BERGADAHL: Should clarify circumstances

Prisoner or deserter?

Regardless of the politics involving the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergadahl in exchange for five prisoners at Guantanamo and whether President Obama violated any laws concerning this, I would like to point out the definition of a “prisoner of war.” Defined by Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary: “A person who is captured and held by an enemy during war, especially a member of the armed forces; abbr. POW.”

Did Bergadahl surrender while engaged in combat operations, which is his perfect right?

Did the enemy (Taliban) capture him? The key word is capture as defined above.

We have to assume that under military law Bergadahl will be given an opportunity to clarify the circumstances surrounding his detention by an enemy force for the last five years.

God bless our military,

PAUL UNDERWOOD

St. Maries