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The hometown of U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl has canceled a rally planned for later this month celebrating his release from five years of Taliban captivity, a municipal official told Reuters on Wednesday, amid allegations that he was a deserter.

Bergdahl's hometown is carrying on with a celebration for the returned sergeant at the end of the month, despite a rising backlash A rally in U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s Idaho hometown celebrating his release after nearly five years of captivity will go on as planned, despite growing questions about the circumstances of the soldier’s capture. The joy over the soldier’s return among residents of the small mountain community of Hailey, Idaho has been dampened by claims that he abandoned his post. Some have also claimed that the subsequent search for Bergdahl cost the lives of up to six soldiers,...

Controversy has surrounded newly freed Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl since his release from Taliban captivity, with some in the military, including members of his own unit, claiming he is a deserter, not a war hero. But Sherry Horton knows a different Bergdahl than the one the world has come to see in the chilling proof of life videos the Taliban released. "He's a very interesting guy, he was very quiet, he was an observer," Horton said. Horton, the artistic director of Sun Valley Ballet in Idaho, said she was Bergdahl's ballet teacher and later, she became his roommate in his...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Among the most tantalizing mysteries surrounding Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s departure from his U.S. military base in 2009 is this: Was he trying to find the Taliban? Or did he simply wander away and get captured? Politicians and members of the military have criticized the Obama administration’s decision to swap five jailed Taliban leaders for Bergdahl, saying the soldier may have deserted. Until now, few details have emerged about the circumstances of Bergdahl’s disappearance from his base. But The Washington Post has reached Afghan villagers who spotted Bergdahl shortly after he slipped away from his base. To them, it’s clear something...

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is reportedly scheduled for a promotion. CNN’s Barbara Starr reports that a defense official said that Bergdahl will be promoted because he has not been classified as a deserter. The official also told CNN that the Army needs to hear from Bergdahl as to why he wandered away from base and how he got captured.. Bergdahl was promoted twice after he was taken prisoner in June 2009. He was promoted to the rank of specialist in June 2010 and then sergeant in June 2011. Bergdahl is hospitalized at a U.S. military in Germany as questions mount...

When Bob Bergdahl was formally introduced to America in the White House Rose Garden beside the President, he was startling to see and hear at first: the father had seemingly morphed into an Afghan tribesman, wearing a long beard and even speaking Pashto. The transformation of the former UPS delivery man was five years in the making in the mountain valleys of Idaho, sparked when his son Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan in June 2009. In the half decade that he and wife crusaded for their son's release -- finally won this past weekend...

When the news broke that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl of Hailey would return to the U.S. and eventually to his family after five years of being held captive by the Taliban in Afghanistan, Sun Valley-area people erupted with joy and relief. People called this newspaper, called their friends, and announced to perfect strangers that Saturday was a great day because of the news that the young soldier was coming home. People gathered spontaneously in Hailey where they hugged, shed tears and smiled at the same time. A valley-wide celebration was immediately scheduled for later this month. Americans are proud of...

The following is a listing of corporate sponsors supporting the homecoming of the self-professed America hating Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl who was traded for five top Taliban terrorists by President Barack Hussein Obama ... From BringBoweBack2014.com website: Sponsors Thank you to all our sponsors. The City of Hailey The Hailey Police Department The Hailey Chamber of Commerce Luke’s pharmacy Wood River Motors Silver Creek Ford Sun Valley Aminal Center Wayne Willich and Friends Brennans Carpet Hailey Auto Exchange Candace Ireland Insurance The Snow Bunny Tim Jeneson Insurance Valley Paint & Floor Mountain Lifestyles Property Services, Inc. Wood River Insurance Copy And...

In Hailey, Idaho, the hometown of freed U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl, the joy at his release has turned for some into shock and fear — the fear of picking up the phone. That's because some town officials have been deluged with angry calls from people who think that Bergdahl is an Army deserter or traitor who doesn't deserve a hero's welcome.

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...

Bob Henley, former pastor at the(ir) Presbyterian Church of the Big Wood, recalled how friends periodically would ask Bergdahl if he hadn’t crossed some line, if he hadn’t succumbed to some form of the captive-bonding Stockholm syndrome. But Bergdahl assured his friends he was just doing whatever he could to ensure his son’s release. “I guess you really had to be in his shoes,” Henley said. The five-year waittook a toll on both of his parents, according to friends and others . Bergdahl is fiercely intelligent, friends said, yet he dropped out of college, going to Idaho with his wife...

@daqeqa Agree! "Democracy" is a cult in the West. I think most of afgs see law in terms of sharia not secular democracy, man centric laws.

"When the men pull up in a convoy of black SUVs, they receive a warm reception, with lots of hugs from the awaiting supporters The release of the video comes after the Taliban declared 'victory' And President Barack Obama was accused of endangering Western lives by exchanging the five 'hardened terrorists' At least one detainee is accused of presiding over a mass killing

HAILEY - Mayor Fritz Haemmerle says Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's hometown and a planned celebration for the released soldier are coming under fire. Hailey has received a flood of emails and calls since it was announced Saturday that Bergdahl had been released after almost five years as prisoner of the Taliban. US officials negotiated the exchange of Bergdahl for five Guantanamo Bay detainees. Many of the comments the town has received come from "extreme polar sides," Haemmerle wrote in a Monday release. As the town celebrates the return of one of their own, he urged those with a dim view of...

Bergdahl celebration set for June 28 Event is now themed "Bowe is Back" By :GREGORY FOLEY The Wood River Valley will celebrate the release of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in an event called "Bowe is Back" on Saturday, June 28, from 1-5 p.m. at Hop Porter Park in Hailey. The event was going to be called "Bring Bowe Back" but the name and the theme were changed after the soldier from Hailey was released from captivity in Afghanistan on Saturday. Event co-organizer Debbie Oneill said Bergdahl's parents, Bob and Jani Bergdahl, will speak at the event. In addition, singer-songwriter...

E-mails reported by the late Michael Hastings in Rolling Stone in 2012 reveal what Bergdahl's fellow infantrymen learned within days of his disappearance: He told people that he no longer supported the U.S. effort in Afghanistan. "The future is too good to waste on lies," he wrote to his parents. "And life is way too short to care for the damnation of others, as well as to spend it helping fools with their ideas that are wrong. I have seen their ideas and I am ashamed to even be American. The horror of the self-righteous arrogance that they thrive in....

HAILEY, Idaho — It looked as if it was going to be a big weekend here in the Wood River Valley in Central Idaho But when news began to spread Saturday that Bowe Bergdahl was finally free it became a far more momentous weekend than anyone could have imagined in a community where Sergeant Bergdahl’s fate has been a central fact of life since his capture by the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2009. “It’s really, really amazing and incredible, fantastic news,” said Molly Goodyear, who was getting lunches at Atkinson’s Market for children playing soccer with Sawtooth United under-13 girls’...

My prayers are with the family of Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. soldier seen on the Taliban abduction video released this weekend. The Jawa Report has the full clip. All Americans should hope and pray for his release from jihadi custody. There’s one question I have, though, about strange details initially reported on the case — details which have been deleted from later wire dispatches.

U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, held for nearly five years by the Taliban, is now in U.S. custody, President Barack Obama said on Saturday. As part of Bergdahl's release, the United States is turning over five Taliban detainees at the U.S. facility in Guantanamo, Cuba, to the custody of Qatar, U.S. officials said. Bergdahl's freedom follows months of indirect U.S.-Taliban talks with Qatar acting as intermediary, the officials said.

According to recent reports, GM just recalled another 2.4 million vehicles this week, bringing the total number of recalled GM vehicles this year to a record 13.6 million. USA Today got right to the point when it asked, “Are there any GM cars that haven’t been recalled?” ... GM knew about serious problems with the ignition switch for years, going back to at least 2007. At that time, GM had hard data from multiple crashes showing that some of its ignition switches had failed to function properly. The U.S. government officially bailed out the automaker in December of 2008. Throughout...