Bergdahl should pay for betrayal: Opposing view
The charge of desertion against Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl comes as a relief to many of us in the military who had worried politics might get in the way of justice.
What Bergdahl did was so serious and so appalling, it must be dealt with in a way that deters future desertions — and it must respect the sacrifices made by countless other servicemembers and their families.
While it's not unheard of for a servicemember to become disillusioned with the fight, and even to leave his unit, military desertions on the battlefield are extremely rare, and the Bergdahl case illustrates why. It's a betrayal not just of one's country but also of one's brothers in arms. The ripple effect of a battlefield desertion transcends one man's selfish actions. In this case, his actions put the lives of others at risk.
I was a Special Forces commander in Afghanistan when Bergdahl went missing, and I experienced firsthand the effect his disappearance had on our operations. Teams that should have been going after militants, or working with the Afghan people, instead focused on searching for a man widely understood to have walked off his post. Equipment was diverted. Key missions were scrapped. We sent our men into some of the most hostile areas of Afghanistan to look for him.
The Taliban figured out what we were up to and began feeding false information to lure our men into ambushes. There is no question men lost their lives searching for him.
The outcome of Bergdahl's legal case is not predetermined, and the military justice system will decide what punishment is appropriate.
However, many of us who were impacted by his desertion understand that Bergdahl's time spent as a prisoner of the Haqqani network, however miserable, is simply not sufficient. Bergdahl's betrayal of his brothers is not something that can be whitewashed. At a minimum, he needs to serve time behind bars here in the U.S.
Let's not forget that Bergdahl was, in the end, lucky. The soldiers who died looking for him never had the opportunity to return home.
Michael G. Waltz, senior fellow at the International Security Program of the New America Foundation, isauthor ofWarrior Diplomat: A Green Beret's Battles from Washington to Afghanistan.