Bergdahl's father now under scrutiny himself

John M. Glionna
The Los Angeles Times
via Idaho Statesman
6/8/2014

…Over the years, residents of this small resort town in the shadow of the Sawtooth Mountains watched as he slowly changed over the long months of his son’s ordeal. Always private, the conservative Presbyterian everyone knew as the local UPS deliveryman further retreated into his shell. He’d moved to Idaho with his wife, Jani, after dropping out of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Bowe and his sister, Sky, were born there.

The elder Bergdahl learned Pashto, the language of his son’s captors, studied Arabic and immersed himself in the stories of other Americans held abroad. He began growing his hair and beard in solidarity with his son — its length and unruliness reminders to Wood River Valley residents of how long his son had been in captivity.

Few mentioned the beard, knowing its significance.

“Bob delivered packages to our office and most everyone’s offices,” said Hailey Mayor Fritz Haemmerle, a local lawyer who has known Bergdahl for 30 years. “You’d see him doing his job, but you never knew what to say. It’s one of those touchy subjects, like when someone dies. What do you say to the family? It’s not an easy conversation to have.

“The change in Bob’s visage told the story. And it was a drastic change.”…

 

 

Read the entire article at the Idaho Statesman.

 

 

Related:  Bergdahl’s parents got rare access to insiders.  (video)  Data for sympathizer of Gitmo detainees.

…Soon after Sgt. Bergdahl went missing in Afghanistan in June 2009, the Obama administration approved an outreach program that involved the Bergdahls traveling from their home in Hailey, Idaho, to the state’s National Guard headquarters in Boise.

There they were hooked into secure video conferences that included representatives of U.S. Central Command, which runs the war in Afghanistan, as well as with White House, State Department and intelligence officials…

 

 

Photo by: Jae C. Hong Robert and Jani Bergdahl were hooked into multiple secure video conferences that included U.S. Central Command, White House, State Department and intelligence officials while their son, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, was being held by the Haqqani Network. (Associated Press)

Photo by: Jae C. Hong
Robert and Jani Bergdahl were hooked into multiple secure video conferences that included U.S. Central Command, White House, State Department and intelligence officials while their son, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, was being held by the Haqqani Network. (Associated Press)

 

 

Hillary Clinton Blows Off Bergdahl Debate with Latest Version of ‘What Difference Does It Make?’ (video)

While out on the circuit promoting her soon-to-be released book (which she manages to reference in this answer), Hillary Clinton weighs in on the Bergdahl prisoner swap.

Hillary dismisses all that hubbub about trading the equivalent of 5 Taliban four-star generals for an alleged deserter without consulting Congress and in defiance of it having earlier rejected the deal. Twice.

And anyway, wasn’t Hillary against this deal before she was for it?

 

 

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