Patience, please

Monday, June 9, 2014

Chicago Tribune

Furious veterans of freed U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl's platoon are speaking in elaborate detail about his disappearance from his unit, and unambiguously accusing him of desertion--a form of betrayal so grave that many Americans with military backgrounds choke on the word. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, privy to the Pentagon's reportedly damning dossier on Bergdahl's departure, says the Army may indeed pursue desertion charges. And many Americans are parsing provocative news stories that discuss on-the-record accusations from Bergdahl's former military colleagues that the search for him cost other American soldiers their lives.

The Obama administration had to figure that releasing five of the highest-value insurgents held at Guantanamo Bay for one soldier would strike some Americans as lopsided. But the White House, in its initial exultation, acted as though it had no knowledge of that dossier. National security adviser Susan Rice, who really should avoid the Sunday morning political talk shows, assured an ABC News audience that Bergdahl had "served the United States with honor and distinction," and that he "wasn't simply a hostage--he was an American prisoner of war captured on the battlefield."

The still unfolding allegations against Bergdahl--with, to our knowledge, not one former Army colleague publicly speaking in his defense--complicates the narrative.

Let's allow the process of formal judgment to unfold. We have no idea what in the panoply of possible explanations--naivete, or treachery, or mental illness, or misguided frustration, or stress disorders, or some other human imperative--ultimately will explain Bowe Bergdahl to Americans perplexed by each news cycle's fresh revelations.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel cautioned all of us that premature conclusions about Bergdahl's conduct in the Afghan theater are unfair to him, and to family members who have yearned in agony for his safe return. That Taliban video of a Black Hawk helicopter lifting off with their loved one on board must bring jubilation.

We likely will spend months unwrapping Bowe Bergdahl, months that should explain whatever dramas led up to Saving Sergeant Enigma.

Editorial on 06/09/2014