Bowe Bergdahl avoids prison time, will receive dishonorable discharge, judge rules
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier who deserted his Afghanistan outpost and was then held captive in brutal conditions for five years, received no prison time but was reduced in rank to private and will be dishonorably discharged from the army, a military judge ruled Friday.
In announcing the punishment the military judge, Col. Jeffery Nance, rejected a prosecutor’s recommendation to sentence Bergdahl to 14 years confinement.
Nance did not elaborate on his decision before dismissing the court.
Defense attorneys had argued against prison time, saying the soldier already suffered enough while in Taliban hands.
Bergdahl did not react as the sentence was read.
He stood flanked by defense lawyers as the judge read sentence and left the courtroom with his attorneys.
Bergdahl pled guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy and faced a potential life sentence.
Trump has already tweeted this sentence is an utter disgrace "to our country and to our military".
More than once while campaigning Trump demanded Bergdahl be executed.
General McCaffrey, MSNBC military expert, asked about this, said the actual sentence was the perfect outcome.
Asked specifically about execution, he scoffed in horror and scorn, and pointed out that if any general in the chain of command over Bergdahl had said anything like what Trump has said while Bergdahl awaited disposition he would have been punished under the UCMJ.
More broadly, that would apply to anything Trump has had to say about the New York terrorist, the other day, had he been a troop and Trump been a general above him in the chain.
No comments:
Post a Comment