Free Republic

Afghan soldiers brought to Cape Cod to be sent back to Afghanistan?: The three Afghan military officers who so infamously went AWOL from a military training exercise in Cape Cod ending up in Niagara Falls, Canada, crossed over the wrong border. If they had taken a different route to freedom over the porous U.S. southern border, they would have made it to the same kind of freedom millions of others of aliens have—and could even have one day sent back home for their wives and relatives to boot. Maj. Jan Mohammad Arash, Capt. Noorullah Aminyar and Capt. Mohammed Nasir Askarzada...

Army begins questioning Bergdahl about capture HOUSTON — The U.S. Army has begun questioning Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl about his disappearance in Afghanistan that led to five years in captivity by the Taliban, his attorney and an Army spokeswoman said Wednesday. Bergdahl was questioned at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, where he has been staying since returning to the U.S., said his attorney, Eugene R. Fidell. “Sgt. Bergdahl answered all questions put to him. The interview is proceeding. It has been a productive expenditure of time,” Fidell said in a telephone interview during a break in the questioning. Fidell declined...

'This is what we call A-W-O-L': John McCain blasts Obama for going to fundraiser rather than showing leadership over MH17 tragedy GOP Senator said only places in the world that are more tranquil because of Obama are those that have fundraisers Came after President was criticised for giving just 40-seconds of 16-minute transportation speech to the crash By FRANCESCA CHAMBERS and DAVID MARTOSKO 18 July 2014 U.S. Senator John McCain has blasted President Barack Obama for going 'A-W-O-L' and utterly failing to show leadership in the wake of the attack on Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in which 298 were killed...

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has finished undergoing therapy and counseling at an Army hospital in San Antonio and could return to active duty as early as Monday, a defense official tells CNN. Some critics of the swap have said Bergdahl was a deserter who endangered colleagues searching for him. An Army fact-finding investigation conducted in the months after his disappearance concluded he left his outpost deliberately and of his own free will, according to an official who was briefed on the report. But there was no definitive conclusion Bergdahl was a deserter because that would require knowing his intent, something...

Recently released prisoner of war U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is a man I can identify with. On April 20, 1965, I was flying a night combat mission in an A4C Skyhawk over what was then called North Vietnam. My own bombs malfunctioned upon release during a run on enemy trucks. They exploded just below my airplane, blowing the wings and tail section off. Instantly I was in a whirling cockpit hurtling toward Earth, over enemy territory, but managed to eject and parachute to the ground. I spent the next four days on the run through the jungle before being...

U.S. Army soldiers who were serving with Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl when he left his post and wound up in the hands of the Taliban say no one has contacted them, even though military brass are currently conducting a new investigation into the case. Several soldiers who immediately came forward after Bergdahl was released on May 31, in a swap for five Guantanamo Bay detainees, have accused the 28-year-old Idaho native of deserting. But even though the Army is probing that very charge, investigators have not reached out to at least two former Army sergeants — including the platoon’s leader —...

A former member of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl‘s platoon interrupted a Democrat on Capital Hill Wednesday as he asked an academic expert about conditions the soldier might have endured in Afghanistan to tell him “nobody else deserted.” Much to the consternation of U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., former Army Specialist Cody Full asked for permission to speak as the lawmaker was in the process of building a case that Bergdahl may have had reason to act in “an inexplicable manner.”

885. ARTICLE 85. DESERTION by admin on Jul.21, 2010, under 10. Punitive Articles (a) Any member of the armed forces who– (1) without authority goes or remains absent from his unit, organization, or place of duty with intent to remain away therefrom permanently;(2) quits his unit, organization, or place of duty with intent to avoid hazardous duty or to shirk important service; or(3) without being regularly separated from one of the armed forces enlists or accepts an appointment in the same or another on of the armed forces without fully disclosing the fact that he has not been regularly...

Since his release nine days ago, many have been wondering why Bowe Bergdahl has been so quiet! Latest reports say he hasn’t even spoken with his parents since being handed over by the Taliban! Well, according to one caller allegedly familiar with the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Bergdahl’s silence is due to the fact that he has already been put under arrest! On Monday’s show, “Richard from Saginaw”, called in and told Tom he understands that Bergdahl is expected to be charged with 11 counts — all related to his mysterious 2009 disappearance. Richard said he worked with the...

"At least a dozen guys just walked off their posts" in Afghanistan since 2009 for a variety of reasons, said an experienced soldier, one of four Afghan war veterans familiar with the incidents who spoke to ABC News. The other sources estimated the number could be more than a dozen.

The MSM are not the only ones missing the distinction between the Taliban and Haqqani networks. There's Jay Carney, in the clip John Hayward posted, claiming Bergdahl was being held by the Taliban. And National Security Advisor Susan Rice - who like Hagel and Carney, also refused to admit that the Obama administration negotiated with terrorists in her interview with Candy Crowley on Face the Nation, Sunday. Rice repeatedly asserted that Bergdahl had been held captive by the Taliban (who have not been designated a terrorist organization even though they routinely engage in terror-like activities.) ... most people were skeptical...

The Haqqani Network, the terrorist group that the U.S. command in Afghanistan says is its most formidable enemy — worse than the Taliban or al Qaeda — has operated for a dozen years across the border in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal area with little to fear other than sporadic drone strikes. Now, even the drone strikes have stopped for the family-run gang that held Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five years. ... The Haqqani network maintains a safe haven in North Waziristan, Pakistan, across Afghanistan’s southeastern border. The Pakistani Army has consistently refused to launch a military operation in North...

That lukewarm reception Barack Obama received at West Point last week was indicative of the widely held view among the troops that the man is a truly incompetent commander in chief, or as the language-mangling Al Sharpton might say, “the Commander of the Chiefs.” Notice that I said the troops, not their senior leadership. If our Pentagon weren’t currently occupied by the perfumed princes of political correctness, we might be seeing some courageous generals and admirals falling on their swords and exposing this failure of leadership instead of enabling it. Those ambitious cowards should ponder the reality that neither “I...

While many focus their disgust for the federal government towards the occupants housed in the IRS, DoJ, VA, and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, this latest deserter-for-Taliban trade puts the spotlight on another particular building. ... It was the late Army Colonel David Hackworth who bestowed the title of “perfumed princes” on senior military leaders who stood not for the men and women in uniform but rather for their own career advancement. As we live through the decimation of our armed forces it’s difficult to say Vaughn doesn’t have a point. Vaughn believes “There is no way that the White House could...

Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) praised the return of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl on Twitter on May 31 but has deleted the Tweet since then. “Welcome home, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl,” Cochran tweeted from his official U.S. Senate Twitter account @SenThadCochran. “A grateful America thanks you for your service.” The tweet was still publicly available as of Wednesday morning when Breitbart News took a screenshot of it. But sometime between then and now, Cochran has deleted the tweet. President Barack Obama has faced intense criticism for the deal he cut to release Bergdahl. The White House released five Taliban fighters from Guantanamo Bay...

SMILED as soon as he heard the most famous war cry of Islam, “bismillah al-rahman al-rahim,” Arabic for “in the name of Allah the most gracious, the most merciful.” Watch Obama smile as soon as Bergdahl gives the most famous Muslim expression, the “Bismillah” or the “Basmallah”: ... The “basmallah” is the Islamic expression for victory and only indicates that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s father is a Muslim. Think that the man is acting as “Muslim” for a stealth operation to rescue his son who is already in good hands in Germany? And what is with the long beard and trimmed...

Bowe Bergdahl was a deserter. Bergdahl on June 20, 2009 crawled underneath a wire at his fire base with water, food, a change of clothes, a knife and a cell phone. He called his unit the day after he deserted to tell his unit he deserted… Bill, we lost 14 soldiers, killed, searching for a deserter. He left his unit in combat. It’s non-arguable… We don’t know yet if he joined the Taliban or not. But, there’s no question he deserted.

People in Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's hometown of Hailey, Idaho, say they're “shocked” by how quickly the captive soldier's homecoming has turned into a national controversy. Bergdahl was released Saturday after nearly five years in Taliban captivity. Since then, some fellow soldiers have accused him of being a deserter. Angry phone calls and emails have poured into Hailey's city hall, police department and the chamber of commerce since the weekend. Many online commentators have accused the 28-year-old soldier of being a traitor and a Taliban sympathizer. The backlash stems from reports that Bergdahl intentionally walked off his base in southeast Afghanistan...

As one of the characters in “Anchorman” observed of its bloody brawl between news teams: Boy, that escalated quickly. I mean, that really got out of hand fast. Two days after President Obama broke the law to arrange an insanely reckless swap of five incredibly dangerous Taliban terrorists for captive American Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, virtually every aspect of the deal has blown up in Obama’s face, and the whole thing has soured into another five-star scandal for an Administration riddled with them. Maybe it’s the accumulated weight of Obama fatigue, or the sheer stupidity and arrogance the President displayed in...

" John Ekdahl @JohnEkdahl Follow If confirmed, this would be a bit of a game-changer. 9:52 AM - 3 Jun 2014" That’s putting it mildly. If this report from Fox News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin is true, the Bergdahl affair just got a whole lot stickier: "Jenna Lee ✔ @Jennafnc Follow Great reporting from @JenGriffinFNC - new report: Berghdal left behind a note renouncing American citizenship...developing... 9:43 AM - 3 Jun 2014" "David Shor @IshYimini Follow OMG. https://twitter.com/jennafnc/status/473852493286633472 … he left us behind. This is a game changer. He should be happy we didn't drone him. 9:53 AM -...