The U.S. Army says Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, a former POW who was released by the Taliban previous year, deserted his post prior to his capture in 2009. The interview was widely discussed on cable news this morning – wresting some airtime from Donald Trump, who’ll probably end up suing someone over being treated this unfairly – and featured a left-field reference to one of Hollywood’s biggest action film franchises.
Advertisement
“What I was seeing from my first unit all the way up into Afghanistan (was) leadership failure to the point that the lives of the guys standing next to me were literally in danger of something seriously going wrong and somebody being killed”, Bowe said.
“There’s times when I’d wake up and it’s just so dark, like I would wake up not even remembering what I was”, he said. He made a decision to mitigate the “hurricane of wrath” he would face by gathering intelligence, so he modified his plan, hoping to track insurgents planting roadside bombs and return with this information as a “bonus point”.
“When I got back to the FOB, you know, they could say, ‘You left your position, ‘” he said, referring to his forward operating base. She told the Army Times after Bergdahl was released, “It gets really hurtful when I think – this guy was worth my son’s life?”
Listen to the rest of the first episode here.
Bergdahl did not testify at a September preliminary hearing at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, where he continues to serve.
The already chart-topping first episode, which hit the internet overnight, sees Bergdahl open up for the first time about his years spent as a captive – and, most controversially, why he walked out on his comrades. The podcast’s creator, Sarah Koenig, said its second season will focus largely on those interviews. And I mean, I hate doors.
Further complicating things was the prisoner exchange that President Obama executed in 2014 to rescue Bergdahl from Taliban captivity – something that wasn’t universally well received in the States. In a statement Thursday, Fidell said that the podcast would help put Bergdahl’s case in context. But his attorney, Eugene Fidell, said he made an exception for the “Serial” podcast, which Fidell called a “gripping… high-quality production”.
Mr Addicott said Bergdahl’s comment that he purchased Afghan clothing and took $US300 out of his account before leaving showed his preparations and intention to flee his post, critical in proving the desertion charge. In Bergdahl, it finds a deeply politicized story, and one wrapped in the complex nuance of both military culture and the military’s autonomous code of military justice. “I’m not stupid enough to try knife off a bunch of guys with AK-47s”, he said.
“Perhaps the most vexing moment in episode one comes from Boal’s description of Bergdahl; he says, “… he’s a mystery.
Advertisement
Dahl, who interviewed Bergdahl at length in his investigation, described him as “young, naive, and inexperienced”, and also “unrealistically idealistic”, adding that “I believe he is remorseful”. “And the consequences of that decision, they spin out wider and wider, and at every turn you’re surprised”, said Serial host Sarah Koenig in the first episode.
