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I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Military / Bergdahl Pleads Guilty

Bergdahl Pleads Guilty

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Closure in the Bergdahl case:

The Latest on the court-martial of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who walked off his post in Afghanistan (all times local):

11:20 a.m.

A military prosecutor says he has made no agreement to limit punishment for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in return for the soldier’s guilty pleas to charges that he endangered comrades by walking off his post in Afghanistan in 2009.

After Bergdahl entered guilty pleas to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, the prosecutor, Maj. Justin Oshana, told the judge that there’s no pretrial agreement between the two sides.

The judge, Army Col. Judge Jeffery R. Nance, spent Monday morning asking Bergdahl questions to make sure he understands what he’s pleading guilty to, and that his offenses carry a maximum punishment of life in prison. The judge asked him one last time if he wanted to plead guilty, and Bergdahl replied, “yes.”

This is the system working. I still maintain that all the people screaming “fuck him” or “leave him” are wrong, as I have said all along. You bring your men back, and if they have done something wrong, the military will deal with it.

Reader Interactions

90Comments

  3. 3.

    Elizabelle

    Good to see this. The military as an institution is more resilient than many others. It’s not lost its head.

    Interesting, also, that it leads in actual merit-based promotions, and inclusiveness.

  4. 4.

    sharl

    I’m sure the Keyboard Kommandos (h/t the much missed PoorMan) will spout on endlessly about this, rewriting history in the process, but a very small/nonscientific sampling of milvets seems to show agreement:

    Bergdahl is a real piece of shit. But to say he was trying to join the TB is factually wrong. To say we should've left him is morally wrong.— Michael Stahlke (@MichaelStahlke) October 16, 2017

    And Stonekettle, responding to some of the usual twitter diarrhea from our Keyboard Kommando-in-Chief-Jr.:

    Nobody said Bergdahl was a "great" American. We said he was one of ours. Deserter or not, deserving or not, we take care of our own.1/ https://t.co/VA7gssyPYo— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) October 16, 2017

    What we don’t do is leave Americans to the Taliban. Even if they are idiots.

    If he’s to be punished, WE’ll do it. It our duty. 2/

    Maybe if anyone in the Trump family had actually served, Don Jr would know this. 3/3

    ETA: Stonekettle was responding to Don Jr.

  5. 5.

    No Drought No More

    @Elizabelle: You might be interested in reading George Marshall’s telling of the army he inherited as FDR’s army chief of staff on the very day Hitler invaded Poland. Both his biography and the author’s interview notes are found at the website of the George Marshall foundation. It makes for some fascinating reading.

  6. 6.

    Betty Cracker

    Speaking of the military, Trump just told a gigantic lie in his Koch-sponsored Rose Garden love-fest with McConnell. When a reporter asked about the four soldiers killed in Niger and why there had been no mention of them, Trump claimed that President Obama (and other presidents) didn’t contact the families of soldiers who were killed in action, but he (Trump) had written “personal letters” to the families of the soldiers killed in Niger and that he would send them “probably today or tomorrow” (translation: he’ll get that slimy Stephen Miller creep to start writing them right now). He also said he’d call “after time has passed.”

    The reporter must have followed up and called him out on the lie because Trump dissembled in the clip I saw, mumbling something about how other presidents “might have called, sometimes.” What a cockwaffle. President Obama’s former deputy CoS wasn’t having it:

  7. 7.

    Chris Fisher

    We don’t leave men behind. Period. That shouldn’t be controversial.

    You take the oath to fight, you risk your life, the very least we can do is make sure you or your remains get home. Even if that ends with a trial and a prison sentence for misconduct.

  10. 10.

    Brachiator

    Bergdahl is a real piece of shit. But to say he was trying to join the TB is factually wrong. To say we should’ve left him is morally wrong

    Short, honest and to the point.

    What a refreshing contrast to the crap spewed by Trump and company.

  11. 11.

    Archon

    Throughout history a soldier of an occupying army captured by the local insurgency could expect to be tortured and likely executed, Afghanistan is no different. What Bergdahl did was a sign of somebody mentally ill and unfit for combat duties.

    Not saying he doesn’t deserve some punishment but I hope they take into account how irrational his actions were.

  12. 12.

    coin operated

    I give it two hours before Trump tweets something about Bergdahl to distract from his gaff about the Green Berets.

  13. 13.

    Ruckus

    @Betty Cracker:

    he’s a deranged animal.

    She’s absolutely right. He is. He’s also a lying sack of shit, a cockwaffle (haven’t heard this used in decades other than by you, but it was a standard in SC during my navy years), far worse than useless – he used to be useless, he’s made it seem like it would take a Himalayan expedition to climb back up to useless, a cheat…….
    What gets me is that some people are not just agreeing with him but defending him as being the greatest president ever. Either they are bots or they are delusional to such a degree as to be a hazard to themselves and others.

  14. 14.

    mai naem mobile

    From what I’ve read about Bergdahl he just comes across as a massively fucked up person who should never have been serving in the army. I am not excusing what he did but his problems should have been caught by some body before he went walkabout.

  17. 17.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Betty Cracker: Maybe he’ll do his signature thing when attempting to express grief and say that they all had hot girlfriends he’d have loved to have fucked.

  21. 21.

    bystander

    I just heard a clip of the Poop Corndog saying that Puerto Rico had plenty of water and that US troops were distributing the water, and “they shouldn’t have to be doing that”. What an imposition PR is visiting on our army!

  23. 23.

    germy

    I always assumed drumpf’s handlers didn’t want him acknowledging the slain soldiers in Niger because they were afraid of how he’d pronounce it.

    I’m not joking.

  26. 26.

    JPL

    President Trump said he wrote letters over the weekend and that they would be mailed out tonight or tomorrow. Raise your middle finger if you think this is a lie.

  27. 27.

    Another Scott

    @J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: Sentencing hearing expected to start on October 23.

    The serious wounds to service members who searched for Bergdahl are still expected to play a role in his sentencing. The guilty pleas allow him to avoid a trial, but he still faces a sentencing hearing that’s expected to start on Oct. 23. Bergdahl’s five years of captivity by the Taliban and its allies also will likely factor into what punishment he receives.

    Bergdahl, who’s from Hailey, Idaho, previously chose to have his case heard by a judge alone, rather than a jury.

    Legal scholars have said that several pretrial rulings against the defense have given prosecutors leverage to pursue stiff punishment against Bergdahl. Perhaps most significant was the judge’s decision in June to allow evidence of serious wounds to service members who searched for Bergdahl at the sentencing phase. The judge ruled that a Navy SEAL and an Army National Guard sergeant wouldn’t have wound up in separate firefights that left them wounded if they hadn’t been searching for Bergdahl.

    The defense also was rebuffed in an effort to prove President Donald Trump had unfairly swayed the case with scathing criticism of Bergdahl, including suggestions of harsh punishment. The judge wrote in a February ruling that Trump’s campaign-trail comments were “disturbing and disappointing” but did not constitute unlawful command influence by the soon-to-be commander in chief.

    Defense attorneys have acknowledged that Bergdahl walked off his base without authorization. Bergdahl himself told a general during a preliminary investigation that he left intending to cause alarm and draw attention to what he saw as problems with his unit. He was soon captured.

    But the defense team has argued that Bergdahl can’t be held responsible for a long chain of events that included many decisions by others on how to conduct the searches.

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  30. 30.

    JPL

    @Another Scott:

    But the defense team has argued that Bergdahl can’t be held responsible for a long chain of events that included many decisions by others on how to conduct the searches.

    That won’t invoke a lot of sympathy.

  32. 32.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @daveNYC:
    Then Enemy of the State Bergdahl will be drawn and quartered at dawn by decree of God-Emporer Trump.

  35. 35.

    germy

    @raven:

    It sounds good on paper but it’s not always true.

    My father never talked much about his WWII experience, but what little details he shared were horrific.
    He saw his friends blown to pieces and a man right next to him shot in the neck. He told me after a while he didn’t want to make friends with the other soldiers anymore because he’d be too full of grief when they’d get killed.

    One of his most horrible memories was marching and seeing an American who’d gotten caught in barbed wire. The man was screaming for help and the commander told them to keep marching, not to stop to assist. I think my father had nightmares about that for the rest of his life.

  36. 36.

    FlipYrWhig

    @JPL: Like when a student says, “I’m sorry professor but my printer got jammed and then I had class all morning and after this I have class too but when I get back to my room I’ll print a new copy and bring it to you and since it was beyond my control it doesn’t count as late, right?”

  38. 38.

    mai naem mobile

    OT – caught the tail end of a story on NPR about Asshole Dolt45 talkinG about replacing RBG and Sotomayor because of their health issues and RBG being 60lbs. I listened RBGs trainer talk about her workout and I _wouldnt put it past RBG knocking out Dolt45 in a head to head match .

  40. 40.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @coin operated: I give it two hours before Trump tweets something about Bergdahl to distract from his gaff about the Green Berets.

    Give e strength, I haven’t heard that one yet

    The second season of Serial was devoted to the Begdhal case. He was in the coast guard a couple of years before he joined the army. He had a complete mental break down, cut himself, and was discharged IIRC for psychological reasons. He was able to join the army because Bush’s misadventure created such a need for soldiers

  44. 44.

    japa21

    @mai naem mobile: Remember when Scalia died, the RW nutosphdere was awash with theories that Obama had him liked so that he could appoint a far left radical justice.

    Although I am not much of a conspiracy fan, if something happens to RBG, I will be among the first to point the finger at Trump, and probably with good cause.

  48. 48.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @germy:

    I always assumed drumpf’s handlers didn’t want him acknowledging the slain soldiers in Niger because they were afraid of how he’d pronounce it.

    That and they didn’t want to risk Trump mashing on the soldiers widows and mothers.
    @germy:<I’m not joking. sadly true.

    And, is Trump even capable of writting a coherant statement by himself?. Going by how he talks any condolance letter from Trump would be mostly him boasting or feeling sorry for himself.

  50. 50.

    WaterGirl

    @Archon: Young or foolish or mentally ill or unfit for combat. I still think there was failure above him in the ranks, and I doubt they will be held responsible for their misjudgments. I think Bergdahl has been punished enough. Let him get some semblance of a life back.

  51. 51.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Ruckus: I agree with you Ruckus, I have never seen someone as utterly contempable of a human being as Trump. I even had a narcassit boss who was at lest comptent in his speciality. I know most people find Bush Jr worse, but at lest Bush and his admin thought the stuff they were doing was in the national instrest, Trump just goes threw the motions and whines about not being praised enough. As far who is materially worse, let’s see when the death total from Puetro Rico is figured out

  52. 52.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Elizabelle: @sharl: As a former term appointed senior, supervisory civil servant who has deployed I agree with John.

    There is also a larger discussion to be had about what happens during a period of prolonged war to the recruitment, ascension, training, and education systems within the military. Especially the Army as the land force component, which is in need of the largest increase in personnel during any prolonged conflict. And how this contributes to problem service members like Bergdahl or Manning or others.

  54. 54.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    I know most people find Bush Jr worse, but at lest Bush and his admin thought the stuff they were doing was in the national instrest, Trump just goes threw the motions and whines about not being praised enough. As far who is materially worse, let’s see when the death total from Puetro Rico is figured out

    “Worse than Bush” is no longer sufficient to describe the Dotard. Try “Worse than Buchanan”, mixed with the malice and ignorance of Andrew Jackson.

  55. 55.

    Elizabelle

    @No Drought No More: George C. Marshall is someone I really need to learn more about.

    This year: US Grant.

    And Bill Clinton apparently wrote a fine review of Ron Chernow’s newest book in Fuck the Fucking New York Times.

    NY Times: President Clinton Looks Back at President Grant

    This is a good time for Ron Chernow’s fine biography of Ulysses S. Grant to appear, as we live with the reality of Faulkner’s declaration, “The past is never dead, it’s not even past.” We are now several years into revisiting the issues that shaped Grant’s service in the Civil War and the White House, from the rise of white supremacy groups to successful attacks on the right of eligible citizens to vote to the economic inequalities of the Gilded Age. In so many ways “Grant” comes to us now as much a mirror as a history lesson.

  56. 56.

    trollhattan

    O/T Harry still in the fight.

    Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that it’s “very probable” that Democrats take back control of the Senate, arguing that the 2018 midterms will be a “change election.”

    In a sit-down interview with The Nevada Independent, Reid, who retired after 30 years in the upper chamber, said that there’s a path for Senate Democrats, despite the party needing to defend 10 seats carried by President Trump in 2016. Republicans have a narrow majority of 52 seats, compared to Democrats’ 48 seats.

    “We’re two short in the Senate, and I think it’s very probable that we’ll be able to retake the Senate. And I have felt much better about the House in recent weeks,” Reid said in the interview. “There’s no question in my mind that this election coming up in 2018 is going to be a change election,” he continued.

    Still, Democrats will have an uphill climb in regaining control of the Senate and need to defend a handful of states that went double digits for Trump. They only have two realistic opportunities to flip Republican seats — in Nevada and Arizona.

  57. 57.

    Citizen Alan

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:

    There are no American Presidents comprable to shitgibbon. Buchanan gets shade for not doing anything meaningful to avert the Civil War, but it’s not like he was proactively trying to dismantle the US Military in anticipation of the Civil War. Andy Jackson was a racist monster, but he at least thought he was doing what was right for the country if only in a twisted way. When I try to imagine a leader of any nation comprable to shitgibbon, literally the only people I can imagine are the worst of the Roman emperors. Nero, Caligula, and Commodus.

  58. 58.

    amygdala

    @Betty Cracker: I read transcript and he went with the “I was told that…” defense, which he often does.

    Does anyone follow up with “Really, who told you that?” or have I just missed that?

  60. 60.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Citizen Alan: I can think of a lot of tinpot dictators who lined their pockets and shook their fists at their enemies while being cheered on by armed supporters. I just didn’t think that it would happen on this continent.

  62. 62.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @FlipYrWhig:
    It can happen anywhere, from the most wartorn developing nation to the most advanced democracy on the planet. History stops for no one and no one country. America is not excempt and is not exceptional in that sense.

  63. 63.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Citizen Alan:
    I get it. Buchanan was the closest American leader I could think of but that’s not even fair to him. But I stand by what I said about Jackson. There’s a reason Trump reportedly admires him so much. Trump and he both share white supremacy and delusions of granduer ie being a “Man of the People”.

  64. 64.

    sharl

    @Adam L Silverman: I’m glad you mentioned Manning, because this reminded me of young (then Bradley) Manning’s story, and how obviously unsuited for the Army Private Manning was. I also remember a bunch of stories at the time (over 10 years ago now) about how desperate Army recruiters were to meet quotas for our Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns, and how that desperation led to some violations of recruitment standards, resulting in Bergdahl, Manning, and others being accepted when they had no business being in the military services.

    Of course, with a bunch of trustafarian ex-fratboy neocons in charge at the time – and largely so now (in Congress and the Cabinet) – what in their lives would give them pause in thinking things through, or considering the horrible consequences of their long term dreams, which were likely concocted over drinks or whatever in various clubby and convivial settings?

    But those pampered, privileged trustafarians were in charge, so it’s a no-brainer to figure out what kind of responses recruitment office NCOs and their COs got from higher-ups when they complained about the ridiculous quotas and the pressure to sign up unsuitable candidates. And of course it wasn’t just unsuitable sign-up, but all the over-promising and outright lies told to all those who served in compliance with their contracts; too bad those kids weren’t well connected!

    Grrrrrrrrrr….

  68. 68.

    JGabriel

    John Cole @ Top:

    This is the system working. I still maintain that all the people screaming “fuck him” or “leave him” are wrong, as I have said all along. You bring your men back, and if they have done something wrong, the military will deal with it.

    And that’s exactly right. To say “fuck him & and leave him there to suffer” is to sentence him and declare him guilty without a trial.

  71. 71.

    JaneSays

    @japa21: I’d never put anything past the orange shitstain, but the truth is RBG is an 84 year old woman who had pancreatic cancer and has had surgery for heart problems. Someone that age and with that health profile dying isn’t particularly unusual.

    I just hope she can survive at least another 3 years. And sort of wish she had retired in 2013 (hindsight being 20/20). Even if we get rid of Dolt45 before 2020 (if it happens, it will more likely be resignation than impeachment given that there will never be 16-20 GOP senators willing to vote for his removal), there still won’t be a Democrat in the Oval Office until at least January 2021.

  72. 72.

    amygdala

    @JPL: It’s exasperating that he gets away with this. For someone who complains about anonymous sources so much, he sure doesn’t cite his own.

  73. 73.

    Jim

    Just so. You don’t hang a guy until you find out what actually happened. Get him back, deal with the facts. That’s justice.

  78. 78.

    Jay C

    @John Cole:

    I’d be shocked if he got anything less than life.

    Why? Of course, you probably know more about the military justice system than us mere civilians, but it’s not like Bowe Bergdahl was Benedict Arnold. Even leaving aside all the “should he even have been in the Army?” BS (and even ignoring, for the nonce, his five-year captivity) his actions seem, by his own admission, to be simply misguided
    rather than malign. What “justice” wouldn’t be served by, say 5-10 in slam?

  80. 80.

    WaterGirl

    @Jay C: Or, say 5 years in captivity with the taliban. For once “hasn’t he already been punished enough” is actually true. In my opinion.

  81. 81.

    Ruckus

    @germy:
    I know a Marine sargent who had to send his squad members up muddy hills raked with machine gun fire, knowing that they would eventually overrun the hill but then the PTB would move them on some where else to do the same thing over again, while the VC would retake the unguarded hill. Rinse, repeat, die. He couldn’t take it anymore. Smart, probably a very good leader but the PTB had (what did someone call it yesterday?) colon glaucoma¿ and were going for the most yardage, damn the actual results. Dead bodies were just statistics, no matter which side they came from.

  82. 82.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    one of the guys from his unit (not sure of the proper term) was on MSNBC saying he was glad Begdhal was charged, offended when he was treated as a hero, and hopes he gets the psychological help he needs– I started to say “hopes he gets a light sentence” but I’m not sure about that, but he said several times that BB needs help.

    When they brought up trump calling for him to be shot, the retired sergeant said “Well that’s big talk from a draft dodger who insulted gold star parents”

  83. 83.

    WaterGirl

    @Ruckus: Ugh. Can’t decide whether that’s more disgusting or more depressing. How the hell do people with no soul get promoted to positions like that. (rhetorical question)

  84. 84.

    WaterGirl

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: How do 52 republicans go to work every day, or even look at themselves in the mirror every day, thinking that this man is fit for office. Or worse, thinking it’s worth destroying our democracy and the lives of our citizens if that’s what it takes to destroy healthcare or give rich people taxes.

  87. 87.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:
    You of course answered your own question. Unquestioning obedience to the mission, whatever that is and whatever it costs.
    It may be somewhat different now, ask Adam. But he deals with mostly upper management, and he has affirmed that middle management is a lot of the problem, something that I noticed in abundance.

  88. 88.

    hugely

    @Brachiator: actually I disagree. He was foolish/stupid/naive to go AWOL and put his teammates at risk (i can admit “PoS” for that). What he’s doing now is appropriate – he is admitting guilt and is taking his lumps. Cold comfort for those who were hurt, maimed, killed while looking for him but the guilty plea is an adult action, the AWOL was a childish action

    YMMV

  89. 89.

    J R in WV

    @John Cole:

    “Life”… you may be right. As a veteran who was days away from being drafted – i.e. enlisted at the point of a gun – I hope he is sentenced to time served, which would be something like 10 years or so, without looking up dates.

    He was obviously mentally unbalanced, and his command structure should have done what it would take to either keep a really close eye on him or get him moved to a clerk job at Bagram Air Base, however you spell that. You don’t send someone to life in prison for being ill, and that’s what mental health issues are, being ill.

    Plain and simple, might as well put someone away for contracting severe lung infection and needing medical evacuation to Germany. I don’t know when mental health issues will be treated the same as a broken bone, maybe never, but right now isn’t soon enough.

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