Sunday, July 19, 2009

Captured Soldier from Idaho

Now that the missing soldier has finally been identified many unanswered questions remain. Americans will be wait for the military authorities in Afghanistan to provide some answers. Sometimes it appears that the military officials are slow in coming forth with vital information. Maybe they are constrained by their civilian bosses, but that remains to be seen in this incident. Meanwhile we are all praying for the safe release of Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl of Hailey, Idaho.


This video frame grab taken from a Taliban propaganda video released Saturday, July 18, 2009 shows an American soldier who went missing from his base.
HAILEY, Idaho — A soldier from Idaho who disappeared from his base in Afghanistan has been captured, the Pentagon confirmed Sunday, a day after he was seen in a Taliban video posted online.

The Defense Department released the name of Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, who was serving with an Alaska-based infantry regiment. The private was last seen walking away from his base near the border with Pakistan in an area known to be a Taliban stronghold.

Even before his name became public, two U.S. defense officials confirmed to The Associated Press that the man in that 28-minute video was the captured soldier. The video, in which Bergdahl said he was "scared I won't be able to go home," provided the first public glimpse of the missing American.

The Pentagon statement said Bergdahl's whereabouts became unknown on July 1 and his status was changed July 3 to missing-captured.

Bob Bergdahl, the soldier's father, told The Associated Press Saturday that the family was requesting media respect their privacy.

"We hope and pray for our son's safe return to his comrades and then to our family, and we appreciate all the support and expressions of sympathy shown to us by our family members, our friends and others across the nation," Bob Bergdahl said in a statement issued through the Department of Defense. "Thank you, and please continue to keep Bowe in your thoughts and prayers."

On the video, which was posted on a Web site pointed out by the Taliban, Bergdahl says he's from Hailey, Idaho, a town of about 7,000 people that lies 160 miles east of Boise. The Pentagon identified his hometown as Ketchum, which is about half the size of Hailey and about 12 miles north. His family says he grew up in Blaine County, closer to Hailey. Read more.... FOXNews via AP

2 comments:

pullupyourdamnpants said...

Did you know it's incredibly illegal to post an entire Associated Press story without paying the AP for it? Copyright laws are more than clear. If the AP sees this they will charge you thousands of dollars and you'll be stuck paying it. The general rule of thumb is no more than one-fourth of a story may be quoted, and it must be clear you are quoting AP, and you must provide a direct link to the full story on a website which subscribes to AP (and pays them tens of thousands a year for the right.) You can summarize a story, but not use any direct phrases or sentences; it must be your own words.

Right Truth said...

No matter what the circumstances of this soldier's disappearance, we all pray for his safety and return soon.

I'm afraid pullupyourdamnpants is correct about posting entire articles. Even posting entire articles from other blogs, or places like Pajamas Media is not a good idea. Some will politely tell you once, some won't be so nice.

Only post a couple of paragraphs and always have a clickable link back to the original source or at the least note who the source is. It's like stealing someone's intellectual property.

I know lots of bloggers who do this, but it's not a good idea.

The full articles I post at Right Truth are ones that are written strictly for Right Truth or that I have direct permission from the author to reprint.

Deborah F. Hamilton
Right Truth
http://www.righttruth.typepad