Skip navigation.
Home
  Hawaii Political Info
   Candidate & issue information
Home

America's Last Prisoner of War in Afghanistan

Submitted by Guest on Thu, 06/05/2014 - 03:55

Rolling Stone

Three years ago, a 23-year-old soldier walked off his base in Afghanistan and into the hands of the Taliban. Now he’s a crucial pawn in negotiations to end the war. Will the Pentagon leave a man behind?

By Michael Hastings

June 7, 2012

In June 2012, fearless Rolling Stone contributing edtior Michael Hastings wrote the definitive first account of Bowe Bergdahl — the young American soldier who was captured by the Taliban and became the last American prisoner of war. Hastings, the journalist who brought down the career of General Stanley McChrystal in these pages, died in a car accident one year later. Bergdahl was freed this weekend. Hastings' incredible story is available in full here:

The mother and father sit at the kitchen table in their Idaho farmhouse, watching their son on YouTube plead for his life. The Taliban captured 26-year-old Bowe Bergdahl almost three years ago, on June 30th, 2009, and since that day, his parents, Jani and Bob, have had no contact with him. Like the rest of the world, their lone glimpses of Bowe – the only American prisoner of war left in either Iraq or Afghanistan – have come through a series of propaganda videos, filmed while he's been in captivity.

In the video they're watching now, Bowe doesn't look good. He's emaciated, maybe 30 pounds underweight, his face sunken, his eye sockets like caves. He's wearing a scraggly beard and he's talking funny, with some kind of foreign accent. Jani presses her left hand across her forehead, as if shielding herself from the images onscreen, her eyes filling with tears. Bob, unable to look away, hits play on the MacBook Pro for perhaps the 30th time. Over and over again, he watches as his only son, dressed in a ragged uniform, begs for someone to rescue him.

"Release me, please!" Bowe screams at the camera. "I'm begging you – bring me home!"

Read more . . .

Links:

Why Was the FBI Investigating Michael Hastings’ Reporting on Bowe Bergdahl? [Vice News] Jun 4, 2014

Michael Hastings' Friend SSgt. Joe Biggs (whose Unit MH was Embedded, now @InfoWars), also questioned Berghadal's Case, THEN! [Daily Paul] Jun 4, 2014

Does anyone else find this Bergdahl case fishy? [Daily Paul] Jun 3, 2014

The Bowe Bergdahl Story Is Right-Wing Crack [The Daily Beast] Jun 4, 2014

Susan Rice Is the Biggest Loser in Bergdahl Affair [The Fiscal Times] Jun 3, 2014

Sgt. Bowe R. Bergdahl [Support Bowe]

»