I predict big things for General Kenneth Dahl and Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.
As I understand it, as a result of General Dahl’s intensive investigation:
a) Bergdahl didn’t intend to desert. He had a plan. He was really distressed about the poor leadership and lack of “order and discipline” of his unit. In order to report all this Bowe planned to walk about 18 miles, through enemy infested territory, to another base to tell the commander there about his concerns.
b) Apparently General Dahl concluded that reports of his behavior by fellow members of Bergdahl’s unit were inaccurate or exaggerated as were reports of Americans killed in the massive search for him. The General found no evidence of any casualties incurred while the search was going on. The tons of statements to the contrary and the public assessments by those who served beside Bergdahl apparently carried no weight whatever in the investigator’s view.
C) The “exhaustive” investigation also failed to turn up any evidence that Bergdahl collaborated in any way with his “captors’ despite the awful treatment General Dahl learned the Sergeant received.
We are not privy to any details of General Dahl’s lengthy investigation, so we don’t know who all the 57 “witnesses” interviewed were, or what evidence supports the conclusions. We are told, however, that Bowe is just a somewhat troubled lad, doing what he thought was right and just whose naiveté’ and undefined psychological issues led him to develop his somewhat flawed plan to be a good “whistleblower”.
In view of all this, the General, concludes Bowe shouldn’t serve any prison time. Apparently, he believes as well that those charges which the Army’s prosecutors imaginatively put together should be dismissed. With that, of course, restoration of all benefits and back pay would seem appropriate, as would the option to remain in the service or accept an honorable discharge.
I don’t know about you, but to me, this doesn’t smell right.
How do you come up with the prosecution’s charges when their own “investigator” says they’re unfounded?
And, this investigation, we were told, was completed months ago. Why the long delay?
All evidence is that General Dahl, himself, has indeed served with honor and distinction and for that he deserves the gratitude of all Americans.
Having said that, however, it can be fairly noted that it doesn’t mean that General Dahl is not without great ambition. Further, it is highly improbable that he was unaware of the Pentagon’s and the White House’s “desired” outcome of the “Bergdahl affair”.
Is it fair to say, he delivered such an outcome?
Perhaps the General’s conclusions were not based on his desire to please the biggest boss one could have. Is it wildly improbable that General Dahl has been “Petreaus-ed”?
Personally, I think we may have found our next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And, perhaps we’ll soon see another Rose Garden ceremony, awarding “Captain” Bergdahl an appropriate citation…and a big check for his “earned” back pay.
DESERTION WITH HONOR AND DISTINCTION (earlier post)
We should have known. The extraordinary bargaining skills of Obama and his team have been often and amply demonstrated.
And now we are seeing once again th ose shrewd negotiating abilities paying off for America.
It turns out that swapping only 5 key terrorist leaders for Bowe Bergdahl was a huge bargain for all Americans. And, like the Iranians, the Taliban apparently still doesn’t realize how badly they were snookered on this deal.
As the media is reporting, a lot of us were all wrong about Bowe. The story by the NY Times is typical of most of the media in reporting the “true story” of Sgt. Bergdahl’s heroic effort to bring to the attention of top military leaders his concerns about the misdeeds and ineffectiveness of his unit’s leadership.
In testimony on Friday, the story of this man’s long ordeal was at last revealed. It seems, according to CNN”…a senior Defense official” reports that Bergdahl didn’t feel that “order and discipline” in his unit were quite up to snuff.
We will no doubt hear much more about the unlucky Sgt. Bergdahl as his true role as a “whistleblower” unfolds. We may have to await a formal statement and appearance on all the cable and network news outlets from Susan Rice to get the full and factual story. But for now we can safely assume that we’ll once again see the Bergdahl family in the Rose Garden, united again and embraced by our President, receiving the profuse thanks from a grateful nation.
Bowe Bergdahl Should Not Be Imprisoned, Army Investigator Says
SAN ANTONIO — The general who led the Army’s investigation into the disappearance of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl from his remote outpost in Afghanistan in 2009 said on Friday that sentencing the sergeant to prison would be “inappropriate.”
Maj. Gen. Kenneth R. Dahl, who interviewed 57 witnesses during his 59-day investigation, testified that Sergeant Bergdahl had unreasonable, or even delusional, expectations about his deployment to Afghanistan and about the soldiers in his unit and his command.
But General Dahl testified that he found Sergeant Bergdahl truthful during the day and a half he spent interviewing him as part of the investigation. General Dahl also said that Sergeant Bergdahl had shown remorse about how his decision to leave his base could have endangered others in his platoon.
“I do not believe there is a jail sentence at the end of this procedure,” General Dahl said. “I think it would be inappropriate.”
DLH
Reading a number of comments from military veterans attached to news stories about this matter, Dahl is being absurd and the defense line is incredible, considered surely not a defense but a joke. Bowe deserted his post and hazarded his fellow soldiers. If allowed to stand his excuse could be adopted by many a deserter.