Suing the n. F. L. Not long after he filed. Hello, im antonio mora, and this is consider this. Here is what is on consider this. The president need to look us in the eye and explain what he has done. Dan joins a concussion lawsuit. Dan merino and his lawyers are discusses pulling out the lawsuit. If you want to be part of the cash cow, you go into the family. Its 25 years since the prodemocracy protest in beijing. Hope was gone. They were sending troops to kill people. China will never go back to total tarian again. We begin with a controversy surrounding the deal that freed Bowe Bergdahl from taliban captivity in a swap for five top taliban leaders in guantanamo bay. With mounting allegations, the army announced on tuesday it would launch an investigation into the events surrounding his capture. The chairman of the joints chief of staff stated army leaders would not look away from misconduct if it occurred. Arriving in europe for the beginning of a 4day trip, president barack obama was forceful in defending his decision to make the deal that freed Bowe Bergdahl from the taliban. Regardless of the circumstances, whatever they may turp out to be, we get an american soldier back from captivity. Period, full stop. We dont condition that. Joining us from sacramento is Sergeant Joshua korn eel son who served in Bowe Bergdahls platoon. You were there the day Bowe Bergdahl disappeared. You said you have no doubt he was a deserter. Why . He was, first off Bowe Bergdahl was quiet. He kept to himself a lot. Didnt divulge too many personnel details to one particular person, and he was reserved, very quiet. I mean, a lot of people are quiet, obviously. He did spend a lot of time with the locals. He enjoyed happening out with the amp, Afghan National police. That morning, when it came up and we had Bowe Bergdahls weapon, body armour, and sensitive equipment and no Bowe Bergdahl, it was you just thought yeah, Bowe Bergdahl would be the guy that would walk away. There were consequences to his disappearance. What did it mean for you and the rest of the platoon. After he left, we launched a series of small patrols in the neighbouring area looking for him, looking for any sign that he might have, you know, been captured or he might have wanted to have gotten back. As a soldier you go through training where if you are captured, you are taught to leave equipment or signs that you want to be found. We never found any of those much the following 90 days after Bowe Bergdahl left, we searched every day for 20 hours a day to find Bowe Bergdahl. It took you away from your mission. Absolutely. The mission from the time he left for the next three months following was to find Bowe Bergdahl. There are a number of reports that six soldiers ended up losing their lives while searching for Bowe Bergdahl. What can you tell us about that. Do you know anyone that died in that process, squ what impact did it have on the platt on. Morale was low. We were out, you know, expending energy, so much time, resources, everything that we have we are giving to find Bowe Bergdahl, and he deserted and walked away and didnt want to be found. We were essentially spending extra time, energy and effort to find someone who didnt want to be found. Turning to what the president said today, he said that the sacred oath is what every mum and dad who sees a son or daughter sent to war should expect from the United States. What about Bowe Bergdahl, do we have an obligation to bring him back or anyone else. If Bowe Bergdahl deserted. Should we have an obligation to get desert yes back too . Absolutely, hes a United States citizen that served to come back from the United States. Hes a deserter from the United States army and needs to be held accountable for deserting his post and being a deserter. He needs to be accountable for all of that. If he didnt follow the sacred oath, how much important was the promise do you. Do you think wed be able to get people in the military, if we didnt get impinge to follow the oath. The army ethos, is never leave a fallen soldier, never leave a comrade. So that it is what it is. You know, it doesnt matter if its a deserter, if its a wounded soldier or injured soldier, you as that person and bring them back to safety. Bowe bergdahl being a deserter, he deserved to be rescued. You said he should not be considered a hero, what would you say to him if you had the chaps to talk to him . I would ask him why he purply walked away and left myself, my platoon members, my battalion to clean up his mess that he made by leaving. Id ask him why, how he feels about having six United StatesArmy Soldiers subsequently killed in the search for him. For Bowe Bergdahl. So many questions. Appreciate you joining us, to tell us yore story. To help better understand what is next, im joined from philadelphia by jack demarchio who formerly was deputy undersecretary and analysis operations at the department of homeland security, and worked as a judge advocate general and is currently a partner at a law firm. Jack, good of you to join us. Your reaction to what you heard the sergeant say. Thank you, its a pleasure to be here. The sergeant said interesting things. Hes right with regard to the code of the military. I had several deployments myself, and we dont leave a soldier behind. Whether the intuffed u deserted individual deserted or captured, we try to make every effort to get the soldier back into the United States forces. Hes currently in germany being evaluated. How long do you think hell stay there before hes questioned about the charges. Sure, hes in Landstuhl Army hospital, and is undergoing a series of evaluations to determine his physical capabilities as a result of five years in the captivity and custody of the taliban. Once the doctors are finished with him. Hell probably be returned to walter reed in washington d. C. Area the medical center, part of the theys bethesda naval hospital. Given the fact that theres conflicting evidence as to his intent to leave his post or whether he was captured by the enemy, that is going to be an issue that the army will have to hone in on, and examine carefully. Talking about some other legalities, all the members of the platoon had to sign documents agreeing not to discuss anything that happened during or in connection with Bowe Bergdahls disappearance. Why would the army stop them from talking. Are they putting themselves in danger now by speaking out . I dont know what the status was, or what the circumstances were regarding that socalled gag order. That may have been a fact that the investigation was still ongoing, and the army felt that it was better to keep statements out of the press. Now, of course, the investigation the soldier has been recovered and is in u. S. Custody. We go into a second phase to determine what happened, what were the circumstances from his absence from his unit and duty position. We have heard some allegations that there may be a desertion. If this is, in fact, a desertion, that will kick in certainly an investigation that the army will most likely do in any case. Probably something called an article 156 investigation, or Army Regulation 156, which is a regulation calling for an investigating officer to be appointed by senior officer to investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding an incident. In this case most likely an investigating officer will be looking at whether sergeant Bowe Bergdahl lift, ut circumstances, was it vault the circumstances, was it voluntary or involuntary. That will be the next step after hes determined physically fit. If they find it was voluntary, do you think therell be a trial . If it was voluntary, if the 156 investigation comes down, there was a desertion, to try the case, to bring it to a Court Marshall. Under the uniform code of military justice, article 85 calls for a trial if an individuals has been found guilty of desertion. It is defined as absence from your place of duty or post without the Proper Authority with the intent not to return, the intent to ab sent yourself after the duty post. If he is found guilty by a Court Marshall, do you think hell be punished. If hes found guilty bay a Court Marshall, it will go from theres two faces. The phase where they determine whether the individual was guilty or not. If hes determined to be guilty, it goes into a penalty phase, determining what type of punishment would be appropriate for that individual. A Court Marshall which could be done by a jury of officers enlisted, or a judge alone trial could give him. If found guilty, could give him no essential punishment, or the maximum punishment. I know you dont believe that is likely under the circumstances. Again, its hard to speculate. If found guilty, certainly anything is on the table. He could be sentenced to a prison term or not. Its speculation at this point. Thank you, jack, for joining us to explain the process. President obama is on a 4day trip to europe to support nato allies, that the u. S. Will support them. Arriving in warsaw, polands capital, the president said security was sack roe sanction the and u. S. And its allies would stand together and would ask congress for a billion dollars to position more military equipment in europe and bring in more european forces. Well increase american personnel, army and air force units, rotating through allied countries, and step up the partnerships with friends like ukraine, moldova and georgia. For more, im joined by david ignitionous, the Washington Post columnist on foreign affairs, writing on the murky world of intelligence, counterterrorism and the c. I. A. He is an author. You were tough on the president s Foreign Policy speech. You said your paper, the Washington Post, the only consistency of the policy is that its been bad. Is that weakness why hes in europe, offering a billion dollars in what is a military aid, allies that can rely on american strength. Its important to president obama to tell european allies that the United States is there. Its committed. Its committed in terms of additional money in terms of n. A. T. O. And defense. From president obamas standpoint, the progress of events worked out as well as it could have. Thats one of the things i said in a column. I was critical of parts of a speech, we can talk about that. Ukraine, given that the United States didnt have military option, the combination of sanctions and diplomatic pressure had the rush jobs to allow the elections in russians to allow the elections to take place. Theres a newly elected president. Both say they can work. Now the question is steadying those closer to russia, poland, the baltics, and others are nervous. They saw what happened in ukraine. The question conditions to be whether president obama not just whether he has the military to use in europe, but whether he has the will to take the steps that would back putin and the russians up. That is a question the world is asking about. Is there a danger that with this announcement. Hes doing what serg alavrov Sergei Lavrov said he shouldnt do, moving in more money. That is a danger. What Vladimir Putins decision function is, how he reacts to u. S. Policy is hard to predict. The United States has a crucial alliance in terms of security. Going back to the end of world war ii in n. A. T. O. And its important that the countries feel confident that the United States stands behind them. Moving Additional Forces to support the countries, figuring out a way to help ukraine move down the road towards neutral but stable status between east and west. I think those are all sensible consensus american goals. You are right, there is a daner that Vladimir Putin will look at the steps and feel lease being penned in, threatened, and will take feel like hes being penned in, threatened and will take actions. Im not sure that president obama has a choice. He has to show that we are serious when he says we have allies. I want to the touch on three quick topics. Lets listen to the president talk about the afghan war. At the end of this year a new afghan president will be in office. Americas combat mission will be over. You wrote that the president repeated an avoidable mistake when he set the time limit on a u. S. Combat presence in afghanistan. I just dont understand that decision antonio, ill be honest. When the president announced his initial search of 30,000 u. S. Troops in december 2009, adding the transportation force in afghanistan, it didnt make sense to announce the time when you would begin withdrawing the troops. You should leave the adversary guessing. Everything we know about conflicts says the more you notify your adversaries, the more likely they are like to wait you out. I arrived the president a asked the president that question in a speech before the policy was announced in 2009. I think it was a mistake. I think its been a mistake not to try to leave a residual force in iraq. Even a modest one. It would have been difficult. The iraqis werent sure they wanted one. I think it was a mistake to leave to quickly. Its true that al qaeda is back in fallujah, back in ramada, and the valley where the United States at great cost of people, lives lost, and funny spent, managed to chase them out. They are back. You have to ask what is the lesson that tells you. To me it is important for the u. S. To leave some residual force as a check against the kinds of violent extremist you see in iraq. That obviously could cripple afghanistan in the future. Talking about al qaeda, you have written about syria. We saw voting in a president ial election begin on tuesday. Three years of civil war. 160,000 dead. Millions of people displaced. We saw Bashar Alassad and his wife casting ballots. He will unquestionably win the election. The white house is asking for 5 billion for an antiterror Campaign Including training and weapons for syrias moderate opposition. That opposition seems rudderless and at this point is that too little, too late . It is fairly rudderless. Thats a reason for this programme of assistance that the president seems to move toward. I travelled inside syria with the opposition. What you see in syria breaks your heart. Its a wonderful country. Aleppo, which i visited during the destruction of aleppo is a beautiful city in the middle east. To see a leader dropping these might marish barrel bombs on civilian populations is should trouble everyone. I think the evidence that Bashar Alassad used chemical weapons against his own people is wellestablished. That should shock people. In 2014, 2013, the use of chemical weapons is outrageous. I look at the selection, i look at everything haing in syria happening in syria, its heartbreaking. In my own judgment, everywhere has to look and make their own decision the my judgment is that the United States needs to stablilize the areas liberated from Bashar Alassads forces. And the only way to do that is by helping the opposition, which is really ragged to have better command and control, and have Stabilization Forces in those areas so it doesnt become warlordism. In some ways the new novel is relevant to all the stories. You write about a c. I. A. Where hackers are more important than conventional spies. It takes place in an intelligence world that is reeling from the Edward Snowden revelations even though you started the book before we knew who Edward Snowden was. Hackers. Cyber terrorism, warfare. How big a change will this be for the c. I. A. In the future . Intelligence, meaning the information that the c. I. A. Gathers and analyses is now all digital. I mean every document that you get, every image that you record, every voice captured through surveillance is digital information. As such, is subject to being hacked. I became fascinated at the beginning of 2012 bit the way in which the world of hackers, the world of cyber espionage, cyber work is colliding like in spy novels. It seems all the spy novels, penetration of the agency, deception. They were going digital. They were going into zero, and ones. I set out to write a novel capturing this colleagues of two worlds i saw happening. And that is the novel the director. You started at a death con hackers conference, some of the information is incredible. You wrote that you dont consider Edward Snowden a hero, we dont know how much damage he caused u. S. Intelligence. Whatever one things about Edward Snowden hero or trial dater, if the n. S. A. Has the powers we were talking about, nothing is scarier than having rogue actors having access to the capabilities, at the center of the novel. How realistic is that that our secret communication, the n. S. A. , the c. I. A. Could be compromised. Unfortunately, i think the Edward Snowden case demands that it is realistic. I dont want to go