Reporter: Bowe Bergdahl’s Fellow Soldiers Questioned Afghan War More Than He Did

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Reporter: Bowe Bergdahl’s Fellow Soldiers Questioned Afghan War More Than He Did http://owl.li/xzEp0


interview with Sean Smith, the award-winning photographer and filmmaker for The Guardian:

Q: ( . . . about meeting Bowe Bergdahl in Afghanistan. Where did you see him?)

SEAN SMITH: I met him briefly. He was with a group who were on an observation post, which was basically a hole in the ground at the top of the hill, for a few days. It was a short time. They were in pretty good spirits, all of them. They were kind of on their own. I think there was a couple of the other soldiers, early one morning on camera, questioned the mission — the whole mentioned, I guess, in Afghanistan, and what they were doing. I think the phrase was, these people have been dicked around by the Russians for 17 years and now we are doing it. And I think these people just want to be left alone. I think that is roughly what was said. I did not hear that from Bowe at all. I don’t know exactly what happened. I don’t think anyone knows that for sure now. I know when I heard about his capture, even the place was unclear. So I don’t know — it happened about 10 days after I was with him. So, you know, there seems to have been quite a bit of speculation about what happened and him. I just don’t think much is — you know, it’s not all that clear and I would not want to speculate and join that speculation.

SEAN SMITH: We put out a video in 2009 with the guys saying that. I was in — I was about three months in Afghanistan. I went from being with the 501st — I mean I was hoping I was hoping I was going to spend a couple of weeks with Bowe and these guys. I then got pulled back and went to another area with the 501st and then went on to join the Brits with Operation Panther’s Claw. But, yeah, I mean, we did not know the circumstances. I found out sometime later. But as I say, the video we ran at the time, there’s two guys who were in the same dugout, hole in the ground, they had started the early morning watching the back of the construction site, and that is what they said. So I think at that time, you know, naturally enough, quite a number of people serving in the military in Afghanistan were voicing questions about what they were doing there, you know, or what they were told they were doing there and what they actually thought they were doing there. You know, on a political level. So they weren’t criticizing the chain of command, but they were questioning the war and the concept of it and etc. It wasn’t a very unusual. I had a similar thing with a couple of the Brits, which was quite unusual. But, a number of American soldiers expressed queries and questions.

SEAN SMITH: Well, as I said, the time I was with him, they were a tight little group. I think the captain at the other end of the hill had said, hey there is these guys up on the hill, you know, they are happy being up there and don’t want to be rotated down, even though the conditions are pretty basic. You know, they seemed to be getting on very well. All American military was being told to engage with the Afghans and try and learn a little Pashto to try and, yeah, have some understanding of the culture. So, that wasn’t unusual. Those people came up to speak to them. You know, they were polite and spoke to them. We went to have something to eat with the Afghan soldiers who were not that far away, one evening, which we weren’t really supposed to do. But, none of this seems — in terms of the e-mail, I’ve not seen the e-mails. I don’t know about it. But, in terms of questioning things, you know, there was a lot military who completely, 100%, we’re doing completely the right thing, and there were also a lot who were saying, you know, I’m not sure, I think this is the military is being put in a difficult, impossible position. You know, it is not doable. It is muddled and unclear.

SEAN SMITH: I think as a family, a very thoughtful family, I think they’re well respected in the community. I think they’re a family with a sense of sort of duty and patriotism and doing the right thing. I don’t think he chose to — he found himself in the situation after his son joined up where, you know, first of all, thought he needed to find out more about the war. After his son became a prisoner, I think both his way of — the family’s way of dealing with it was to try and find out even more and follow things to try and find about the people who were holding his son captive. I think his attitude was that, I guess, the country or the West had gone quite a long way from some of the things that were being talked about at the end of the second world war, the Nuremberg Trials. Here we are marking 70th anniversary of D-Day, which was, you know, the trials were after that, which was for a rule of law for, you know, not just if you take people and you try them and then if they’re found guilty, they’re put in jail, but, you know, certain procedures should be upheld. I think his position would be that, if anything, things were being done in an un-American way. I hope I’m not — I don’t speak for Bowe or anyone, but that seemed to me to be what he was saying.


read/watch: http://owl.li/xzEp0