U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton gave an early Christmas gift to a former soldier and Taliban “captive” Bowe Bergdahl.
First deserting his unit claiming “poor leadership” forced him to flee the base one night, and claiming he was trying to get to another to report it, he alleged he was captured by members of the Taliban. This resulted in him being held for five years by his captors. In the meantime, numerous members of his unit were wounded or killed trying to find intel about his whereabouts. His parents were told he was likely not coming home.
Then the truth started spilling out. Bergdahl wasn’t a soldier. He had not yet adapted to the Army way of life and was still looking for the coddling and comforts of home. He couldn’t come to terms and ran off. Yet five years later, President Obama was happy to swap him for five Taliban commanders who had been held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. These weren’t basic insurgents either; these men were masterminds and behind some very deadly attacks.
Yet he made the switch.
Charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, Bergdahl pleaded guilty to both charges. Prosecutors asked for 14 years for him, a light term for such horrific and costly charges. Yet his ‘evidence’ of torture allowed him to be dishonorably discharged and ordered to forfeit $10,000 in pay.
Now Walton has overturned all of this. He claims that military judge Jeffrey Nance who presided over the court’s martial was trying to get a position as an immigration judge. Given how vocal President Trump was in the Bergdahl case, Walton claimed it could have caused Nance to have a bias in the case but stopped short of saying by how much. Military appeals courts had previously held up his convictions.
Bowe Bergdahl is one of the only servicembers to be considered both a POW and a deserter. His claims of torture might have won him points with the liberal left, but to anyone who has ever worn the uniform with honor, he is a disgrace. He could have been left in Afghanistan, honestly.
