Taliban claim captured U.S. solider has converted to Islam and is teaching its fighte

[truffs1010]

Personally believe his 'conversion' is to protect himself. Hope they find this guy.


Story from Daily Mail.......................

A captured American soldier is training Taliban fighters bomb-making and ambush skills, according to one of his captors and Afghan intelligence officials.

Private Bowe Bergdahl disappeared in June 2009 while based in eastern Afghanistan and is thought to be the only U.S. serviceman in captivity.

The 24-year-old has converted to Islam and now has the Muslim name Abdullah, one of his captors told The Sunday Times.
Bowe Bergdahl

Captured: U.S. solider Private Bowe Bergdahl, pictured in a video released in April, is teaching the Taliban bomb-making skills, according to one of his captors

A Taliban deputy district commander in Paktika, who called himself Haji Nadeem, told the newspaper that Bergdahl taught him how to dismantle a mobile phone and turn it into a remote control for a roadside bomb.

Nadeem claimed he also received basic ambush training from the U.S. soldier.

'Most of the skills he taught us we already knew,' he said. 'Some of my comrades think he's pretending to be a Muslim to save himself so they wouldn't behead him.'


Afghan intelligence officials also believe that Bergdahl is 'cooperating with the Taliban' and is acting as adviser to fighters at a base in the tribal area of Pakistan.

Nadeem also shed some light on how Bergdahl was captured.

After the serviceman left his post in Paktika's Yahya Khel district with an Afghan soldier he was spotted entering a nearby village.

A group of eight Taliban gunman in a nearby field were alerted and ambushed the pair, killing the Afghan soldier.
Bowe Bergdahl

At home in Idaho: Bergdahl is said to have converted to Islam and is now known as Abdullah

Bergdahl was knocked to the ground and ordered to strip and put on Afghan clothing. His kidnappers disposed of all his clothing and belongings, fearing he may be bugged.

The American was initially terrified that he would be beheaded, Nadeem said, but has since become 'very relaxed in our company'.

In April, a harrowing video of Bergdahl pleading for his freedom was released by the Taliban.

In the footage, Bergdahl said he wants to return to his family in Idaho and that the war in Afghanistan is not worth the number of lives that have been lost or wasted in prison.

It was the first he had been seen since the Taliban released a previous video of him at Christmas.
Bowe Bergdahl

Bergdahl was stationed in Paktika's Yahya Khel district when he was captured

The seven-minute video of Bergdahl shows him sporting a beard and doing a few press-ups to demonstrate he's in good physical condition.

There was no way to verify when the footage was taken or if he is still alive.

In the sometimes choppy video, Bergdahl talked about his love for his family, his friends, motorcycles and sailing.

'I'm a prisoner. I want to go home,' he said.

'This war isn't worth the waste of human life that has cost both Afghanistan and the U.S. It's not worth the amount of lives that have been wasted in prisons, Guantanamo Bay, Bagram, all those places where we are keeping prisoners.'

At times speaking haltingly, as if holding back emotions, Bergdahl - clad in what appeared to be an Army shirt and fatigues - clasped his hands together and pleaded: 'The pain in my heart to see my family again doesn't get any smaller.

'Release me. Please, I'm begging you, bring me home.'
Bowe Bergdahl begs to be allowed to return to his family in footage released by the Taliban in April

[cunny_funt]

Fake it till you make it

[MickDonalds]

Okay, not trying to sound like an asshole, but from what I've read, Bergdahl was a shitbag soldier. Why again was he outside the wire, by HIMSELF? I think he was drunk, personally. Also, I HIGHLY doubt he knows all kinds of "Bomb making" techniques, considering they don't train the average soldier how to make IED's. If this guy had been to Sapper or Ranger school, or was an EOD tech, I would believe that, but coming from the Taliban, anything and probably everything is bullshit.

[bobdina]

Okay, not trying to sound like an asshole, but from what I've read, Bergdahl was a shitbag soldier. Why again was he outside the wire, by HIMSELF? I think he was drunk, personally. Also, I HIGHLY doubt he knows all kinds of "Bomb making" techniques, considering they don't train the average soldier how to make IED's. If this guy had been to Sapper or Ranger school, or was an EOD tech, I would believe that, but coming from the Taliban, anything and probably everything is bullshit.

Agree with everything you said. As soon as I read he was teaching bomb making skills I said to myself why the hell would he have to teach it to them and how the hell does an 11B (airborne qualified only) know it.

[Kurticus]

If I was in captivity I would be completely compliant and do anything they ask me to if it means keeping my head.

Why haven't we retrieved him yet? We need to organize a special ops raid and save his ass. I find it hard to believe that we don't have enough intel to figure out where he is.

[cunny_funt]

ok i did not know that he was awol but being drunk ouside the wire does not mean he needs to be brain washed and held as a trophy by the taliban

[ianstone]

He must do whatever it takes to stay alive and return to his loved ones

[theshoebox]

I remember reading in an article that he didn't go outside the wire but that when they were on patrol,
he was lingering in way back in the rear.

[kimble]

I agree with MickD, he was a tool of a GI and pleads like a pussy on the video. Mind you i have not been a POW but my father was in Korea for a short time. My dad always told me it is better to die in battle than lick the boot of your captures.

[Stark]

I agree with MickD, he was a tool of a GI and pleads like a pussy on the video. Mind you i have not been a POW but my father was in Korea for a short time. My dad always told me it is better to die in battle than lick the boot of your captures.

never mind what kind of a tool he was or is - being captured by the Taliban with all the knowlage of beheadings etc must be the single scariest thing you could encounter so don't be too quick to judge this person yet.

[Scott]

I agree with MickD, he was a tool of a GI and pleads like a pussy on the video. Mind you i have not been a POW but my father was in Korea for a short time. My dad always told me it is better to die in battle than lick the boot of your captures.

would you honestly do that in the hands of the taliban?

i certainly fucking wouldn't call me a coward but if i was captured by them i would plan on doing on what they say to get the fuck out of their alive and fight them another day!

[MickDonalds]

I accepted the fact that the Ragheads would never let me live if I were captured anyway. I would never allow myself to be taken alive. I made that decision January 4, 2004, the day I first stepped into Iraq for my first tour. I'd snap necks, bite ears and fingers off and would resist to the point where they would have to kill me.

[daboy233]

i think its crazy a handful of people on this site are speaking down upon this captured solider.

[MickDonalds]

i think its crazy a handful of people on this site are speaking down upon this captured solider.

It may or may not be unjustified, that's up to personal interpretation.

MOST (meaning every other POW case I've ever read about) POW's don't have a shady story or circumstance surrounding why they were taken captive. There's all kinds of speculation that Bergdahl went AWOL because he "wanted to live in the mountains". There's also been speculation given that he deserted and walked off his patrol base drunk. Nobody seems to be able to nail a solid reason down, but when members of your own company are telling media outlets that "he was tired of being in the Army and wanted to go home", well...

My justification for shit talking the man is the fact that he betrayed his service and his country by violating the Code of Conduct. He aided the enemy by making a propaganda video. Keith Maupin (who was killed in Iraq), resisted and refused to take part in videos, and although he was shot and killed, didn't violate the code of conduct.

[thomasjkelley]

I think a lot of soldiers feel the same way. There has been at least one documented case of an American soldier who was to be beheaded, fighting so fiercely, that they had to shoot him instead. He simply wasn't going to allow himself to be desecrated by those animals.

[MickDonalds]

I think a lot of soldiers feel the same way. There has been at least one documented case of an American soldier who was to be beheaded, fighting so fiercely, that they had to shoot him instead. He simply wasn't going to allow himself to be desecrated by those animals.

I'm pretty sure that was Maupin.

[bobdina]

Source: Bergdahl Deserted
By P.J. TOBIA


I’ve been reporting for over a week (along with the AP and WaPo) that Bowe Bergdahl, the US soldier who’s gone missing in eastern Afghanistan, walked off the base on his own accord.

Now, somebody close to the people searching for Bergdahl has repeated this assertion saying that the soldier left “a note behind that said he was going to the mountains to find himself. He took a journal and 4 or 5 knives with him.” My source tells me that Bergdahl arrived at a village and asked if anybody spoke English. That’s when he was captured.

My source tells me that there is no doubt Bergdahl deserted, which in a time of war is punishable by a court martial at the least, or even execution.

I’m not the only one saying this. Lt. Col. Ralph Peters (Ret.) told Fox News that Bergdahl is “an apparent deserter,” and intimates that he wouldn’t feel badly if the Taliban killed Bergdahl. At the end of the segment he does say that we should wait until all the facts come in to pass judgement, but even Michelle Malkin smells something fishy.

I spoke with US Col. Greg Julian about an hour ago and he would not answer questions about the curcumstances of Bergdahl’s dissapearence.

Back in the 80’s Russian soldiers defected regularly. Artyom Borovik’s fantastic book “The Hidden War” talks at great length about Soviet soldiers who fled thier bases and joined the Mujahidin. Many of them fought alongside thier former enemies for years. A few even stayed here in Afghanistan. One of them is a well-known cab driver here in Kabul, though I’ve never met him. I’m told that another was a body guard for Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Afghan hero and Northern Alliance leader who helped drive the Russians out of this country. Massoud was killed on 9.9.01 by a Taliban suicide bomber.

If the Taliban can get this US soldier to accept Islam and wage jihad, that would be a tremendous coup for the insurgency, especially given the election here on Aug 20. On the other hand, when Charles Robert Jenkins defected to North Korea in the early 1960’s, he instantly regretted it. Perhaps Bergdahl is feeling similar pangs this very minute.

BOISE -- Leaked military documents on the war in Afghanistan appear to provide details of the U.S. Army's search for an Idaho soldier captured last year by the Taliban.

Bowe Bergdahl, from Hailey, has been a captive since June 30, 2009.

Documents posted on whistleblower group WikiLeaks' website include intercepted radio transmissions after Bergdahl went missing from his base in southern Afghanistan -- as well as details about talks two days later with village elders about a possible prisoner swap.

http://www.ktvb.com/news/local/Leaked-military-documents-appear-to-provide-details-on-capture-of-Idaho-soldier-99496104.html

The ones I feel sorry for are the families of the soldiers killed looking for him and those who were wounded looking for him.
He had no weapon or body armor on , so he was not on patrol and lagging behind. Leaked documents from that wikileaks site show he walked away from his outpost with neither weapon or body armor.
Now I do feel for him and his family and I really don't blame him for making the video's and whatever else he's doing, but it really seems he has no one to blame but himself.
If he was on patrol, shot down, knocked out or captured in any other circumstance I would have a lot more sympathy for him.

[MickDonalds]

Well there goes my sympathy for him.

I have sources (I'm not allowed to reveal/identify them) within the ARMY that have said this kid was one of the "dropouts" that most likely joined the Army for a paycheck. The type that screws around for a few years after they barely graduate high school, smoking dope and not doing much until mom and dad give "the ultimatim" (Get a job or we're throwing you out of the house in 30 days!). Then they get an urgent sense of patriotism and run away to join the Army. I may be wrong on this, but the "deserter" types are as easy to characterize as any other type of soldier. Again, I can't go into depth (because it's sensitive information) but this kid should be considered anything but a "Hero".

[KillerBD]

Hell I don't know the truth weather or not he deliberately deserted or was captured against his will... But in all honesty I don't hold it against him for going along with what they want, converting to Islam and what not. I very seriously doubt anyone else on this site under those same circumstances would choose to have their hands and feet bound while getting their heads sawed off with a 2" long dull-knife blade...

I could be wrong though, it's very easy to talk tough as nails. Hell I'm sure everyone on here is just as honest in their typing as they are in their sociopath-minds... I doubt very seriously you could watch one of your close buddies get brutalized in this manner then beheaded, and make a conscientious decision to share the same fate... Honor, courage, integrity, patriotism, (or whatever your ideological feelings are) it's really easy for me to sit behind my computer screen and brag about how patriotic I am, and how I would never do 'that' under those circumstances... But put me there, and with those delusional psychopaths, and put a blade to my throat and I may just have a slight "change of heart" so to speak...

Personally, don't take it offensive. But just about everyone's opinion here, is worth shit. No real hard-core facts, and on top of that everyone is making claims of "I would do, if I was, under those circumstances..." I'm guessing most of you would cower like a bitch and beg for your lives. But that's a truth you can't dare confront unless a man is holding a knife to your neck. I'll wait for the facts to come out about this one, before I go tooting my horn about death before dishonor. Hard for me to judge someone else on a circumstance in which I have never directly been in.

[b__Rad]

I would probably cower in fear, cry like a girl, and shit in my pants. I don't think anyone's protesting the idea that he's playing along with the enemy I think what we're mostly saying is that we wouldn't DESERT our fellow soldiers that we've fought beside of in war WILLINGLY as has been told by 90% of the people around him that he did. There's no right way to approach this situation when held as a POW I'm sure but again this isn't the point. I've never pretended to be a keyboard warrior/e-tough/e-gangster etc. I also don't think it's a good idea to go looking for the Terrible Terry's.

[thomasjkelley]

First of all KillerVD, if you bothered to read the replies, you would know that the majority say they don't blame this soldier for his actions; not since his capture. Yes, you & I would cower in fear if faced with this situation, that's the reason I would never put myself in the position to be captured by a terrorist. The young men on this site who tend to be brash & outspoken, (the ones I assume you are railing against {"Hell I'm sure everyone on here is just as honest in their typing as they are in their sociopath-minds..."}) are the guys who purposely put themselves in these positions! They volunteer to take up arms and go to Arab lands, hoping for the opportunity to meet these "delusional psychopaths" face to face. They're a different breed than most, and that's why they do what they do. So, you certainly know how you would react when faced with the possibility of death, but don't you even begin to assume that you know how all members of AC would react: they are not like you!

[MickDonalds]

First of all KillerVD, if you bothered to read the replies, you would know that the majority say they don't blame this soldier for his actions; not since his capture. Yes, you & I would cower in fear if faced with this situation, that's the reason I would never put myself in the position to be captured by a terrorist. The young men on this site who tend to be brash & outspoken, (the ones I assume you are railing against {"Hell I'm sure everyone on here is just as honest in their typing as they are in their sociopath-minds..."}) are the guys who purposely put themselves in these positions! They volunteer to take up arms and go to Arab lands, hoping for the opportunity to meet these "delusional psychopaths" face to face. They're a different breed than most, and that's why they do what they do. So, you certainly know how you would react when faced with the possibility of death, but don't you even begin to assume that you know how all members of AC would react: they are not like you!

Thank you.

Post of the thread.

[iLLbanianKid]

In his latest video dude cant even put two sentences together, he sounds so shook. And his condition isnt what it used to be, I think he lost a little weight. His reflexes ain't there.

[lee123]

i feel bad for this guy hes just doing it so he wont be beheaded

[kbancroft]

It may or may not be unjustified, that's up to personal interpretation.

MOST (meaning every other POW case I've ever read about) POW's don't have a shady story or circumstance surrounding why they were taken captive. There's all kinds of speculation that Bergdahl went AWOL because he "wanted to live in the mountains". There's also been speculation given that he deserted and walked off his patrol base drunk. Nobody seems to be able to nail a solid reason down, but when members of your own company are telling media outlets that "he was tired of being in the Army and wanted to go home", well...

My justification for shit talking the man is the fact that he betrayed his service and his country by violating the Code of Conduct. He aided the enemy by making a propaganda video. Keith Maupin (who was killed in Iraq), resisted and refused to take part in videos, and although he was shot and killed, didn't violate the code of conduct.

I agree completely. This guy took an oath, as did we all who have served. The only reason why we are hearing so much about this guy is because he doesn't have the balls, let alone the integrity to resist as real soldiers like Keith Maupin did. Sure - it's scary - I'd be terrified, but knowing that there have been others who were in the same position and met a terrifying end would be enough for me. I'm sorry, but the guy is a coward :nono: and his "story" takes away from all those brave hero's who resisted, like Maupin, who gave up nothing. The most we ever hear about these guys is that they were captured, then found dead. Most of anything in between just fuels the enemy's propaganda machine.

[conorcolt]

If I was in captivity I would be completely compliant and do anything they ask me to if it means keeping my head.

Why haven't we retrieved him yet? We need to organize a special ops raid and save his ass. I find it hard to believe that we don't have enough intel to figure out where he is.

there is pretty much no way to find him. they have taken him to a house or something where they dig tunnels and rooms underground. they would literally have to go room by room house by house and tear the floors up