FORT BRAGG, NC: US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl pleaded guilty on Monday to deserting his duties in Afghanistan in June 2009 and endangering the lives of fellow troops, a step toward resolving the politically charged case that could send him to prison for life.
The 31-year-old Idaho native told a judge in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, that he walked off his combat outpost in Paktika province and headed to a nearby base to report “critical problems” in his chain of command.
But he got lost after 20 minutes, was captured by the Taliban several hours later and spent the next five years in captivity.
The dangerous search for him that ensued — and the Taliban prisoner swap that won his release in 2014 — drew wide derision from soldiers and Republicans. During last year’s presidential campaign, Donald Trump called Bergdahl “a no-good traitor.”
In court on Monday, Bergdahl admitted wrongdoing but said he never intended to put anyone at risk.
“I didn’t think there’d be any reason to pull off a crucial mission to look for one guy,” he said, adding his actions were “very inexcusable.”
In a 2016 interview with a British filmmaker obtained by ABC News/Good Morning America and aired on Monday, Bergdahl rejected the notion that he sympathized with his captors.
He has said he endured torture, abuse and neglect at the hands of Taliban forces and was confined to a small cage for more than four years.
He pleaded guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy without any sentencing agreement with prosecutors, lawyers said. The latter offense carries a possible life sentence.
Jeffrey Addicott, a retired lieutenant colonel in the US Army, said defense lawyers are betting the judge will give Bergdahl a lighter punishment.
Army Judge Col. Jeffery Nance can consider Bergdahl’s time in captivity, but Addicott doubts it will help the soldier much.
“He knew what the Taliban was, and he inflicted that on himself,” said Addicott, now a law professor at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas.
Bergdahl, who remains on active duty in a clerical job at a base in San Antonio, said he tried to escape his captors up to 15 times.
The first attempt came on the day he was caught, he said. Blindfolded, with a blanket over his head and his hands chained behind his back, he decided to run from the village where he had been taken.
But he quickly was tackled, he said, and taken to another location.
US Army Sergeant Bergdahl pleads guilty to desertion, endangering troops
US Army Sergeant Bergdahl pleads guilty to desertion, endangering troops
Most of Iranian women’s soccer team leave Australia
GOLD COAST: The Iranian women’s soccer team left Australia without seven squad members after tearful protests of their departure outside Sydney Airport and frantic final efforts inside the terminal by Australian officials, who sought to ensure the women understood they were being offered asylum.
As the team’s flight time drew nearer and they passed through security late on Tuesday, each woman was taken aside to meet alone with officials who explained through interpreters that they could choose not to return to Iran.
Before the team traveled to the airport, seven women had accepted humanitarian visas allowing them to remain permanently in Australia and were ushered to a safe location by Australian police officers.
One has since changed her mind, underscoring the tense and precarious nature of their decisions.
“In Australia, people are able to change their mind,” said Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, who had hours earlier posted photos of the seven women granted humanitarian visas to his social media accounts, their identities clearly visible.
After what Burke described as “emotional” meetings between the remaining women who reached the airport and Australian officials, the rest of the team declined offers of asylum and boarded their flight.
It was a dramatic conclusion to an episode that had gripped Australia since the Iranian team’s first game at the Asian Cup soccer tournament, when they remained silent during their national anthem.
