Bowe Bergdahl Homecoming Celebration Canceled
US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl’s Idaho hometown has decided to cancel a planned homecoming rally that would have celebrated his release from the Taliban.
The Obama administration is engulfed in a massive controversy over the swap of five high-level Guantanamo Bay detainees for the soldier who was held captive in Afghanistan for five years.
Soldiers in Bergdahl’s platoon interviewed by national media have described him as a deserter. There are as-yet unsubstantiated reports raising the possibility that he may have been a collaborator.
National Security Advisor Susan Rice, famous for trotting out the discredited Benghazi talking points of five Sunday national TV interviews in September 2012, claimed on TV on June 1 that Bergdahl served with honor and distinction.
Some reports have indicated that the White House bypassed the intelligence community and the Defense Department in approving the Gitmo prisoner release, which is being referred to as the Taliban Dream Team. The Pentagon apparently knew four years ago that Bergdahl walked away from his unit in June 2009. At least US six soldiers, and perhaps more, reportedly lost their lives trying to find Bergdahl in Afghanistan.
The Obama administration has also been accused of violating federal law in failing to give Congress the required 30 days notice of terrorist transfers from Gitmo under the National Defense Authorization Act.
Hailey, Idaho, officials called off the June 28 event for public safety reasons. “Officials cited concerns that they lacked the resources to safely manage the thousands of supporters and protesters who were expected to converge on the small mountain community of 8,000 residents. The decision came as pressure mounted to cancel the rally in the face of rising hostility, expressed in a torrent of emails and phone calls directed at city officials and businesses, over claims by Bergdahl’s onetime Army comrades that he deliberately abandoned his post in Afghanistan.”
Released by the Taliban on Saturday, Bow Bergdahl is receiving medical treatment at a US military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. It is unclear when he will return to the states.
