US soldier could face life in prison

Bowe Bergdahl

Charge upgraded to general court-martial following tell-all podcast

US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl will face a general court-martial in connection with his 2009 disappearance from his base in Afghanistan, the service announced, raising the possibility that the soldier could face life in prison after being held captive for five years.

Bergdahl, 29, is charged with desertion and misbehaviour before the enemy. He has been a political lightning rod since he was exchanged in May 2014 in a prisoner swap approved by the White House for Taliban officials held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and kept under supervised watch in Qatar.

The decision was made by General Robert Abrams, the four-star commander of US Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

It came after Bergdahl broke his silence last week by participating in the popular podcast Serial. The weekly podcast obtained 25 hours of recorded conversations between Bergdahl and film producer Mark Boal with Bergdahl's approval.

The decision is more severe than recommended by Lieutenant-Colonel Mark Visger, who oversaw a two-day hearing for Bergdahl's case in September. Visger recommended Bergdahl face a a special court-martial, which would have come with a maximum 12 months of confinement. General court-martial is the highest level of trial in the military justice system. If convicted, Bergdahl could face life in prison. Desertion can carry a death penalty, but no US service member has been executed for desertion since World War II.

Bergdahl's lawyer, Eugene Fidell, said Abrams "did not follow the advice of the preliminary hearing officer".

A spokesman for Abrams, John Boyce, said the decision to go forward with a general court-martial had nothing to do with Bergdahl's participation in the Serial podcast.

Bergdahl left a tiny combat outpost June 29, 2009, just before midnight in an area in which the Taliban were known to operate. He wanted to cause a large enough crisis to get the attention of a general officer and relay concerns he had about his leaders, according to a senior officer who investigated his case, Lieutenant-General Kenneth Dahl, and Bergdahl in the recording released through Serial. The designation is known as a DUSTWUN, an acronym for "duty status-whereabouts unknown".

Bergdahl was captured within hours and moved over the border into Pakistan. His loss sparked a manhunt that lasted months, ran American troops ragged and spawned operations in which lives were in danger, Army officials say.

Bergdahl was held by the Haqqani network, a group affiliated with the Taliban. He was moved several times over the next five years, tortured and kept isolated and primarily in the dark.

A panel of psychiatrists found Bergdahl was suffering from a mental defect when he walked away from his base, Fidell said during the hearing.

A former enlisted specialist in Bergdahl's infantry company, Jon Thurman, said he wasn't surprised by the general court-martial.

"When that first episode aired, I mean, he sort of hung himself by saying that he walked off." Washington Post - Bloomberg