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 ...
ALL respect to the six who died looking for him; I don't pretend to know what went on. But I can't respect the eager willingness to immediately believe the worst.
I hated having to cut out so much of the article. Please go to the link and read to get a more insightful look at the family, particularly the dad.
This sounds more like Damage Control.
The problem was having him do his thing on international television while standing next to the President of the United States. The act belittled the White House.
The statements made by his fellow soldiers, and the statements proven to have been made by Bowe are more than enough for me.
The Washington Compost is a direct propaganda rag of the Islamic Obamanistas. So, I’m not surprised that it paints a rosey picture.
Wow.
Corroboration, if available, would probably be locked up in government archives.
Not supposed to change title. You didn’t know that? This will probably be pulled.
6 KIA because Bowe did a walk around with the Taliban. Explain that to the 5 year olds who have and never will have their fathers.
Based on what we know now he probably wasn’t tortured or otherwise abused, so it seems likely that he cooperated with the enemy. After all, he sought them out.
Remember, Hasan was a work place incident. I'll never forget Obama saying "Don't come to any conclusions".
And the father had the nerve to thank allah at OUR WHITEHOUSE.
Bowe deserted his post in a war zone. As a result others died.
The only remaining question in my mind is did he also actively aid the enemy.
That is very bad no matter how you slice it. At a minimum he should be prison for a long, long time.
Bull$***.
You shoul dbe concerned about what this guy did, the loss of American lives, the five maniacs that monster in Washington released.
Where is your common sense?????
“fiercely intelligent”....what the hell is that?
At a minimum, Berghdal is a deserter...that much is fact.
He needs to face the full punishment for that action.
The only question left for me is whether he was/is a collaborator...
His dad, well, that’s another topic, but he sure hasn’t ingratiated himself by uttering islamic phrases.
WTF?
Growing one’s beard to show solidarity; learning to speak Pashtu to communicate with those holding a loved one captive; and even watching, favoriting, and subscribing to jihadists’ YouTube channels to better understand the enemy is one thing, but reciting the bismillah in Arabic at a White House press conference in the Rose Garden AFTER that loved one is safely in U.S. custody is a whole different thing.
I don’t understand Bob Bergdahl’s actions. Stockholm syndrome doesn’t even begin to answer the questions about him.
My two cents.
Both the above 2 posts sum up my feeling quite well.
It is called making your own bed and lying in it
or maybe their chickens have come home to roost.
If we didn’t know so much about what went on between the father and son BEFORE the traitor walked off I might be different
But no one should pretend this is some honorable warrior coming home.
“Not supposed to change title. You didn’t know that? This will probably be pulled.”
Oops, been too long since I posted. Well, if it gets pulled it gets pulled.
Just trying to get people to see that not every bad interpretation is necessarily the right one. It seems I am fighting a losing battle.
I said in my opening statement there all due respect to the six who died, their five year olds and so forth, and that I don’t KNOW what went on, just want to try to stop the rush to judgment. It seems it’s falling on deaf ears.
Many accuse me of being deaf, stupid, whatever because I am not buying the “traitor sleeper cell family” line whole hog. Well, don’t be deaf, stupid, whatever the other way, either. Anyone with their eyes open can see there are things going on here that make no sense and do not jive. I can’t explain it but I don’t think it is so cut and dried as many posting these days are saying.
Very likely, probably. But I don't think he had to brain power to show them how to trigger an IED with a cellphone.
“I don’t understand Bob Bergdahl’s actions.”
Neither do I, but I am taking a “wait and see” position instead of an “off with his head!” position.
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