“This one idiosyncratic guy makes a radical decision at the age of 23 to walk away into Afghanistan”. Bergdahl was kidnapped by the Taliban in 2009 after wandering from his post in Afghanistan.
Advertisement
Using 25 hours of recorded conversations between Bergdahl and screenwriter Mark Boal, Serial’s producers are promising to piece together his controversial story.
Berghdahl’s saga is certain to gain even more attention – and scrutiny – because of “Serial”, which became a phenomenon past year after focusing on Maryland man Adnan Syed, who is serving a life sentence in prison. She says Bergdahl shipped his personal items home, bought local attire and pulled out $300 in dollars and Afghanis ahead of leaving the base.Bergdahl acknowledges his motives were not entirely idealistic.
In the first episode, Bergdahl said he left his base tohighlight poor leadership within his unit.
“And what I was seeing, from my first unit all the way up into Afghanistan, all I was seeing was, basically, leadership failure, to the point that the lives of the guys standing next to me were, literally, from what I could see, in danger of something seriously going wrong and somebody being killed”, he said. “What Bergdahl did made me wrestle with things I’d thought I more or less understood, but really didn’t: what it means to be loyal, to be resilient, to be used, to be punished”.
“You know, that I could be what it is that all those guys out there that go to the movies and watch those movies, they all want to be that, but I wanted to prove that I was that”, the 29-year-old Bergdahl said. “So what are you going to do?'” said Bergdahl. He now calls the plan “stupid”. Bergdahl was a Taliban prisoner for more than four years before being released in exchange for the release of five Taliban detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay.
“Unlike our story in Season One, this one extends far out into the world”, Ms. Koenig writes in a statement.
In the first episode, Bergdahl said he was held at times in basement-style rooms with no light. “No one is going to take me serious that an investigation needs to be put under way”.
The second season of Serial just went live. Was this all a search in the name of Bowe?
Bergdahl also said he wanted to prove he was a super soldier, like Jason Bourne. “All of that is super interesting, and we definitely are heading down that path”.
Here are four other interesting tidbits from the first episode, titled “DUSTWUN” – or “duty status – whereabouts unknown”. Next week, Serial devotees will be able to hear the corresponding interview. It’s shocking to hear him describe details in what is ultimately still an active military court case, effectively handing evidence and ammunition to the prosecution.
“We have asked from the beginning that everyone withhold judgment on Sgt. Bergdahl’s case until they know the facts”.
FILE – Capt. John Billings, right, is questioned as Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, left, and lead defense counsel, Eugene Fidell, look on during a preliminary hearing to determine if Bergdahl should face a court-martial, at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, Sept. 17, 2014.
Advertisement
Lt. Gen. Kenneth S. Dahl, who investigated the Bergdahl case, testified in September that Bergdahl had an inflated sense of his own abilities. Fidell called it a “gripping … high-quality production”.
