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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — An Army officer is recommending that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl face a lower-level court martial and be spared the possibility of jail time for leaving his post in Afghanistan, his lawyer said Saturday. Defense attorney Eugene Fidell said Lt. Col. Mark Visger has decided Bergdahl’s case should go to a military system similar to civilian courts that handle misdemeanor charges. It limits the maximum punishment to reduction of rank, a bad conduct discharge and a short jail term, though that isn’t being sought, Fidell said. ... Paul Boyce, a spokesman for the U.S. Army’s Force Command, released...

President Barack Obama has certainly staked a lot on the fate of likely deserter Bowe Bergdahl. He sacrificed the lives of several of our men in uniform in a vain attempt to rescue him, then traded five Taliban terrorists from Guantanamo Bay for his release. Now, it appears the president is even willing to obstruct justice for Bergdahl. Recent reports indicate that senior Department of Defense officials are doing their best to poison the well for those prosecuting Bergdahl.

Then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen admitted that Bowe Berghdal was a deserter, and said that he did not know why the military was focusing so much energy on trying to save him, according to one of Bergdahl’s platoon mates. “The joint chief of staff, Admiral Mullen at the time. He came out to our unit and had Thanksgiving dinner, and he said, ‘Yeah he walked off, everybody knows he walked off, I don’t know why they’re trying to’” pretend that he didn’t, Bergdahl’s former infantry roommate Cody Full told The Daily Caller. (RELATED: Bergdahl Was...

A photo of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, smiling and posing with a former senior Taliban official in Afghanistan has been posted on Twitter. The undated photo, likely taken during Bergdahl’s five years in captivity, was posted on the social media site on Wednesday by @khorasan3, an account associated with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Along with the image were the words ‘#US Solider #Bergdahl with Martyr #Taliban Leader Badar'udin Haqqani(RH) S/O Shaykh Jalaludin Haqqani(HA).’

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.”

In a video posted Sunday at the Gateway Pundit, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told ABC News' Diane Sawyer it doesn't matter if Bowe Bergdahl deserted his unit. “If you look at what the factors were going into the decision, of course there are competing interests and values. And one of our values is we bring everybody home off the battlefield the best we can. It doesn't matter how they ended up in a prisoner of war situation,” Clinton said, coming perilously close to her now infamous "what difference does it make" line.

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A celebration in Bowe Bergdahl's hometown of Hailey, Idaho, planned for later this month has been cancelled in the wake of a firestorm of controversy over how the Army sergeant wound up as a Taliban captive. **SNIP** Town officials on Tuesday told NBC News that they had been deluged with hateful calls from people who don't think Bergdahl should be celebrated as a hero. In the Wednesday statement, the town said they had received about "100 correspondences" per day on the issue, both positive and negative. Hailey officials say they aren't cancelling because of any threat, but because of the...

The Taliban released a video Wednesday purporting to show the moment former prisoner Bowe Bergdahl was handed over to American custody. The 17-minute video, sent to NBC News by a known Taliban spokesman, shows both sides quickly shaking hands before a clean-shaven Bergdahl is handed over.

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...

1. President Obama Almost Certainly Broke the Law President Obama did not consult Congress when making the transfer of 5 Taliban commanders at Gitmo for Bowe Bergdahl. 2. The 5 Taliban Commanders Released Were Among the Most Dangerous at Gitmo Numerous publications note that these detained terrorists were among the worst at the facility. 3. Soldiers Who Served with Bergdahl are Making Claims He Was a Deserter CNN’s Jake Tapper reports that soldiers who served with Bergdahl are calling him a “deserter,” not a “hero”.

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...

Three years ago, a 23-year-old soldier walked off his base in Afghanistan and into the hands of the Taliban. Now he’s a crucial pawn in negotiations to end the war. Will the Pentagon leave a man behind? Bowe's own tour of duty in Afghanistan mirrored the larger American experience in the war – marked by tragedy, confusion, misplaced idealism, deluded thinking and, perhaps, a moment of insanity. And it is with Bowe that the war will likely come to an end. On May 1st, in a surprise visit to Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, President Obama announced that...

A shocking new Taliban video shows an apparently bruised U.S. soldier who has been held prisoner in Afghanistan for 18 months under the threat of being beheaded. Spc. Bowe Bergdahl, 24, appears thin with a wound on his left cheek. He is seen standing next to Taliban commander Mullah Sangreen Zadran, who has previously claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and has threatened to execute him. (Snip) Bergdahl, of Hailey, Idaho, was captured by the militant group on June 30, 2009 in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan.