GI's Capture Fuels Desertion Controversy

With some speculating that the US soldier kidnapped by the Taliban deserted his Afghanistan post, conservative media are hot on the trail. Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl “walked off (his base) with a water bottle and (a military ration pack) on some kind of he-man expedition,” a military blogger tells the Washington Times, saying insiders back him up.

Meanwhile, military veterans in Congress wrote a letter to Fox News, slamming its military analyst’s comment that if Bergdahl did desert, the Taliban could save the US “hassle” and “money” by killing him. Retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters’ stance “was repulsive and deserves to be repudiated by your news organization,” the letter said. Peters said he “over-spoke in the heat of the moment.” (More desertion stories.)