconduct Excuse Is 'Preposterous'
Friday, March 27, 2015 07:41 PM
By: Cathy Burke
Former Taliban prisoner and Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's claim that he left base in June 2009 to report on misconduct in his unit is "preposterous," says Maj. Rusty Bradley, former commander of U.S. Special Forces in southern Afghanistan.
Speaking on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV on Friday, Bradley – who was part of the operation to rescue Bergdahl and co-authored "Lions of Kandahar: The Story of a Fight Against All Odds" – said that there were many other options for Bergdahl to report wrongdoing, and that to suggest otherwise is an "insult."
"The claims that Bergdahl was going to another base to report wrongdoings is preposterous to say, at best," Bradley said. "This is really an attempt by his attorney to try to drive the narrative, to shift focus from Bergdahl … and then to try to create some sort of sympathy."
If Bergdahl wanted to report negligent behavior on behalf of his chain of command, "he could've done that, he could've demanded a trial by court-martial at that time, he could've demanded the open-door policy," Bradley said.
"But no, he left his post, he headed directly toward insurgent hill territory, and we know that if he was going to report this activity, he didn't even try to conduct any sort of maneuver or escape … That argument kind of flies in the face of any sort of common sense. It's really an insult."
Bradley pointed to Sondra Andrews, mother of 2nd Lt. Darryn Andrews, who was one of six men killed while looking for Bergdahl, as a "heartbreaking" example of the repercussions of Bergdahl's alleged desertion.
Andrews says any lenient plea deal or pardon would destroy what's left of her confidence in President Barack Obama.
"You hate to hear stories like that, and it's bad enough when it is already connected to honorable service, but when those people are doing operations to recover someone who willfully left their post, who willfully deserted their post and their fellow soldiers, it's an already needless loss of life," Bradley said.
Bradely added that the efforts to recover Bergdahl were "overwhelming."
"I can tell you one particular three-star general that actually went into a fit of rage over the amount of money and national resources that were diverted away from the war effort to try to find Bergdahl," he said. "There's nothing good that's going to come out of this."
