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The odd case of Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl got even weirder during his Article 32 hearing conducted by Army officials Thursday and Friday last week. The Article 32 procedure is the military equivalent of a civilian grand jury, except that the accused has quite a few more rights. Unlike a typical grand jury, the Article 32 is presented before a single hearing officer, not held in secret, allows defense counsel to be present and to cross-examine witnesses, and to call their own. All of this occurred at Bergdahl’s hearing. Army prosecutors called Bergdahl’s immediate chain of command to testify. They...

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The commanders of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's platoon, company and battalion testified Thursday that his disappearance from his post in Afghanistan six years ago put a strain on their forces and put his fellow soldiers in danger.

HOUSTON – Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's commanding officer said Thursday that his platoon was left "emotionally busted" by the physically and emotionally draining search for Bergdahl after he went missing from their post in Afghanistan six years ago. Testifying at the outset of an Article 32 hearing to determine if Bergdahl should face a military trial on desertion and other charges, Capt. John Billings described the weeks of searching for the Idaho native, often on little food or sleep and in temperatures in the high 90s. "Physically, mentally I was defeated," Billings said, adding that he felt like he had...

HOUSTON — Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is scheduled to appear Thursday at a military preliminary hearing that could provide the first revealing glimpse into his capture six years ago by Afghan Taliban forces and his return to the United States in a controversial prisoner swap that linked his fate with President Barack Obama's legacy. Bergdahl, 29, of Hailey, Idaho, was charged with desertion and "misbehavior before the enemy" after disappearing from his post in eastern Afghanistan. If Bergdahl's case goes to court-martial and he is convicted of the more serious misbehavior charge, he faces a potential life sentence. At Thursday's...

Former Navy SEAL Jimmy Hatch says Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl “needs to know how much was risked” to try to save him after he was captured by the Taliban. “I want that kid to have his day in court, because he’s an American, and he’s got that coming,” Hatch said in an interview on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” on Friday. Bergdahl, who allegedly walked off of his eastern Afghanistan base in June 2009, has been charged with one count of desertion and one count of misbehavior before the enemy. Hatch dismissed the notion that Bergdahl had “suffered enough” for...

full title...Former Taliban captive Bowe Bergdahl hit with charge that has rarely been used since WWII and could mean life behind barsMilitary 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. Earlier this year Bergdahl was charged with desertion after the deal brokered by the United States to bring him home. And now he has also been charged with misbehavior before the enemy, a much rarer offense that carries...

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.

Trump Says Bowe Bergdahl Is A "Traitor," MSNBC Host Chris Hayes Cuts In And Corrects Him GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump reminds us about deserter Bowe Bergdahl, who the president traded for several prisoners from Guantanamo Bay. CHRIS HAYES, MSNBC: Just so we're clear here, Sergeant Bergdahl is not being prosecuted for treason, he is prosecuted for desertion. The Army prosecutor is planning on presenting no evidence that six people died in looking for Sergeant Bergdahl.

In a darkened Iraqi suburb, Christmas Eve, 2006, a team of Navy SEALs moved quietly into position outside the home of a man known for training suicide bombers. The operation that night wasn’t unlike hundreds of others carried out by Naval Special Warfare Development Group during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But it’s one Jimmy Hatch won’t ever forget. He’d later learn that no amount of alcohol could erase the memory. It was chilly, not quite cold enough to see your breath. As the operators prepared to raid the home, a husky man popped his head out of an...

He was charged March 25 with one count of desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty, and one count of misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command, unit or place. The Sheriff said "Bergdahl was "above politeness" as several people from the home where Bergdahl was visiting were taken into custody". Bowe Bergdahl, the Army soldier-turned-prisoner who was released by the Taliban after President Barack Obama released five terrorists from the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, was unexpectedly spotted at a California marijuana farm this week. Bergdahl, who is awaiting military court martial,...

Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. soldier who was released in a prisoner exchange in Afghanistan for five Taliban detainees, wound up in the middle of a pot raid earlier this week in northern California. Captian Greg Van Patten with the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office told Fox News Thursday that the county’s marijuana eradication team encountered Bergdahl on Tuesday while serving a search warrant on a home in Redwood City, Calif.

Bowe Bergdahl — the once-missing U.S. soldier in Afghanistan who was accused of desertion — was spotted hanging out at a Mendocino County marijuana farm during a raid. According to the The Anderson Valley Advertiser, Bergdahl was an "unexpected visitor" in Mendocino County, where he was visiting old friends when the "local dope team arrived on a marijuana raid." Bergdahl arrived Friday at the farm, which is located in a remote part of Redwood Valley. Bergdahl, who is awaiting military court martial, had an Army pass allowing him to be in Mendocino County, the Advertiser reported, adding he was "not...

What’s going on with young American men? Another mass shooting has led to another round of social and political recriminations. A young man—a “loner” and “adrift,” as usual—seizes a vile cause and attacks innocent people. Amidst the wreckage, we look for reasons that already fit our preconceptions about violence, and we blame racism, guns, unemployment, drugs, a bad family, or whatever else helps us to make sense of the tragedy. But the truth of the matter is that Dylann Roof (at least from what we know) isn’t that different from so many other young, mostly white men over the past...

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was apparently “high” with a small group of Afghan soldiers when they were picked up by nomads in 2009, according to a former CIA operative who was running a network of informants on the ground. The information brings some additional detail to the otherwise murky picture of the circumstances of Bergdahl’s disappearance and capture, five years before the Obama administration traded five Guantanamo prisoners for Bergdahl’s freedom. The former CIA operative told Fox News Bergdahl was captured along with others, and sold to the Haqqani terrorist network in Pakistan within four days. “The call came in and...

Last Thursday, the Army announced it will delay the Article 32 hearing for Bowe Bergdahl, from July 8 to Sept. 17th. The delay was granted at the request of Bergdahl’s lawyers. Last March the Army charged Bergdahl with one count of desertion to avoid hazardous duty and misbehavior before the enemy. The misbehavior charge carried the claims that Bergdahl’s actions endangered his unit and soldiers died looking for the alleged deserter. It is very likely that defense lawyers and Army JAGs are negotiating a possible plea deal. The delay request was approved because the defense team claimed it was necessary...

Fox News is reporting that the Obama administration actually tried to recruit the Taliban Five, the Gitmo detainees who were released to Qatar by Obama in exchange for the traitor Bo Bergdahl. They wanted to get these Islamo-Nazis on our side in hopes of getting intel from them as well as a way of keeping up with them or something. But that effort failed miserably, according to Fox News. They had to know this wouldn’t work. Honestly, this just sounds like the Obama administration trying to save a little face because they shouldn’t have released them in the first place....

<p>Come Monday, the five senior Taliban officials sprung from Guantanamo in the trade for accused Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl, could all be walking free.</p> <p>Free to rejoin their terrorist comrades in jihad against America — as at least three of them reportedly have already tried to do.</p>

WASHINGTON – Qatar has agreed to temporarily extend travel bans on five senior Taliban leaders released last year from the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, a senior U.S. official said on Sunday. The official said the ban would remain in place until diplomatic talks for a longer-term solution are completed. The restrictions had been due to expire on Monday under a May 2014 exchange for Bergdahl. U.S. officials said Friday the Obama administration was closing in on an agreement with Qatar to extend the restrictions for six months that could be announced this weekend....

ISLAMABAD - A travel ban on five senior Afghan Taliban officials freed by the United States in a prisoner exchange last year will expire Sunday. The five Taliban officials have been in Qatar since last year, when they were released in exchange for the return of an American soldier held by insurgents in Afghanistan for nearly five years. The approaching end of the travel ban has concerned American lawmakers and Afghan peace negotiators who worry that the former Taliban fighters will return to the battlefield in strife-torn Afghanistan. U.S. government officials said they remain in close contact with authorities in...

According to a new report from Fox News' Catherine Herridge, teammates of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements years ago after discussing his desertion with the Joint Chiefs Chairman in Afghanistan. According to Herridge's reporting and General Bob Scales, asking soldiers to sign non-disclosure agreements is unprecedented. "I can't remember, ever, have an enlisted soldier sign a non-disclosure agreement for anything. This is completely unprecedented," Scales said. "These non-disclosure agreements have got nothing to do with military justice." Further, new information shows Bergdahl not only deserted, but started planning for his departure by sleeping on the...