Page 558 - Captivity News Today

The taliban looked at this and they were -- it almost seemed disappointed in the fact that they didnt get to spend more time with the american soldiers who were coming to take sergeant bergdahl from captivity. its almost as if they wanted to have a little bit more of a discussion about things. shake hands for a longer period, things like that. it was very interesting to note their commentary which was, hey, theyre here, they took him, they left, and now theyre gone. and so of course the taliban ...

Battlefield a year and a half from now, theyre a challenge for the afghan government and if theyre that concerned, the afghans may put them on trial. >> colonel wilkerson, someone who spent a career and life in the military, what do you make of the spectacle of an american soldier being essentially tried in absentia for desertion via cable news and websites? >> this is no surprise to me. ive learned that both political parties, particularly my own and people like john mccain and ted cruz, and ot...

>> well, certainly thats what the president has, and folks in the administration have been arguing that simply put you dont leave a soldier in harms way no matter what the specifics of that soldiers service may be. i think there are certain elements of the republican party that have been organizing the soldiers who served with bergdahl, people like that, to come out and make this a bit of an argument. what you see is both sides, this has just become a political football. were seeing a pretty con...

Hes learned to speak pashto, the language of the taliban and looks like a muslim. hes also somewhat sympathetic to islam, actually thanking allah in front of the president. >> sources are saying theyre baffled to allow the president to stand alongside sergeant bergdahls father. he said he was growing his beard because his son was in captivity. well, your sons out now. so if you really dont want to no longer look like a member of the taliban, you dont have to. are you out of razors? >> on the ame...

Question. as you say, there isnt a reason to conflate the actions of sergeant bergdahl and the wisdom and the ethics of whether or not he should have been brought home as an american soldier in captivity. on the former question, though, the military says its going to open a new round of investigation, a new investigation into the circumstances under which he was taken. is that the sort of thing at this point, which is now necessarily going to be infected with the sort of politics, that have atte...

I spoke to jay carney earlier. >> sergeant bergdahl was held by a group your administration declared a foreign terrorist organization as recently as 2012. in reality, can it be said that you were negotiating with terrorists? >> anderson, sergeant bergdahl was held as a prisoner in an armed conflict, one thats been going on for more than a dozen years, has a general principle of going back all the way to our founding the united states military does not leave its men and women in uniform behind wh...

Exchange is made. obviously, still a certain amount of wariness between the two sides, between the u.s. and the taliban. all safety precautions being taken. then he walks towards that black hawk helicopter with a plastic bag in his hand, all he has after five years in captivity. remarkable to see this, simply remarkable. bergdahl right now is being treated at landstuhl medical center in germany. thats where senior international correspondent matthew chance is following the latest. matthew, youve...

Credibility. >> this idea whether or not hes a good manager and people seem to think that he increasingly is not. >> and i think weeks if not months driving this debate will be this political controversy now over the bowe bergdahl exchange, prisoner swap. listen to the president and he says when you have a chance to free a captive american, its a no brainer. >> regardless of the circumstances, whatever those circumstances may turn out to be, we still get an american soldier back if hes held in c...

Prisoners back was the result of an armistice. there was a group of signatories, the war ended, and we exchanged prisoners. the war aint over here. thats their complaint. were still fighting and were going to be there at least another two years with americans in harms way. they dont like that. they dont like the swap for at least that reason alone. >> lisa, the president was asked about this issue about the -- about whether bergdahl was a deserter and here is what he had to say about it. >> rega...

>> well, one of the bigger mysteries surrounding bowe bergdahls five years of captivity is how he ended up in the hands of the taliban, while the administration wants us to believe he served with honor and distinction. >> he needs to go through all the proper channels, a court martial. >> i want him to face the consequences for his own actions. >> i believe he should have a trial for what he did. >> i think that he should be tried as a deserter and court martial martialed. i personally would lik...