The former commander of U.S. Special Forces in Southern Afghanistan believes there is zero doubt just-freed Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is guilty of being a deserter.
"The initial report that came into us was nothing more than a red line message that said we have an American soldier missing. I can tell you when you see that, it makes your heart stop,'' Maj. Rusty Bradley told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
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"We were ready, willing, and able to assist in moving heaven and earth to find him.''
But the next day, the truth began to emerge.
"The report that we received about 24 hours later clearly stated that he had left his equipment, he had left a note, that he had actually been able to slip through the wire,'' Bradley said.
We had an intelligence report of him meeting with some Afghan villagers in a village that was close to where his operating base was and that he was looking for … the Taliban.''
Bergdahl was freed in a controversial swap in which the U.S. released five high-ranking Taliban military officials imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay. The trade was made without Congress being informed in advance.
Bradley, author with Kevin Maurer of the book
"Lions of Kandahar,'' published by Random House, said he would like to interview Bergdahl.
"I would like to be able to sit in a room with him and say, please explain to me how you weighed the risk versus reward on this,'' he said.
"You have a service member who's in captivity, that part we know and that's factual, but everything else, that may be the only 1 percent that we don't know that's not questionable.
"How he ended up coming into that captivity is certainly of question. Having essentially, the terrorist organization, dictate to us the terms for which prisoners get released is almost appalling.''
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Bradley said he "absolutely'' expects the five freed terrorists to once again fight American forces.
"American coalition forces members will be killed when these guys return back to the battlefield,'' he said.
"[And] this affects every civilian who travels to a foreign country, especially where there are terrorist organizations operating. They now have open game …
"In my opinion, the president and the administration does not understand the challenges that this decision has left us with, and it's going to far exceed this presidency and our generations because now the precedence has been set. There's no turning back on it … It literally, it leaves me shaking my head.''