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American Hostage Of Taliban ID’D- With Video



Jul 19, 2009 42 Comments ›› Pat Dollard

Afghan Soldier Captured

Times Online:

The Taleban has released a video of a US soldier captured in Afghanistan last month in which he pleads for American troops to leave the country.

The visibly shaken soldier, who has been identified by the Pentagon as Private First Class Bowe R Bergdahl, 23, from Idaho, is frequently prompted in English by his captors, and says at one point: “I’m scared, scared I won’t be able to go home. It’s very unnerving to be a prisoner.”

Pfc Bergdahl went missing near his base in eastern Afghanistan on June 30, and is the first American soldier to be captured by the Taleban since the US-led invasion in 2001. His abduction comes amid a major US and British offensive in southern Afghanistan to confront the increasingly dangerous Taleban and al-Qaeda insurgency that is threatening the Government of President Karzai.

In the 28-minute video, he appears with a shaved head, the beginnings of a beard, and is sitting cross-legged on a floor in a grey, loose-fitting shalwar kameez.

Early in the video, which was condemned by the Pentagon as Taleban propaganda and a violation of the laws of war, one of his captors holds up his dog tag to the camera, with his name and serial number clearly visible. At one point he is seen eating bread and rice and drinking tea.

He is interviewed by his captors and is asked his views on the war, which he calls extremely hard. He talks of his desire to learn more about Islam and the morale of US soldiers, which he says is low.

Asked how he is doing, he says that he is scared, then starts to become emotional, choking back tears: “I have my girlfriend, who is hoping [sic] to marry. I have my grandma and grandpas. I have a very, very good family that I love back home in America.”

Voice off camera: “Miss them.”

Pfc Bergdahl: “And I miss them every day that I’m gone. I miss them and I’m afraid that I might never see them again and that I’ll never be able to tell them that I love them again. I’ll never be able to hug them.”

Voice off camera: “Any message to your people?”

“Yes. To my fellow Americans who have loved ones over here, who know what it’s like to miss them, you have the power to make our government bring them home. Please, please bring us home so that we can be back where we belong and not over here wasting out time and our lives and our precious life that we could be using back in our own country.”

He adds: “Please bring us home. It is America and the American people that have the power.”

Questioned about the 2001 invasion, which toppled the Taleban Government, he says: “Since I’ve been here and I’ve seen how these people live and function, we have indeed invaded an independent state.”

How Pfc Bergdahl ended up captured by the Taleban remains unclear. On July 2 the US military said that he went missing after walking off his base in eastern Afghanistan with three Afghanis.

In the video, Pfc Bergdahl said: “I was captured outside of base camp. I was behind a patrol, lagging behind the patrol and I was captured.” He said that the video was recorded on July 14, although it is unclear if that date is authentic.

He said that he heard a Chinook helicopter carrying 37 Nato troops had been shot down over Helmand province. A helicopter was shot down on July 14, but it was carrying civilians on a reported humanitarian mission for Nato forces. All six Ukrainian passengers died in the crash, and a child on the ground was killed.

Pfc Bergdahl went missing in eastern Paktika province, a Taleban-infested area near the Pakistan border. The largest insurgent group there, which has claimed responsibility for the capture, is led by Siraj Haqqani. The US has accused Haqqani of masterminding beheadings and suicide bombings, including the July 2008 attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul that killed 60 people.

It is unclear where Pfc Bergdahl is being held. Any attempt to rescue him will be complicated if he has been smuggled across the border into the tribal areas of Pakistan.

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  • MARTYMAR

    Well when and if this pissant gets released, he needs to spend the rest of his days in Leavenworth. I don’t care if they are going to cut your freaking balls off, you don’t betray your country!!!!! This shit infuriates me. This will be a rallying cry for leftist liberal douches in the U.S. and Jihadis all over the world.

    “I am an American Fighting Man!” That’s all he should have said before he spits in their fucking faces.

  • mike3481

    He walked off the base, correct?

    That makes him a deserter, correct?

    Just checking.

  • dacoelec

    Those sub human POS’s we are fighting over there should never get the chance to capture any of our boys. When you are fighting animals you keep your finger on the trigger anytime you are outside of a safe encampment. I feel very sorry for this man and his family and I pray for a miracle. A miracle is what it will take to rescue him. The mistake was getting captured. He had to have known that chances of survival for a captured soldier has been zero so far in this war. We are not fighting humans, most humans have at least a little mercy in them, these creatures don’t even have that for their own kind. They need to be exterminated like the mad dogs that they are.

    • DC

      I’m not so sure he was “captured” by the talaban, after reading this article.
      Looks more like he was trying to send a message to all the pathetic, candy-assed, anti-war libtards in America, that he wants us to stop the war so he can go home and see his cunt girlfriend.

      Name, rank, and serial number, you punk-ass bitch!

    • dacoelec

      DC
      I’m trying to be nice…… in the off chance it was a case of the stupids…..

  • mike3481

    :arrow: dacoelec you wrote;

    “He had to have known that chances of survival for a captured soldier has been zero so far in this war”
    _______________________________________

    I, like, I’m sure many others here, have been thinking it, but no one has said it yet, so I will.

    Is he collaborating?

    Could that have been his intention when he walked off the base?

    I ask cos if he makes it back alive he’s got some big time explaining to do.

    • dacoelec

      No kidding on that!

  • larry

    hey assholes give the kid the benefit of the doubt he is in a bad spot :beer: :gun: :beer: :gun: :beer: :gun:

    • DC

      Hey, moron! Did you even read the article? He freely espoused this:
      “Yes. To my fellow Americans who have loved ones over here, who know what it’s like to miss them, you have the power to make our government bring them home. Please, please bring us home so that we can be back where we belong and not over here wasting out time and our lives and our precious life that we could be using back in our own country.”

      Sure sounds to me like someone who has no business being an American soldier.

    • larry

      you would probably shit your pants and cry moron

    • DC

      You may be right….but at least, all they’d get out of me is name, rank and serial/SSN, not some veiled, leftist bullshit plead to end the war from this pussy who seems to have just walked off and allowed himself to be captured, then appears on camera with a shaved head and not a mark on him.
      Why don’t you wake up and smell the coffee……..and don’t go calling everybody on this comment segment “assholes”! you might get more positive comments from others.

    • larry

      yeah ok tough guy

  • Vehement

    How the hell was he able to just walk off base with Afghanis? That doesn’t make sense.

  • westcoastgirl

    I thought I heard they claimed to have captured a soldier who was intoxicated. Regardless, he is in a tough spot and I pray he comes home safely.

  • Scoot

    I can see some captured reporter saying to send the troops home, but not a soldier. I can understand they might be making him say that, but I’ve never been in a situation like that, and I never served in the armed forces. Either way, something seem to not fit in the right holes with this.

    • Scoot

      “In the video, Pfc Bergdahl said: “I was captured outside of base camp. I was behind a patrol, lagging behind the patrol and I was captured.” He said that the video was recorded on July 14, although it is unclear if that date is authentic.”

      I heard he was captured without his body armor. Wouldn’t you be wearing that if you were on patrol?

      A lot of questions, but of course, we are not going to get the straight answer from the government or media in these strange times.

    • Racerrose

      Exactly the problem: trying to sort out the truth from a media that dependably shows the military in a bad light.

      I don’t believe the media’s “he walked away from base”, as if he were a wayward toddler. I’m also not believing “I was lagging behind the patrol”, because we don’t know how much he was told to say for the camera, and a 23 year old who just deployed in February to a “Taliban-infested area” would be hooked tight to about 20 buddies with rifles.

      It doesn’t make sense, but he is an American held hostage, and let’s hope that means something to this latest incarnation of Jimmy Carter.

      I guess they’re not accepting his apologies. Barry, the Taliban is just no that into you.

  • http://fullcirclethinker.com fullcirclethinker

    “…On July 2 the US military said that he went missing after walking off his base in eastern Afghanistan with three Afghanis…”

    Looks as though he placed himself in harms way and, as a result, removed himself from the protection of his base.

    “…Pfc Bergdahl went missing near his base in eastern Afghanistan on June 30, and is the first American soldier to be captured by the Taleban since the US-led invasion in 2001…”

    Eight years without one capture!

    Who wants to die? But, this is an all-volunteer military! He volunteered for goodness sakes and had to know this might happen. In addition, these so called freedom fighters thrive on a submissive attitude and, unless he experiences a miracle, he will be used as propaganda to the ultimate degree: beheading. I sure hope he is as ready to meet God as his captors are in meeting Allah.

  • /american-hostage-of-taliban-idd/ tweetybird193

    to all with hate words, I pray irt will never be one of your love ones being held and waiting to have head cut opff.

  • Pete

    As much as I hate to say it, in the kid’s defense, he’s probably never been to SERE.

    On the other hand, if he was trained to be any kind of warrior, he wouldn’t have been taken alive, but would have died surrounded by corpses, his teeth embedded in some Taliban filth’s throat. :evil:

  • http://www.thebandofmothers.com Beverly Perlson
    • copperpeony

      Quote from the site you posted and I think this is how people should think unitl we know all the facts :???: :

      “Until the truth comes out, I urge everyone not to judge anything this Soldier says as anything other than coerced and/or under duress. There comes a point where you will verbally give away your first born child if it means extending your life by one more day in order to buy some time for those looking for you. Most troops will not be held accountable for the things they say or do in captivity. Naturally, those that faulted McCain for his words in captivity simply don’t understand this concept and will probably fault this guy in the future for everything he says”.

    • Hawkerdriver (Pisson the Koran

      :arrow: Copperpony,
      I would not give away my first or any born for any matter!WTF do we go to war for anyway?I have never been tortured as POW’s have, but they can kill me before they get my kid.That goes for ofuck and his volunteer acorn thugarmy too.

      I can’t wait till one of those zipper heads comes a knockin’.. :wink:

  • cocorico

    you are harsh on him

    he probably said what he was lectured to say

    otherthing, it’s not the first soldier that have moments of tireness, if it’s so he probably walk off to get kill

    you were not at his place, so easy to condamn him on your confortable armchair

  • John

    Regardless of wether he was captured, walked off, or willingly sought out the enemy to “surrender” I hope he hasnt gotten to comfortable with his head being attached to his shoulders :neutral:

  • Dean, aka SgtJenz

    “How Pfc Bergdahl ended up captured by the Taleban remains unclear.”
    In the video, Pfc Bergdahl said: “I was captured outside of base camp. I was behind a patrol, lagging behind the patrol and I was captured.”

    I wonder how many here making comments have ever been in a combat zone or walking a patrol in enemy territory.
    Being captured by these animals, knowing full well he might be tortured and then beheaded is enough to scare the shit out of anybody. Think about it.

    Saying your going to do one thing is easy. When it becomes a reality that is an entirely different story.

    He’s still an American soldier so cut him some slack.

    • amy

      :beer: :beer: :beer: Excellent comment.
      I’m keeping him and his family in my prayers.

    • larry

      amen brother!

    • ROF

      Amen brother, everything this soldier is saying is absolutely being said under duress, hoping against hope to hear the rumble of incoming chinooks to save him. God have mercy on him, and his family. Come home soon bro. :beer:

  • Bob

    He knows he is about to have his head sawed off with some guys dull knive. Yes i would be nice to be cool and just give your name, rank and serial number but the kids scared and knows he messed up. Sorry but some of you guys are dicks talking about this American the way you are. We just need to try and find him.

  • Cridhe Saorsa

    Poor dumb kid. Now he is further away from home than he was when he he started. It’s a crock to say he fell behind on patrol. If you know about these things this doesn’t happen without some shooting. Besides it doesn’t matter either way. They got him and are exploiting him for the pictures and attention they can get from the media. It’s the images to come that breaks my heart. And we all know, short of a miracle, this young man is done for. The people who have him will not let him live one more day longer than they feel they have too. It would be nice if the boys could pull off a kick-in the door’s delta type rescue. We all know that is a slim probability. If it does happen, it will be dumb luck or God’s hand.

    Given that there is no more political will in this country to fight those that took down the twin towers, as evidenced by the last election, I say we bring em all home. It is damned ridiculous that good young men should be dying for all of us while we get up everyday without a care in the world other than maybe the boss will fire us today because some asshole in a suit has decided we all need free healthcare or some ugly assed racist judge plays twenty questions with another bunch of elitist’s who all come together to give her their blessing and sing kumbaya to celebrate not having to make a hard stand so they can ensure their re-election.

    I hate to say it but our country is FUBAR and there ain’t nothin that is gonna fix it. Not now. Not ever. Time will tell, but I can see the break-up of these United States is not to far in our future. I would welcome knowing that my hard earned money that goes into taxes no longer goes into the ravenous maw of California, Chicago, New York and the New England Communist states of the North East.

    I hope the kid gets control of himself before the end. I will pray for him every night until it is over.

    • Dean, aka SgtJenz

      Cridhe Saorsa :arrow: “It’s a crock to say he fell behind on patrol. If you know about these things this doesn’t happen without some shooting.”

      Been on any combat patrols in enemy territory lately?
      It happens more often than you might think.
      He also had 3 Afghan soldiers with him who may or may not be Taliban infiltrators or have sympathy toward them. Money in that part of the world is a very powerful motivator. It’s possible he wasn’t worried about lagging since he assumed he was with friendly soldiers…or were they…friendly that is.

      You are correct in that it doesn’t really matter. The haji’s have him now for whatever reason and will exploit him any way they can.

      None of us were there so who can accurately say exactly what happened to cause his capture?

    • Cridhe Saorsa

      Point made but the official announcements prior, the terrain and the nature of this kid’s unit is evidence against the claim. We don’t integrate Afghan’s into line units like we might with SOCOM or other special units. I cannot imagine any SGT or LT in my Army giving a PVT three nationals to manage. If this is so then something is way wrong with the battle plan.

  • http://www.fountainheadzero.com Musing Lew

    To everyone condemning this kid I’d like to ask how much about soldiering do you really know or how much you have forgotten. Right this f’in minute I have a nineteen year old son in Tikrit doing his duty for this country. If he was ever captured by these filthy rag head sand monkeys I know that he is going to say whatever it is they coach him to say in their little propaganda fests. And the reason for that is every hour he can stay alive his chances of finding a method of escape, or for some rag head after a reward pointing a finger towards his whereabouts improve.

    I find it just as distasteful as anyone on here to see one of our soldiers used as a tool by these jihad loving rejects. But this young man is doing exactly what he should be doing, staying alive long enough to give himself a chance. Since when have we started embracing the martyr beliefs of the enemy? He should play tough guy and immediately get his head separated from his neck for the glory of American bravado? No, he should take every opportunity to lull these murderers into a false sense of his submissive nature so that he might have an opportunity at freedom and a little pay back tune played upon his rifle.

    Maybe I’ll come across as an ass but it sure seems to me that a few here could benefit from a new, better educated perspective.

    My son and I have discussed the importance of him never being captured. Even if that means he dies making a stand. However, should he somehow be captured, I would pray he had the good sense to do as any good soldier should in that circumstance and play it smarter than some armchair warriors here want to dictate.

    Lew

    • vincenzo4

      Perfect. It is very easy for the multitudes to judge without perspective. Copperpeony talked about the facts and truth being determined before judging this soldier. All perfect assessments.

      I can promise you there is a herculean effort to find this soldier right now and it is intense and virtually sleepless, despite the bureaucracy that has made fighting this enemy so difficult.

      If this soldier willing walked away and is a ideological convert, this is nothing new to warfare in all of humanity. The conditions of the video are nothing new at all. This whole war has been for the will of the American people, to recant, withdraw, and come home. Forget the wholesale genocide the enemy has forced upon humanity, forget what they have done to children and women.

      It is interesting to note the same words this soldier was forced to utter in this video are almost the same words willingly spoken by cowards in office in this country, wealthy leftist collaborator who are actors in Hollywood, obstructionists in the legal community who refuse to allow any advantage to our victory such as monitoring communications, unrestricted source operations and time efficient operations; an abhorrence to having an efficient and world class intelligence service. These are the people who have set this country up for failure before any conflict has ever begun, then go to work covertly after the conflict to cause a lack of focus and break American will to fight, and fight to win. They never get caught, make millions and are never, ever held accountable.

      The soldier has already become a political football to be exploited, and his humanity be damned. It is shuddering to think of the political yardage already being planned at his expense to validate a Presidency ten times worse than Clinton and it hasn’t even been a year.

      The real story will never be told. The perfect and flawless soldiers and agents who will work this case, hopefully by God’s Hand find this kid and tripple tap anyone having anything to do with it.

    • DC

      So, then please explain to all us “dickheads” and “assholes”, who are condemning his actions, why exactly a ballet artist from Hailey, ID, the most liberal area in the state, who by-the-way, wants to convert to islam, magically turns into some kind of hero to you guys, just because he has “allegedly” been captured and being “allegedly” held prisoner?

      Yea, yea…..admittedly, we don’t have all the pieces of the puzzle, and I paraphrased an article I read in yahoo news, but is it any less accurate than this article out of Times online rag?

      You guys sicken me….when are you gonna figure out that you just can’t have it both ways?

      Let’s do this….let’s all just wait and see what finally comes out over this. If I’m wrong, I’ll come back on and admit it and maybe even apologize to all here. But until that’s proven, I stand on both my opinion and feelings.

    • Dean, aka SgtJenz

      Musing Lew, vincenzo4, well stated.
      The idea is to stay alive and make the enemy die, not the other way around. As Americans we choose life over death. The enemy does not.

      None of us can say with any surety what we would do in the same situation. War is hell is not just a cliche. It’s the truth.

      If I could I’d tell that young man to stay alive whatever it takes.

      God speed soldier. Our prayers are with you.

    • DC

      In all fairness, I need to clarify where this article I read came from:
      http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090719/D99HPFI00.html

      The details I highlighted were CONVIENENTLY left out of this Times article……

    • DC

      Oh, and it has been removed from yahoo too………Go figure! :roll:

  • vincenzo4
    • Racerrose

      Thank you so much for the link.

  • Rochelle

    You should know that if you leave your bunk you are required to have your side arm with you at all times even if you’re just going to take a leak. You also must have your battle rattle on. This doesn’t matter if you’re in a combat zone or a medical unit in a “safe zone”. So, it’s highly unlikely that this Soldier is telling the truth vs what he’s being fed to say. He’s being manupulated to mind @#$% the U.S. people and himself. The outcome is not good and he will probably end up without his head. You should recognize that and have some sympathy for this kid.