Former Vietnam POW calls for probe of soldier's 'capture'

 

Capt. Eugene “Red” McDaniel spent six agonizing years as a POW in the Hanoi Hilton after his plane was shot down over Vietnam, so he can imagine better than most what it will be like for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl to return to the U.S. after five years in the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

But McDaniel says the first thing that should happen when Bergdahl arrives in the United States is an investigation into whether he actually was a prisoner of war or whether he deserted his military post.

Deserting a military post in a time of war is an offense the Uniform Code of Military Justice treats harshly, allowing even for execution, though that punishment has not been used since World War II.

The second thing that needs to happen, McDaniel said, is that all Americans overseas need to tighten up their security procedures.

President Obama announced over the weekend that five known terror leaders from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay were handed over to Qatar in exchange for Bergdahl, who vanished from his military post in 2009 and later was seen in a Taliban-released video.

A number of Bergdahl’s Army colleagues are charging he’s a traitor, not a hero.

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