While the U.S. Army weighs whether to bring charges against Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was freed earlier this year after spending nearly five years as a Taliban captive in Afghanistan, six of his former platoon mates are shopping proposals for a book and movie that would render their own harsh verdicts.
A draft of their book proposal, a copy of which was obtained by Yahoo News, depicts Bergdahl as a "premeditated" deserter who "put all of our lives in danger" — and possibly aided the Taliban — when he disappeared from his observation post in eastern Afghanistan in the early morning hours of June 30, 2009.
But the political furor over Bergdahl's release from Taliban captivity — the result of a U.S.-Taliban swap deal that saw the release of five Guantanamo terrorism suspects in exchange for Bergdahl's freedom — is complicating the book's prospects. Agents for the soldiers say that some publishers have balked, and in at least one case out of fear that the project would bolster conservative criticism of the Obama administration.
"I'm not sure we can publish this book without the Right using it to their ends," Sarah Durand, a senior editor at Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, wrote in an email to one of the soldiers' agents.
"[T]he Conservatives are all over Bergdahl and using it against Obama," Durand wrote, "and my concern is that this book will have to become a kind of 'Swift Boat Veterans for Truth'" — a reference to the controversial book that raised questions about John Kerry's Vietnam War record in the midst of his 2004 presidential campaign. (Durand did not respond to requests for comment. "We do not comment about our editorial process," said Paul Olsewski, vice president, director of publicity, at Atria.)
Another complication is that Bergdahl's former platoon mates are all potential key witnesses in the Army's investigation into his 2009 disappearance. Two of the would-be authors, who were recently questioned as part of the Army probe, insisted in interviews they aren't advancing a political agenda — but want to set the record straight, as they see it, about Bergdahl's conduct, and President Obama's praise for him at a Rose Garden ceremony in May.
"There was no way we were going to sit down and be quiet while Obama was calling him a war hero," said Evan Buetow, Bergdahl's former team leader, in an interview with Yahoo News. "We're just trying to tell the truth. It's not my fault this would make Obama look bad."
"We didn't politicize this," added Cody Full, Bergdahl's former roommate. "They brought his parents out at a White House Rose Garden ceremony and presented him as a hero … Why wouldn't you just have a quiet press release? Why do you have to have a big parade? You don't do that for the parents who have kids who have died in Afghanistan."
Bergdahl, who has returned to duty at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, was questioned for 11 hours last week in two closed-door sessions with Maj. Gen. Kenneth R. Dahl, who is leading the investigation into his disappearance. Dahl is preparing a report to the Pentagon, where commanders will decide what action, if any, to take against him.
Eugene R. Fidell, Bergdahl's lawyer, declined to discuss the substance of his client's testimony, or the dark portrayal of his actions and motivations being advanced by his former Army colleagues.
