BERGDAHL TO FACE COURT-MARTIAL – AT 4:23 P.M. ET:  Bowe Bergdahl, who is alleged to have deserted his unit in Afghanistan, will face a court-martial on that and other charges.  Of course, he is innocent until proved guilty, but the charges are very grave, and have clearly been vetted very carefully.   From ABC News:

Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl’s case has been referred to a general court martial, where he could face a life sentence if convicted of misbehavior before the enemy and he could face five years of prison time if convicted of desertion. On June 30, 2009, Bergdahl walked away from his unit’s remote outpost in eastern Afghanistan and was held captive by the Taliban for the next five years until a controversial prisoner swap for five former Taliban officials held at Guantanamo.

"The U.S. Army Forces Command's Commanding General referred two charges today, Dec. 14, in the case of United States vs. Sgt. Robert B. Bergdahl to a General Court-Martial," the Army said in a statement.

"The two specific charges referred under the U.S. Armed Forces' Uniform Code of Military Justice are: (1) Article 85: 'Desertion with Intent to Shirk Important or Hazardous Duty;' and (2) Article 99: 'Misbehavior before the Enemy by Endangering the Safety of a Command, Unit or Place,'" the statement added.

Bergdahl's attorney, Eugene Fidell, said in a statement that Gen. Robert Abrams, commander of U.S. Army Forces Command, did not accept the recommendation from a pre-trial hearing that Bergdahl’s case should be referred to a special court martial that would have limited prison time for a conviction to a year. Instead, Abrams decided to refer Bergdahl’s case to a general court martial for which he could get five years if convicted of desertion and a life sentence if convicted of misbehavior before the enemy.

"The convening authority did not follow the advice of the hearing officer who heard the witnesses," said Fidell, noting he "had hoped the case would not go in this direction."

At a pre-trial hearing in September known as an Article 32 hearing, Major General Kenneth Dahl, who had conducted an exhaustive investigation of Bergdahl’s case testified that he felt Bergdahl should not face jail time if convicted. “I do not believe that there is a jail sentence at the end of this process," Dahl said. "I think it would be inappropriate.”

COMMENT:   Very intriguing.  From appearances, and I don't know the internal details, Gen. Abrams made his decision without interference from the Obama White House.  You'll recall that Field Marshal Obama made a big deal of getting Bergdahl released by the Taliban, even inviting Bergdahl's parents to the White House and displaying them before the public, wherein it became clear that Bergdahl's father was batso.

Let's stretch it a bit.  Is this an indication of things to come, like a hands-off policy involving the FBI probe of Hillary Clinton?   This is pure speculation, of course, but the White House could say, "We don't interfere with FBI investigations," and leave Hillary to her fate.  Just askin'.

December 14, 2015