Bergdahl Wasn't Only Soldier to 'Walk Off' Afghan Outposts
http://news.yahoo.com/bergdahl-wasnt-only-soldier-walk-off-afghan-outposts-161259328--abc-news-topstories.html
The highly experienced combat veterans -- whose deployments cover the entire Afghan campaign -- said the significant incidents spanned a timeframe from when President Bush in late 2008 boosted conventional troop numbers in Afghanistan to well beyond President Obama's early 2010 surge that added 30,000 more troopers to the fight.
"There was one kid who walked off his camp with an axe and some beef jerky with a plan to walk to Iran. The Afghan Local Police found him and brought him back," a second seasoned soldier with many deployments to Afghanistan confirmed.
The most infamous incident involved Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, a Stryker Brigade soldier who left a U.S. special operations camp in Kandahar province one night in March 2012 without authorization or apparently being noticed and entered a local village. Bales gunned down 16 Afghan civilians, half of whom were small children, and set their remains on fire. He was charged with murder by the Army, pleaded guilty and received a life prison term.
Military officials declined comment on Sunday. A spokesperson for the Office of Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel referred an ABC News reporter to NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, which in turn said U.S. Central Command was the proper authority to comment on the issue. A spokesman for that combatant command based in Tampa, however, said it was a matter that should be addressed by the U.S. Army since it involved soldiers leaving their posts. An Army spokesperson advised a reporter to contact ISAF and CENTCOM.There is no evidence that any of the soldiers who walked off post were charged with any form of desertion or intended to join the enemy. All were disciplined in various ways, the military sources said.
"This happens in wartime," said Gary Solis, a retired Marine Corps prosecutor who has taught law at West Point and Georgetown University.
Bergdahl's intentions once he left Combat Outpost Mest in Paktika province remain murky to officials five years later, though Army leaders have said they will hold him accountable as part of his reintegration process should any misconduct be proven.
In 2010, a Green Beret staff sergeant at Forward Operating Base Salerno in Khost took one of his teammates and a low-level "Category One" Afghan interpreter on an unauthorized joyride outside the base which ended in a deadly shootout with Afghan National Security Forces at a checkpoint, the four soldiers told ABC News, including sources who knew the Special Forces operator and a senior officer who is familiar with details of the case.
"While off base, they were mistakenly engaged by Afghan forces," the senior officer said. "The interpreter died and the SF soldier was wounded... I believe the SF soldier was administratively separated from the Army as a result of this."
One soldier who knew the joyriding Special Forces soldiers said they were suspected of being high on hashish, a highly concentrated form of marijuana, which is a cash crop in Afghanistan. But blood test results were misplaced.
"They took his beret and gave him the boot," the soldier said.
The senior officer said the investigation did not turn up evidence of drug use, but acknowledged drugs and alcohol are often prevalent at many outposts, including Special Forces camps. Bales admitted to using steroids, which he claimed altered his mood.
"Pills are huge over there because they're so cheaply made in Pakistan," said the first soldier, whose background and knowledge was verified by other soldiers.
"It was certainly not unheard of in Vietnam," added Solis, a Vietnam veteran, referring to both substance abuse as well as troops walking off their combat bases. "In Afghanistan, there were so many outposts 'away from the flagpole' out in the countryside."
View Comments (4761)
- 01We have an obligation to listen to Bergdahl's story. I served in Vietnam as an infantryman in '69-70 with the 25th. Soldiers left their bases frequently, especially if they were near villages. Deserter? This guy was in the boonies of Afghanistan. Who was he going to desert to? He was certainly AWOL, but probably half of all soldiers go AWOL at some time in their tour, I certainly did. AWOL can just mean you're not where you're supposed to be, common Article 15 offense, no big deal. He certainly made a stupid choice and I bet he was immediately sorry he made it.
Question for Dialed In, Rung Sat was in IV Corps, The Hobos (I'm intimately familiar with them) was in III Corps, Parrots Beak (also familiar with it) was in Cambodia adjacent to III Corps, Laos was up in II and I Corps. What were you a traveling salesman?Reply - dapeck
188I remember my 3 tours in vietnam and how tired and fed up with everything you got. The rain, mud, heat, humidity. mosquitoes, bugs of all kinds, snakes, spiders of all sizes, officers, mortar attacks, snipers, patrols into the rung sat special zone, which was mostly swamp, fear, loneliness for family and loved ones, ambushes where they hit and run, and my job which was explosive ordinance disposal, which also included many varieties of booby traps as I was udt/eod and little treks on the different tributaries of the Mekong Delta river. After a while you just become rather numb to the whole mess and the last thing you worried about was the UCMJ or such crappola. I would have liked to desert and spend all my time in saigon with booze and women as my only concern, but I didn't.Expand Replies (27) Reply - Barb
12Another in a long line of MSM attempts to try and insulate Obama from the criticism he so richly deserve for this idiotic "Wag The Dog" prisoner swap. Other desertions or "walk aways" is irrelevant, they didn't involve prisoner swaps. Not to mention one of if not the primary reason he swapped such high level detainees is he actually is going to try and start negotiating with the Taliban and is dumb enough to think the swap will be viewed as a "Good Faith Gesture"Reply - Eugene R
121I served in Korea 52 to 53, during that conflict. The posts by service people who served in Nam, Afghanistan and stayed the course are to be commended. Korea was nowhere that bad. As I remember, I'm 80, the worst we had was the terrible, cold winters. I have discussed with members of my MCLD of the terrible conditions that existed in their conflicts (Nam, Afghanistan, Iraq) and, again, they are to be commended for doing the job even 2, 3, and 4 terms. SEMPER FIExpand Replies (7) Reply - Long Duck Dong
117a big THANK YOU to you dudes and dudettes who stayed the course and put yourself in harms way for my freedom. Seriously, I love you.
i read a few posts from those who served in vietnam and korea on this board, and they detail what its like to be in "the trenches" and they stayed the course. they held out through all of the bad times. Again, thank you for your service.
I know this post doesnt mean alot to you or anybody else, but there are people out there who appreciate what you do or have done.Expand Replies (1) Reply - Todd P
15It ridiculous how just about everyone acts these days when our fellow citizens are in harms way making difficult/life ending decisions on a daily basis. The fact that our gov is so screwed up, in house bickering, and just an overall abrasive country attitude, is embarrassing and we should be ashamed of ourselves. We are so much better than this. Watch lone survivor and then think about what choices they made without any hesitation but yet look at what happens here on a daily basis with the current administration/media/and just the overall "me first" attitude of our nation, you will have a different outlook and we can do better..A not big enough thank you goes out to all those who have or will serve, we love you and you have people that care. Our nations finest!!!!Expand Replies (3) Reply - Chief568
19We seem to have some confusion as to what constitutes AWOL and what constitutes Desertion. IF you are DUSTWUN, you are AWOL...which means no one knows where you are. This is given to someone who is missing for 1 - 30 days. AFTER 30 days, you designation is UPGRADED to Desertion.
Now, as far as I've been able to ascertain, his designation was never upgraded to POW...only Desertion. I could be wrong about this but that is what I have seen so far.
I further haven't seen as yet any charges or real physical proof he is a traitor. THAT will have to be determine in a military court.
But there is NO DOUBT that he IS in fact a deserter...at least unless/until his designation with the military changes. THAT much is clear.Expand Replies (4) Reply - AMERICAN MADE
112Why the hell are we even there? What the hell are we even trying to accomplish over there again? Bring 'em home, enough is enough. Our people keep dieing for what? To help people keep the peace? These are a people who will never know peace, yah know why? They don't want it and they never will want it! They fight for Allah and this is a god that does not want anything like peace! Allah want's you to pick up a gun and shoot someone or take a bomb and and blow some people up! Now does that sound like a God to you? Me nether! It sounds more like the devil to me! But to these people the word God is just another way of saying the devil ! I think the best way we could fight terrorism with these people is to send obama over there and then put a fence up around the country and don't let anyone out and that means obama too! If these people mean so much to obama then he can fight them! We have lost to many of our good people over there! If obama wants to waist his life that's ok with me! Or we can just drop a bomb on them and be done with them once and for all!Expand Replies (4) Reply - Old Vet
12Every Veteran who served under life threatening circumstances has thought of going AWOL. I did. I gave 4 years to the Submarine Service during the Cold War. All east coast submarines were used for espionage against the Soviets. We were never told in advance where we were going. I recall reporting back after leave to the USS Blenny at Sub Base New London. As I walked down the pier there were base welders topside, welding our escape hatches shut. Meanwhile a huge food handling party were loading a truck full of stores through the crews mess hatch. I instantly knew we were going somewhere very dangerous. I had been on these missions before and if you get caught the Secretary of the Navy will disavow any knowledge of your whereabouts. Comforting huh? Just for a moment I thought of falling off the gangway and maybe breaking a leg so I would have to be left in port. I'm not defending Bergdahl but it is something every veteran has thought of. - New Poll:
A solid majority of veterans surveyed in a new USA Today/Pew Research Center poll say President Barack Obama was "wrong" to trade Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five senior Taliban leaders. Overall, 68 percent of veterans condemn the trade while 16 percent said that it was the right decision. The research also showed that only 6 percent of veterans felt sympathy for Bergdahl, who has been accused by his own platoon of leaving his post before he was seized by the Taliban five years ago...
- By David Alexander and Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A closed-door congressional hearing on the release of Bowe Bergdahl failed to calm Republican anger on Tuesday over the administration's secretive deal to trade five Taliban leaders held at Guantanamo for the U.S. prisoner of war. But…Reuters
- KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Five American troops with a special operations unit were killed by a U.S. airstrike called in to help them after they were ambushed by the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, in one of the deadliest friendly fire incidents in nearly 14 years of war, officials said Tuesday.Associated Press
'The Daily Show' Explains Why Obama Got Fleeced on the Bowe Bergdahl Trade
According to a new poll, a majority of Americans agree that President Obama pretty much botched the Bowe Bergdahl rescue. So to help him out, The Daily Show laid out the way Obama should have brought the POW home. Most Americans believe Bergdahl did indeed deserve to be rescued – they just don't…The Atlantic Wire- Vets Say Drugs, Alcohol and Joyrides Behind Absences, But G.I.s Weren't DesertersABC News
When Bush Paid Terrorists a Ransom
Republicans are howling (with no proof) that Obama paid a ransom for Bowe Bergdahl’s freedom. Funny. They weren’t howling when Bush actually did it.The Daily Beast- A NATO air strike in Afghanistan killed five US soldiers in an apparent "friendly fire" accident during clashes with insurgents, officials said Tuesday, as troops try to ensure security for the presidential election. Local police and the Afghan army said that the US troops, as well as one Afghan…AFP
- A military officer in Afghanistan reports on how troops there have reacted to the news of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s release.The Daily Beast
How American history judges Bowe Bergdahl
AntwortenLöschenClaims made against the returned U.S. soldier need to be seen in light of our past
By Mark Perry 13 hours ago Yahoo News
When the movie “Patton” was released in 1970, in the midst of one of our most divisive wars, it thrilled American theatergoers. The account of our nation’s finest tank commander won seven academy awards, including best picture.
The movie opens with a reprise of George Patton’s legendary speech to the U.S. Third Army just before D-Day, in 1944. In his address, the full-throated Patton extolled the virtues of American manhood and the sanguine character of combat. His words brought howls of appreciation in 1944 — and have ever since.
“Men,” Patton said, “all this stuff you hear about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot of bullshit. Americans love to fight. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle.”
Was Patton right? Do we Americans love “the sting and clash of battle”?
The controversy over President Barack Obama’s swap of five Guantanamo detainees for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, held in Afghanistan as a Taliban prisoner since June 2009, places Patton’s claims in a new light, just as Bergdahl’s return has spurred questions about whether he is a hero, or should be put on trial for deserting his post. Claims that the search for Bergdahl might have resulted in as many as six U.S. combat deaths have deepened the controversy. And Bergdahl’s return has aroused impassioned criticism of Obama from his partisan opponents.
The Bergdahl controversy masks the difficulty all militaries have in defining when a soldier has deserted, or “just wandered off” — which might have been the case with Bergdahl. […]
In wartime, as Article 85 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice makes clear, desertion is punishable by death. […]
With the Civil War as its model, the Army created a Morale Division after the U.S. entered World War One. The unit’s commander later noted that explaining to recruits why they were fighting kept them on duty. A 1918 memo noted that many U.S. recruits “seemed unclear about the purpose of the war.” The division’s work had an effect: 5,584 men were charged with desertion during the conflict (the lowest rate of any U.S. war), and 2,657 were convicted — with no executions.
Explaining a war’s purpose is a significant factor in the Bergdahl case. His unit was isolated for long periods of time and fighting a conflict that was fast becoming an afterthought for the American people. In truth, most Americans didn’t even know that Bergdahl was being held by the Taliban until his release, a chilling commentary on America’s focus on the war.
LöschenWorld War Two was altogether different, because the line between being absent without leave, simply wandering off and desertion was blurred. The official figures (a 6.3 percent desertion rate at the war’s height, with just over 21,000 soldiers sentenced for the crime) don’t begin to tell the story. The “simply wandering off” problem was a significant factor in Europe in 1944, with thousands of soldiers “separated from their units” and living in the French countryside. For “separated from their units,” read “deserters.” A large number of these men were criminals, many of them rapists. Historian Max Hastings later described these wanderers as “a teeming horde” engaging in “a huge traffic in stolen military rations, fuel, equipment and even vehicles.”
To set an example, commander Dwight Eisenhower approved the execution of Pvt. Eddie Slovik, who’d signed a statement that he had willingly left his rifle unit. Combat frightened Slovik, who had hoped he would be sent to prison. But on January 31, 1945, Slovik was executed by a firing squad. Slovik, who had had run-ins with the law in his youth, faced his executioners with bravery, commenting that “they’re shooting me for the bread I stole when I was twelve years old.” It was the first execution carried out by the military since 1864. […]
“Vietnam was a mess,” a now-retired military lawyer who served during the conflict says. “The Long Binh jail was just filled with GIs who refused orders. And they were militant. When the war got controversial in America, it got controversial in Vietnam. Some soldiers were adamant about desertion, saying they would gladly sign the papers admitting to it, just to show how much they disagreed with what we were doing.” […]
Sadly, the case of Bowe Bergdahl does not provide a clear answer to the question of whether, in fact, George Patton was right. Do Americans love to fight? Do we love the sting and clash of battle? The controversy over Bergdahl shows that Americans remain undecided. But history’s judgment, at least in this case, seems certain — if unsatisfying. Some Americans welcome “the sting and clash of battle,” while a small but significant number of us, especially in the midst of our longest and most unpopular wars, don’t.
Mark Perry is a historian whose latest book is "The Most Dangerous Man. The Making of Douglas MacArthur."
http://news.yahoo.com/how-american-history-judges-bowe-bergdahl-193144130.html
Kriegskultur:
LöschenGeneral Patton wird verehrt fuer seine Fuehrungsqualitaeten im 2. Weltkrieg ("All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle”; s.o.). Aber er war auch ein Bewunderer der SS.
"Auch General Patton war ein Anhaenger der Eugenik und Bewunderer der SS. Die Wochenzeitung Juedische Allgemeine berichtete. In dem Artikel ist von einer “schwachen Aufarbeitungskultur” im Umgang mit der Geschichte des Nazi-Sympathisantentums in den USA die Rede. Diesen Begriff verwendete der Kriminologe Anthony Platt. Zusammen mit der Historikerin Cecilia O’Leary war er der Frage nachgegangen, warum Patton in Eichstaett sichergestellte Dokumente ueber die “Nuernberger Gesetze” nicht als Beweismaterial fuer die Kriegsverbrecherprozesse uebergab, sondern in der von einem Bekannten gegruendeten Huntington-Bibliothek in Kalifornien unter Verschluss halten liess."
http://zettelmaus.blogspot.com/2012/05/was-hat-mckiernan-wirklich-gesagt.html
FOCUS online
AntwortenLöschenNach dem Gefangenen-Austausch
Das sind die fünf Taliban, die Obama freiließ
Die überwiegend hochrangigen Taliban-Mitglieder wurden aufgrund ihrer hohen Position, nicht aber wegen ihrer Verbindungen zu Al-Qaida, recht früh während des Krieges in Afghanistan inhaftiert, berichtet die "Dailymail".
Mohammad Fazl vermutlich für Massenmorde verantwortlich
Human Rights Watch erklärt, Mohammad Fazl könne wegen seiner Verantwortung für mehrere Massenmorde an schiitischen Muslimen in Afghanistan im Jahr 2000 und 2001 belangt werden, mit denen die Taliban versuchten, das Land unter ihre Kontrolle zu bringen.
Der 47-Jährige war im Taliban-Regime stellvertretender Verteidigungsminister und ist vermutlich der bedeutendste unter den fünf freigelassenen Gefangenen. Er war der Stabschef der Taliban-Armee während der US-Invasion im Jahr 2001.
Khairullah Khairkhwa "dirket mit Osama bin Laden verbunden"
Khairullah Khairkhwa,war ebenfalls an einer Häftlingsrevolte gegen US-Wärter beteiligt, die hunderte Gefangene das Leben kostete. Seiner U.S. Regierungsakte zufolge, wird Fazl „wahrscheinlich zu den Taliban zurückkehren“ und „die Kampfhandlungen gegen die USA und verbündete Kräfte fortsetzen“.
Khairkhwa ist ebenfalls um die 47 Jahre alt. Er half, die Taliban 1994 zu gründen und arbeitete als Innenminister und Gouverneur der Provinz Herat. Seiner Guantanamo-Akte zufolge war er mit Osama bin Laden und Mullah Mohammed Omar, dem obersten Befehlshaber der Taliban, „direkt verbunden“ und außerdem „einer der größten Opiumhändler im westlichen Taliban.“
Mullah Norullah Noori zeigte keine Reue
Mullah Norullah Noori, der ungefähr im selben Alter ist, war als Taliban-Militärkommandeur während der US-Invasion im Norden der Stadt Mazar-i-Sharif stationiert. Genau wie Fazl war er an dem Massenmord von tausendenden afghanischen Schiiten beteiligt, der den Taliban zugeschrieben wird. In seiner Haftakte heißt es: “Als er zu den Morden befragt wurde, zeigte Noori kein Zeichen von Reue und gab an, sie hätten getan, was zu tun gewesen wäre um den idealen Staat zu errichten.”
Mohammed Nabi diente als Sicherheitschef der Taliban in Qalat, Afghanistan, und arbeitete später als Funker für das Kommunikationsbüro der Taliban in Kabul.
Abdul Haq Wasiq war der stellvertretende Geheimdienstminister im Regime der Taliban.
http://www.focus.de/politik/ausland/nach-dem-gefangenen-austausch-das-sind-die-fuenf-entlassenen-taliban_id_3889127.html
Andy Worthington
LöschenThe “Taliban Five” and the Forgotten Afghan Prisoners in Guantánamo 23.3.12
"[...] on January 5 [2012], it was revealed that another key element of the negotiations was [...] a prisoner swap involving the five men being released in exchange for Bowe Bergdahl, a 25-year-old US Army sergeant from Hailey, Idaho, who was taken prisoner on June 30, 2009 in Afghanistan. However, after an initial flurry of interest, this aspect of the story inexplicably retreated from view, so that, on February 11, when the Wall Street Journal published profiles of the five men said to be the object of negotiations, Bergdahl was not mentioned at all, and the article simply asked “why the US would trade anyone in exchange for nothing more than a Taliban promise to talk.” [...]
Despite this, the negotiations seemed to be proceeding smoothly. On March 10, the day after the US and the Karzai government signed a historic deal intended to secure the transfer of the Parwan detention facility (formerly known as Bagram) to Afghan control as part of the US withdrawal planned for 2014, it was reported that the five Taliban leaders at Guantánamo had told a visiting Afghan delegation they agreed to a transfer to Qatar, “under conditions that are less secure and less restrictive than at Guantánamo,” as the Associated Press described it, and which, at the prisoners’ request, would also allow them to be reunited with their families. Although there was opposition from some quarters in the US, it seemed, for a few days, that a deal was possible, but then, last Thursday, the Taliban suspended negotiations with the US after it emerged that, on Sunday March 11, a lone gunman, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, had gone on a rampage and had shot dead 16 civilians, including nine children. [...]
What will happen now is unknown, but Bowe Bergdahl remains a prisoner of the Taliban, and President Obama also needs to resume negotiations with the Taliban if the US is to have any chance of leaving Afghanistan in anything resembling an orderly manner. Moreover, although I have no desire to see dangerous men released from Guantánamo without adequate supervision, this does not seem to be the plan [...]
However, what is also of interest, as an example of the many distortions engendered by Guantánamo, is the fact that there are 12 other Afghans at Guantánamo — none of whom are regarded as being as significant as the men mentioned above — but who will continue to be held, possibly forever, even if successful negotiations involving their more significant compatriots resume. [...]
They include three men who, along with Khairullah Khairkhwa, have lost their habeas corpus petitions — although none of the three can seriously be regarded as a threat. [...]
The first of the three, Shawali Khan, whose habeas petition was denied in September 2010, was a shopkeeper, who seems, quite clearly, to have been falsely portrayed as an insurgent by an informant who received payment for doing so. [...]
http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2012/03/23/the-taliban-five-and-the-forgotten-afghan-prisoners-in-guantanamo/
"The young Khairkhwa had been trained during the US sponsored war against the pro Russians government in Afghanistan, in a religious school at the border with Pakistan.
LöschenAt that time, Osama Bin Laden was openly an instrument of the “Muslim Fundamentalism Card” strategy of Brzezinski, the National Security adviser of President Carter. In the context of this anti Russian alliance with the Mujahedeen/ freedom fighters embraced by President Ronald Reagan, young Afghani were sent to a series of western financed Wahhabi fundamentalist religious school located in Pakistan along the borders with Afghanistan. Talib. Here under Western and Pakistani intelligence sponsorship the future Taliban leadership (such as Khairkhwa) was created. That dossier also says he likely participated in meetings with Iranian officials after 9-11 to help plot attacks on U.S. forces following the invasion."
http://williambowles.info/2014/06/05/re-shaping-the-taliban-leadership-sustaining-americas-war-on-terrorism-by-umberto-pascali/
Gefangenen-Austausch schon laenger im Gespraech
Löschen20. Juni 2013
"Die afghanischen Taliban bieten den USA den Austausch eines seit 2009 gefangenen US-Soldaten gegen fünf in Guantánamo einsitzende ranghohe Taliban an. Das sagte ein Sprecher der radikalislamischen Aufständischen, Schahin Suhail, der Nachrichtenagentur AP in dem kürzlich eröffneten Taliban-Büro in Doha, der Hauptstadt des Golf-Emirats Katar.
Der gefangen gehaltene US-Soldat Bowe Bergdahl befinde sich "in guter Verfassung, soweit ich weiß", sagte Suhail. Zunächst müssten die Guantánamo-Häftlinge freigelassen werden, danach wollten die Taliban "Brücken des Vertrauens" bauen. Bergdahl war am 30. Juni 2009 im Osten Afghanistans verschwunden, sein derzeitiger Aufenthaltsort ist unklar."
http://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2013-06/taliban-guantanamo-usa-afghanistan-gefangene
ZEIT online
Löschen18. Juni 2013
US-Gefangenenlager
Pentagon benennt erstmals alle Guantánamo-Häftlinge
Wer sitzt im US-Gefangenenlager auf Kuba? Lange blockierte das Pentagon jede Veröffentlichung. Nun war die Klage zweier Zeitungen erfolgreich.
Die US-Regierung hat erstmals die Namen aller 166 Häftlinge des umstrittenen Gefangenenlagers Guantánamo auf Kuba veröffentlicht. Zu verdanken ist das den Zeitungen New York Times und The Miami Herald. Sie hatten Anträge zur Preisgabe der Namen gestellt und sich dabei auf die Informationsfreiheit berufen.
Auf der Liste finden sich auch die Namen derjenigen 46 Häftlinge, die ohne einen Prozess auf bestimmte Zeit festgehalten werden sollen. Das Pentagon stufte sie als "unbefristete Häftlinge" ein, als Terror-Verdächtige, die zu gefährlich seien, um sie freizulassen. Nach Einschätzung von Behördenvertretern können sie auch nicht vor Gericht gestellt werden, weil sie mit brutalen Verhörmethoden befragt worden waren und die daraus gewonnenen Erkenntnisse nicht vor Gericht verwendet werden können. Dazu zählt etwa das als Folter angesehene Waterboarding, bei dem der Betroffene das Gefühl hat zu ertrinken.
Bei den "unbefristeten Häftlingen" handelt es sich laut der Pentagon-Liste um 26 Jemeniten, zehn Afghanen, drei Menschen aus Saudi-Arabien, zwei aus Kuwait, zwei Libyer, einen Kenianer, einen Marokkaner und einen Somalier. Zwei weitere Gefangene aus Afghanistan starben: einer durch Selbstmord und der andere an einem Herzanfall. Die Einstufung der "unbefristeten Häftlinge" hatte Anfang 2010 eine Arbeitsgruppe vorgenommen, die Präsident Barack Obama eingesetzt hatte. [...]
http://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2013-06/Guantanamo-Gefangenenlager-USA-Obama
War fatigue
AntwortenLöschenWhat happens when America is at war and no one is paying attention?
by David W. Brown on June 8, 2014
[...] The war goes on, and it is like the background noise in a restaurant. As long as nothing disrupts the murmur, we hardly take notice. But just as when a waiter drops a water glass, we notice when the noise has changed, and we start to listen. We turn and look and ask what happened, who did it, how did it happen, and was the glass full. A rescued prisoner of war is such a disruption — how many people knew that there was a POW to rescue in the first place?
Consider three well-known events in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that caught our attention. When Private First Class Jessica Lynch was reported missing in action in 2003, a photograph of in her woodland camouflage uniform, a hint of yellow hair peeking from her cap, an American flag for a backdrop became an arresting image of the war in Iraq. She was not the image of an M.I.A. we'd grown up with, and yet she somehow seemed to come from central casting as the new face of all-American tenacity. She was a member of Future Farmers of America and was voted Miss Congeniality at the county fair. Her father told reporters that she said about the Iraq War, "We need to do it. I'm not afraid to do it."
One week after her capture, U.S. Central Command announced the "successful rescue mission of a U.S. Army prisoner of war held captive in Iraq" and confirmed that the soldier in question was PFC Lynch. Six days later, she was on the front of Newsweek under the main cover line Saving Private Lynch. The piece described the special operations mission as a "bold raid" resulting in "the first U.S. prisoner to be rescued from behind enemy lines since World War II." She was found in the hospital "hiding in her bed." She was flown to a military hospital in Germany where surgeons reported that she had not been shot, and later amended their statement to say, no, she had been shot.
The Washington Post quoted an unnamed U.S. official who said at the time of Lynch's capture she "was fighting to the death," and that she "did not want to be taken alive." She emptied her rifle on Iraqi soldiers "even after she sustained multiple gunshot wounds." The Iraqis descended on her bloodied body and stabbed her. After U.S. Central Command released images of the rescue, they added gravely, "Some brave souls put their lives on the line to make this happen, loyal to a creed that they know that they'll never leave a fallen comrade."
Months later the story was questioned — though long after the war effort had reaped publicity of inestimable value. In the end we learned that Jessica Lynch had not been stabbed. She had not been shot. She never fired her rifle because it was jammed. U.S. commandos stormed the hospital but met no resistance because there was no resistance. One Iraqi doctor present described it as a Rambo movie. "But we were not Rambo," he said. "We just waited to be told what to do." This is a far cry from a quote in Time in which an officer said, quite preposterously, "It was like Black Hawk Down except nothing went wrong."
Lynch later said of the exaggerated story of her rescue: "Yeah, I don't think it happened quite like that." [...]
[Football star Pat] Tillman's was thus more than a story of heroism. A Silver Star Medal made his heroism an indisputable fact. So the following year, when the Army revealed that he hadn't been killed by al-Qaeda fighters, but by his fellow Rangers in an act of fratricide, and that the Army knew the truth within days of Tillman's death, public outrage was justified. The false narrative was not the result of the fog of war, but rather, an extensive cover-up by commanders and soldiers on the ground, and a misinformation campaign by general officers. Two years after his son's death, Tillman's father, Patrick, went public with the Army's continued obfuscations. "All I asked for is what happened to my son, and it has been lie after lie after lie." Even, it seems, when the Army told the truth, it was telling a lie. The Afghan soldier killed in the firefight was fighting alongside the Rangers. [...]
LöschenMost of the negative aspects of the Bergdahl story were already publicly available thanks largely to Michael Hastings's reporting for Rolling Stone in 2012. Bergdahl's opinions were there for everyone to see. He was "ashamed to even be american" who felt "the title of US soldier is just the lie of fools" and told by an army that is "the biggest joke in the world." Had the public demonstrated true interest in the war effort, they wouldn't have been surprised by the news that he may have deserted. After all, in Bergdahl's own words, "The horror that is america is disgusting." [...]
The Defense Department confirmed last year that service members were killing themselves at a rate of one every 18 hours. Mental health services by the VA presently suffer severe delays, staffing shortages, mismanagement, and few protections for whistleblowers who might otherwise identify the root causes of the system's problems. Meanwhile, as of last year, of the roughly 2 million veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq, nearly 50,000 were homeless or at risk of homelessness. These are terrible problems on top of the already catastrophic situation uncovered at VA hospitals across the country.
This new reality for returning veterans is horrible in a way different from war, but just as pressing. [...]
http://www.vox.com/2014/6/8/5788788/bowe-bergdahl-war-when-no-one-is-paying-attention
07.06.2014
AntwortenLöschen"War er es wert?"
Kontroverse um befreiten US-Soldaten Bergdahl
Der US-Soldat Bowe Bergdahl ist nach einem CNN-Bericht während seiner fünfjährigen Gefangenschaft durch die Taliban misshandelt worden. Er leide an einem seelischen Trauma, berichtete der Nachrichtensender am Freitag. Ehemalige Kameraden jedoch bezeichnen ihn als "Deserteur" und fordern den Prozess vor einem Militärgericht. So fragt das renommierte "Time Magazine" ob es der Tausch "wert gewesen sei".
Bergdahl war vor einer Woche im Austausch für fünf Terrorverdächtige aus dem Gefangenenlager Guantanamo Bay freigekommen. Seitdem wird er im Landstuhl Regional Medical Centre in Deutschland, dem größten US-Krankenhaus außerhalb der USA, medizinisch und psychologisch behandelt. Bergdahl habe während seiner Gefangenschaft versucht zu fliehen, sei aber gefasst und anschließend in eine Art Käfig gesperrt worden, berichtete CNN unter Berufung auf seinen Informanten.
Kameraden üben scharfe Kritik
Der Gefangenenaustausch hatte in den USA eine Kontroverse ausgelöst - auch weil Kameraden Bergdahl vorwerfen, er sei ein Deserteur. Die US-Regierung hat bereits angekündigt, die Vorwürfe prüfen zu wollen.
Präsident Barack Obama war zudem kritisiert worden, den Austausch ohne Rücksprache mit dem Kongress veranlasst zu haben. US-Verteidigungsminister Chuck Hagel hatte die Aktion kürzlich in einem Interview mit der Aussage verteidigt, es habe Gefahr für Leib und Leben des Soldaten bestanden. Diese Argumentation werde durch die neuesten Informationen über den Zustand Bergdahls gestützt, schrieb CNN.
Am Freitag hatte das behandelnde Militärkrankenhaus in Landstuhl mitgeteilt, es gehe dem Soldaten von Tag zu Tag besser. Sein Zustand sei stabil, es gebe Anzeichen der Besserung, berichtete das Regional Medical Centre (LRMC). Der 28-Jährige sei aber noch nicht bereit für eine Rückkehr in die USA, hieß es weiter.
http://www.heute.at/news/welt/art23661,1026612
Held oder Verraeter?
AntwortenLöschenIn den USA herrscht grosse Aufregung darueber, dass der ausgeloeste US Soldat und Taliban-Gefangene Bergdahl sich vor seinem Verschwinden kritisch ueber das US Engagement in Afghanistan geaeussert hatte. Er werde als Held behandelt, sei aber ein Verraeter, ist vielfach zu lessen. Aber kritische Auesserungen von Koalitions-Soldaten in Afghanistan und Irak sind keine Seltenheit.
Das genaue Datum des Artikels in der Londoner Daily Mail, aus dem der Auszug unten entnommen ist, konnte ich nicht feststellen; er stammt jedenfalls aus der Aera Toni Blair. Die Daily Mail wagte es seinerzeit, zu berichten, dass ein im Irak getoeteter Soldat Zweifel am Sinn des Einsatzes geaeussert haben soll.
Dead Black Watch soldier 'did not believe in war'
One of three Black Watch soldiers tragically killed in a suicide bomb attack in Iraq's 'triangle of death' did not believe in the war, his brother has revealed.
Private Paul Lowe, aged 19, died in an ambush just days after the regiment began its controversial deployment to support US troops near Baghdad.
His younger brother Craig, 18, who had also served in Basra, paid tribute to his "brilliant brother, comrade and friend", who loved his job but did not believe he should have been in Iraq.
He told the Scottish Press Association: "I don't think he thought about the dangers, he just kept his chin up.
"He thought they shouldn't be there, they should all just be back here because it's a war which nobody knows why it was started or what it was done for."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-324872/Dead-Black-Watch-soldier-did-believe-war.html#ixzz34TTzAh6P
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AntwortenLöschen"Our Team
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http://capitolmediapartners.com/
"The evidence is the Taliban themselves saying they 'treated him well' during his captivity. Normally, we call that fraternizing with the enemy."
AntwortenLöschenhttp://www.usmessageboard.com/politics/361624-army-clears-bowe-bergdahl-of-misconduct-really-3.html
"If charged with desertion, Bergdahl could face court-martial, prison, and even the death penalty."
AntwortenLöschenhttp://www.usmessageboard.com/politics/361624-army-clears-bowe-bergdahl-of-misconduct-really-3.html
Military selects rarely used charge for Bergdahl case
AntwortenLöschenBy JONATHAN DREW, Associated Press
TODAY
RALEIGH, N.C. — Military prosecutors have reached into a section of military law seldom used since World War II in the politically fraught case against Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier held prisoner for years by the Taliban after leaving his post in Afghanistan.
Observers wondered for months if Bergdahl would be charged with desertion after the deal brokered by the U.S. to bring him home. He was — but he was also charged with misbehavior before the enemy, a much rarer offense that carries a stiffer potential penalty in this case.
"I've never seen it charged," Walter Huffman, a retired major general who served as the Army's top lawyer, said of the misbehavior charge. "It's not something you find in common everyday practice in the military."
Bergdahl could face a life sentence if convicted of the charge, which accuses him of endangering fellow soldiers when he "left without authority; and wrongfully caused search and recovery operations." ...
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/military-selects-rarely-used-charge-for-bergdahl-case/ar-AAe2cJE?li=BBgzzfc&ocid=iehp
Jessica Lynch: Wie ein Arzt die Befreiung der schönen Soldatin erlebte
AntwortenLöschen16.04.2003
US-Präsident Bush war begeistert. Mutige Marines hatten die Soldatin Jessica Lynch in einer gefährlichen Nacht-und-Nebel-Aktion aus einem irakischen Krankenhaus befreit - so die Darstellung des Pentagon. Irakische Ärzte erzählen jetzt eine ganz andere Geschichte. ...
http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/jessica-lynch-wie-ein-arzt-die-befreiung-der-schoenen-soldatin-erlebte-a-245230.html
... Blacking out for three hours, she awakes in an Iraqi hospital where the tensions of war coupled with a lack of resources and a language and culture barrier make for a harrowing stay even as numerous medical personnel defy their own military to protect her and save her life. Finally, American troops captured Nasiriyah, kicked down the hospital doors (even as hospital workers tried to give them a master key) and airlifted Lynch out.
Löschenhttp://www.amazon.com/Am-Soldier-Too-Jessica-Lynch/dp/1400077478
Ex-soldier upset by no jail time recommendation for Bergdahl
AntwortenLöschenOct. 11, 2015
By JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press
HOUSTON — A former member of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's platoon said Sunday he's angered by an Army officer's recommendation that Bergdahl face a lower-level court martial and be spared the possibility of jail time for leaving his post in Afghanistan.
Josh Korder, an ex-U.S. Army sergeant, said Bergdahl should face life imprisonment because he holds him responsible for several deaths that occurred after Bergdahl abandoned his post in 2009, leaving his platoon in Blackfoot Company.
"Was it during the search for Bergdahl that we lost men in Blackfoot company? No. But was it as a result of that search and as a result of him leaving that we lost members of Blackfoot company? Yes," Korder said in a telephone interview. ...
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ex-soldier-upset-by-no-jail-time-recommendation-for-bergdahl/ar-AAfljDy?li=BBgzzfc&ocid=iehp
Ein Plaidoyer fuer Folter ("Eiserne Jungfrau" fuer Bowe Bergdahl)
AntwortenLöschenJoseph Cummings
2/20/2016 4:01 AM GMT+0300
Send him to the Iron Maiden!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/02/19/bowe-bergdahls-mental-disorder-identified-in-new-serial-podcast-episode/
Bergdahl glaubte, sein Kommandeur wolle die Einheit in eine Selbstmord-Mission schicken.
AntwortenLöschenAus
Stars and Stripes | Feb 19, 2016 | by Nancy Montgomery
Bowe Bergdahl's belief about his brigade commander was a paranoid symptom of his "schizotypal personality disorder," a serious mental health condition diagnosed last year by an Army psychiatrist, the podcast "Serial" revealed on its Friday program. ...
Bergdahl told officials that he planned to hike 20 miles to a larger base to report what he viewed as his commander's dangerous leadership. Bergdahl had concluded, after the men had been reprimanded for a photograph taken out of uniform, that the commander might send them on a suicide mission because they'd made him look bad. ...
The psychiatrist's diagnosis was alluded to in the U.S. Army sergeant's preliminary hearing on desertion and misconduct charges in September, when his lawyers discussed what they called an unspecified "severe mental disease or defect." ...
Screenwriter Mark Boal, who taped some 25 hours of interviews with Bergdahl, told Koenig that the soldier's diagnosed personality disorder should not obscure what he regarded as Bergdahl's legitimate criticisms of the Army and his virtuous if quixotic intentions. Of course his commander wasn't planning to send his soldiers on a suicide mission, Boal said, but he had put their lives at risk to retrieve a piece of equipment. ...
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/02/19/serial-podcast-bergdahl-feared-his-commander-might-kill-him.html
Als Kameraden (verbunden mit anderen Missionen) nach ihm suchten, hatten ihn die Taliban schon laengst nach Pakistan gebracht
AntwortenLöschenWhat the 'Serial' Podcast Revealed About Ex-Taliban Captive Bowe Bergdahl
By ANNA BRADLEE and SARAH KOLINOVSKY
April 1, 2016
Good Morning America
... His court martial was scheduled for August, but the case is currently on hold, as the Army appeals court reviews a complaint filed by the prosecution about access to classified materials granted to Bergdahl’s defense team by the presiding judge in the case. ...
In the military, "DUSTWUN" stands for "Duty Status -- Whereabouts Unknown." This title sets the scene for the question that will be the core of the entire season: Why did Bergdahl leave his post in Afghanistan in 2009?
He intended to walk to a nearby base to report problems he perceived in his unit, according to Bergdahl. "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.
But Bergdahl admits that he also wanted to be seen as a fictional Jason Bourne-like character. "I had this fantastic idea that I was going to prove to the world that, you know, I was the real thing," he said. "I was trying to prove to the world, to anybody who used to know me, that I was capable of, you know, being that person." ...
His captors waited several days before they took him across the border [to Pakistan].
As the search for Bergdahl continued, tensions among his platoon mates grew. With fellow soldiers telling Koenig in an interview that they legitimately might have shot or killed him if they had found him, it became clear they were angered and confused by their predicament.
The U.S. Special Operations forces looking for him took great risks, conducting daytime operations, going on missions with little to no planning, forgoing sleep and more. It became clear that the open-ended nature of the mission was really difficult and a source of frustration for the soldiers. ...
The root of this reckoning lies in the alleged six soldiers, and possibly others, who were killed on duty while looking for Bergdahl. While this still has yet to be conclusively proven, Koenig described the development of this idea transitioning from “the realm of the murky” into “concrete information” as it was backed by media platforms and unquestioned by the Department of Defense. ...
The episode took an interesting turn when Koenig presented a concerning bit of information: According to the narrator and her research team, it was clear to some members of the military after the first two weeks Bergdahl was captured that he was in Pakistan.
Command Sgt. Maj. Kenneth Wolf, who was the highest NCO in Bowe’s battalion at the time and who, according to Koenig, has “no love lost” for the soldier, told Koenig he wanted to make one thing clear: “The families who lost sons during this deployment, to let them know their sons did not die looking for PFC Bergdahl. Their sons didn’t die looking for him.... Because all you’ve got to do is look at a map and look at a time frame.” In his mind, Bergdahl was already in Pakistan.
Why then, were the search and rescue efforts only being conducted in Afghanistan? For one, the U.S. military did not have authority to operate in Pakistan. But it was also because of the "no one left behind" mentality. Of course they would keep searching for any sign of him. ...
https://gma.yahoo.com/serial-season-2-first-4-episodes-reveal-ex-205757125--abc-news-topstories.html