Posted on 01/16/2014 6:50:22 AM PST by armydawg505
The U.S. military has obtained a new video showing the only known American soldier in captivity, whose health appears to be diminishing, a senior U.S. defense official tells Fox News.
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl disappeared June 30, 2009, while based in eastern Afghanistan. The Taliban claimed his capture in a video released in mid-July that year, which showed the young soldier appearing downcast and frightened.
In the latest video received by the military, Bergdahl was speaking and appeared “gaunt,” the official told Fox News on Wednesday. At one point in the video, Bergdahl references Nelson Mandela's death. U.S. officials say the video was obtained through an intelligence intercept.
His family released a statement Wednesday through the Idaho National Guard.
“Today we learned that a new video of our son, U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, has been distributed by his captors,” the family statement read. “As we have done so many times over the past 4 and a half years, we request his captors to release him safely so that our only son can be reunited with his mother and father.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I'm not surprised.
Didn’t this kid walk off the base into the arms of the Taliban? While I’m sympathetic, and he deserves a mulligan for bad decision-making, I hope we don’t risk a single GI’s life to get this guy back.
I think the little islamist is praising allah just knowing there is another American he might arrange to have killed.
Please cite your source for this.
While I'll give you every benefit of the doubt, I find your remark to be offensive.
You insinuate that a US soldier willingly walked into the arms of the Taliban, for what purpose no one knows.
Apparently, you feel he had a purpose, a higher calling so to speak, and in your learned world, you have decreed him to be unworthy of the consideration of saving by his fellow warriors.
You, sir, are a perfect example of the "let he who is without sin cast the first stone".
Apparently, someone, somewhere, apparently someone above your pay grade thinks differently of this soldier, as he has been promoted in absentia and tracked by our forces, even if such activities are not encouraged by the current idiot-in-the-white-hut.
Think of how good you'll feel when it is revealed that this soldier absconded with the plans for our nuclear weapons, 100,000 rounds of ammunition and 200 M4s (and probably a few 92fs) and stood beside KSM and OBL in sympathy with their stated aims of killing Americans.
But can we at least wait until it is revealed?
IF it is revealed?
He may well have been in a drunken stupor, he may well have been mislead in some way, prompting him to leave his base, he may well have fallen behind on patrol and been snatched...but could we at least wait and see, before we damn him to perdition?
“he is being held by ruthless murderers and the Obama administration couldn’t care less.”
You are so right! To Obama, the message is: let this be a lesson to those who want to fight for liberty. You are on your own. Tough luck.
Accounts of his capture differ. The version offered by Bergdahl, in the video, is that he was captured when he fell behind on a patrol.[3] CNN, in its report, cites both Taliban and U.S. military sources, the former alleging he was ambushed after becoming drunk off base, and the latter denying that claim stating: "The Taliban are known for lying and what they are claiming (is) not true".[5] Other sources said Bergdahl walked off his base after his shift.[30] A Department of Defense spokesperson, Lieutenant Commander Christine Sidenstricker, said, "I'm glad to see he appears unharmed, but again, this is a Taliban propaganda video. They are exploiting the soldier in violation of international law."[3][4]
I followed the case for months, reading perhaps two dozen articles about this guy's disappearance. He does not come off looking good. Michelle Malkin has a bunch of references on the subject.
I rest my case.
Emails to Family Suggest American POW Deserted
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2012/06/08/emails-to-family-suggest-american-pow-deserted.html
The fact remains, and I quote from your own source:
"There is no way to authenticate the emails."
There may well be more than is allowed to meet our eyes, but I refuse to arbitrarily desert a soldier, who, until it is proven otherwise, is still a US Soldier.
It is my contention that he is being used and exploited by the taliban, and such exploitation is fully known to and allowed by the traitorous obama administration.
And the fact that you are so quick to damn him is proof that their efforts, both taliban and obama, are successful.
And last, and this is not hyperbole, but rest assured that I know much more about this entire case than you ever will.
Bergdahl is most likely just another Sad Sack that thinks his personal problems eclipse all others, and his situation may or may not be of his own making, but he is still a United States Soldier, and as such, deserves every consideration, until absolutely proven otherwise.
And such proof must come independently from the current traitors and taliban sympathizers that currently occupy the White House.
I hear where you're coming from - being young and stupid ought not to be a terminal condition. I hope he makes it out in one piece, without having to bear the guilt of rescuers dying to get him out.
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