I’m pretty sure you remember who Bowe Bergdahl is. He’s the scumbag who deserted errr walked away from his post in Afghanistan and was captured by the taliban. He was an honored guest of the fundamentalist islamic group for five years until he was traded for five high ranking taliban leaders in US custody.
The search for Bergdahl, who was initially believed to have been abducted, cost 6 lives and dozens of injuries to the troops conducting the search.
Bergdahl was charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy and ultimately pled guilty to a single charge of desertion at the court martial. He was reduced in rank to private, ordered to forfeit $10,000 in pay and was dishonorably discharged.
Well, his attorneys have filed an appeal in federal court. They are claiming undue command influence, that the Judge that heard the case failed to disclose a potential conflict of interest and that his dishonorable discharge is causing undue hardship in getting treatment for injuries sustained while with the taliban.
From Stars and Stripes:
Bowe Bergdahl filed the complaint in federal court in Washington, D.C. last month, asking a judge to overturn his court martial conviction. Bergdahl says Trump’s statements and actions by the late U.S. Sen. John McCain and his military judge violated his Fifth Amendment right to a fair trial.
“The scandalous meddling in a specific case by leaders of the political branches — one of whom was Commander in Chief of the armed forces — would never be tolerated if the proceeding had been a criminal prosecution in this or any other federal district court and should not be tolerated in a court-martial,” Bergdahl’s attorneys wrote in the court filing.
Unsurprisingly, Stripes takes a sympathetic view of Bergdahl’s desertion and subsequent travails. Its been quite a while since that publication actually reflected the views of the average service member. But I digress. . .
Bergdahl deserves much more than what he got. And if I’m being honest, he should have been left with the goatf*ckers in Afghanistan.
The deal that got him sprung still stinks. Not only was it illegal, Barry didn’t get Congressional approval, none of the intelligence agencies thought much of the deal.