Posted on 06/03/2014 11:52:24 AM PDT by Persevero
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 in 1980 after studying at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He taught himself Pashto. He is religious, at one point making the 300-mile round trip a couple of times a month to attend an Orthodox Presbyterian church in Boise with his family.
Bergdahhas said he grew his beard as a chronology marking the time that his son was missing. Bergdahl also did it in a bid to win sympathy from his son’s captors.
At the time their son was taken, the Bergdahls were attending a conservative Presbyterian church in Boise. Glenn Ferrell was the pastor.(H)e talked at length with Bergdahl, as the father questioned and probed his own beliefs to reach some understanding of the radical Islam driving the Taliban.
Bergdahl also talked with Mark Stephensen, a board member of the National League of POW/MIA Families, who lives in Boise. Stephensen’s father was a Vietnam War MIA for 21 years. Stephensen saw how Bergdahl had changed his appearance and altered his interests to align with his son’s experience.
“I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt,” Stephensen said, “because, by the grace of God, I wasn’t in his position.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Such as.......?
“isn’t that what a calendar is for ???”
indeed, that would make more sense.
did he also actively aid the enemy.
__________________________________________
apparently so...
they knew just where to ambush and kill our troops..
up to then only one guy in the unit had died...due to an EID
Americans caught by the Taliban star in snuff flix. So that he is still above ground and still possessing his noggin is purely suspicious. Also, captives are usually isolated and don’t end up speaking fluent Arabic to the point they forget their native tongue. That means he was working closely with Arabic speakers for some time. It is a stretch to say that indicates he was likely a turncoat?
Yes. The Haqqani were those of the Taliban rape tapes.
I wonder if the father felt some level of guilt for not preventing his son from enlisting.
As far as the thing about praising Allah while at the podium with the President? Wasn't Obama exploiting the parents when he marched them out there to get credit and photo ops for releasing their son's release? I'm not unhappy that the media maneuver backfired.
I heard Mark Steyn say that the homecoming parade for him was canceled.
“”Anyone with their eyes open can see there are things going on here that make no sense and do not jive.”
Such as.......?”
- a family that are members of Bible believing churches with credible pastors for decades being accused of being Muslim sleepers
- a ‘lover of the Taliban’ weeping for joy after identifying his rescuers as Special Forces (didn’t see that with Lindh!)
- a conservative Christian who suddenly spouts Pashto
- a “hater of America” that consults with Vietnam MIA experts and is received and defended as genuine
- folks who want to utterly believe what some soldiers say and disbelieve others
- assumptions as to his motivation for leaving base when they are not known
- news reports of repeated escape attempts vis a vis Muslim reports that Bowe was a happy converted bomb making Muslim
- Bowe’s haggard appearance, why so for a man who is lovingly accepted into some new Muslim family
- army didn’t list him as a POW? yet traded five prisoners for him?
- lack of notice to Congress. . .
- the Bergdahls press appearance which really smelled of “handling” to me. . .
all kinds of weird stuff. I can’t explain it.
I assume that means they’re moving it to DC?
This is WaPo.
WaPo is in deep with Obama.
So why is WaPo providing this article?
Answer: to help Obama.
How?
My guess:
to “humanize” the parents. Get America to know how the Bergdahls; where they go to church, where they walk. But mostly to show America how the parents have suffered, the counselling they’ve had. I expect there to be a series of “comfy” interviews with the Bergdahls in the next few days. Oprah on the couch - complete with crying.
Then there will be the reunion. And scenes of joy. Because WaPo has laid the ground work for this reunion, America will have empathy for the parents, and see their son through the eyes of the parents. And America will then wonder - why should we prosecute this man? How can we make those lovely parents suffer any more?
Or do I exagerate?
Fine. But you appear to be defending Bob despite clear demonstrations on Bob’s part of solidarity with Radical Islam.
His son is SAFE now. WTF is he continuing to advocate for the release of Gitmo enemy combatants? Not prisoners of war - ENEMY COMBATANTS under the Geneva Convention.
You’ve been a conservative FReeper in my experience. So WTF, dude? Why are you riding the brakes on Bob Bergdahl?
A parade needs hordes of townspeople to show up. Given all the negative publicity, I suspect the event would have been a big letdown.
You can rely on the Washington Post to try to bail this lousy president out of his latest mess. In Texas, we have thousands of true heroes who did their duty with honor. Their parents have never had a scripted love-fest in the White House Rose Garden, as this deserter’s parents had.
I was lisetning to Dr. Steve Pieczenik lastnite, and according to him, the Haqqani network was originally setup by the CIA and Pakistani military intelligence! Pieczenik is no lite-weight, but has worked with several administrations in counter-terrorism and psy-ops.
-— Their parents have never had a scripted love-fest in the White House Rose Garden, as this deserter’s parents had. -—
According to Howie Carr, if you watch the Rose Garden love-fest, Zero breaks into a grin when the father starts speaking in Arabic.
I can’t view it at the moment. If I do, I might smash my screen.
The chief CIA dude gets outed?
The President didn't notify Congress.
The President ignored Karzai on his "I love the troops" trip and met with all our top guys in the country.
Tried to sneak through the stopping of the order to wage combat in Afghanistan.
Wow...Obama had to be using a regular check list. Where's Valerie?
Set up by the CIA?
Oh, goody.
Strongest possible warning on embedded video:
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/200342.php
The cancellation of the parade was a big letdown for all the local egg and tomato farmers.
His father apparently encouraged him to desert.
If I have any sympathy at all it is for the dozens of families that were devastated when their sons died looking for this POS.
Bergdahl’s father deserves no sympathy at all. None. Absolutely none.
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