Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Hailey residents speak out about Bergdahl

While some opinions differ, support for soldier still strong


By TONY EVANS
Express Staff Writer

Hailey residents are replacing yellow ribbons along Main Street to honor Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, a soldier captured by Taliban militants last summer in Afghanistan. Photo by David N. Seelig

When Rep. Walt Minnick, D-Idaho, brought up the possibility of negotiating a prisoner swap with Taliban militants for Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl earlier this month, he struck a nerve in Bergdhal's home town of Hailey.

Bergdahl is the only U.S. soldier held captive in the war in Afghanistan. He was captured in Patika province on June 30, 2009.

U.S. officials say the soldier was captured when he wandered off base. His captors say they took him when he was lagging behind while on patrol.

Though family, friends and the Pentagon deliberately kept Bergdahl's identity secret for nearly three weeks after the BBC reported a U.S. soldier missing July 2, the government was forced to reveal his name when a video of him appeared on the Internet.

Since last summer, two additional videos have been released by Bergdahl's captors offering to release the soldier in exchange for a "limited number" of prisoners held by the U.S.

The Bergdahl family told the Idaho Mountain Express through a spokesperson that they have no comment concerning the potential for a prisoner exchange, but some Hailey residents, many of whom know the Bergdahl family, were willing to discuss the soldier's plight.

Mitzi Mecham and Kat Vanden Heuvel, two mothers from Hailey, took time off from conversation at the Hailey Coffee Co. café on Main Street this week to share their thoughts about Bergdahl.

Vanden Heuvel's brother served in the military recently. She heard the news about Bergdahl's capture last summer on National Public Radio.

"I was like, whoa! That is right in my backyard," Vanden Heuvel said. "His capture brought the whole war right into our faces. Until then, you always thought, 'It couldn't happen to me.' Now there is an intimate connection."

Mecham owns a business on Main Street in Hailey. Her husband served in the military during the Vietnam War, but doesn't talk about it much. Bob Bergdahl, Bowe's father, drives a UPS truck in Hailey and delivers packages to her store from time to time.

"I admire Bob," she says. "I can't imagine waking up every morning and wondering how your son is being treated over there. He has always got a smile on. His situation puts my problems and worries into perspective."

Mecham would not comment on the possibility of a prisoner exchange to save Bergdahl's life. She said she believed cultural differences between U.S. citizens and the Taliban pose a problem.

"It is sad that other countries don't value human life the way we do. There is a different ethic over there. They don't play by the rules. Look at Guantanamo Bay. At least American citizens are concerned about how those prisoners are treated."

"We have been respectful in our curiosity about Bowe," said R.L. Rowsey, musical director of the Company of Fools theater company on Main Street. "Partly because that is how our town is, but also because we were advised in the news not to share too much about the Bergdahl family, like how they are grieving, because it could provide his captors with information that could be used against him."

Rowsey would not comment on the possibility of a prisoner exchange, relying instead on military leaders to make the decision.

"There are larger forces at work," he said. "Personally, I don't want to have prisoners of war at all, period. I want utopia now."

Ron Moore, a Korean War veteran, said he is "appalled" at the thought of a prisoner exchange. He said Minnick made his comments to pander to voters and that a prisoner exchange is "unrealistic."

"In my opinion, it is time for a reality check in regard to Pfc. Berdahl's situation," Moore stated in a letter to the editor of the Mountain Express last week. "He enlisted knowing full well all the possibilities that come with going to war. It is not a game like hide-and-seek or kick-the-can. One does not 'go home' when the going gets tough."

Moore elaborated further in an interview, describing a specific offer made by the Taliban in February to release Bergdahl in exchange for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, a U.S.-trained Pakistani neuroscientist, and 21 Afghan prisoners. Siddiqui was convicted in January in New York City of the attempted murder of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

"There are 30 pages about Siddiqui on Wikipedia," Moore said. "She is a fanatical Muslim whose whole purpose in life is to kill as many Americans as she can. These people, you know what they are going to do if they are released. They are going to kill as many men, women and children as they can. That is not true about Bowe Bergdahl."

At a rally and candlelight vigil held in Hailey's Hop Porter Park last summer to support Bergdahl, Joan Davies said she wanted to send a "message of communication, rather than hostility" to Bergdahl's captors.

Davies, who has known Bergdahl since he was very young, mentioned "Three Cups of Tea," a book about a program to establish schools in some of the most remote regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Now, she said, she still prefers to focus on positive thoughts regarding relations between the Taliban and the U.S.

"We as Americans from a grassroots level have built playgrounds, schools and libraries in Afghanistan. In this community, we are as open to that kind of thinking as any community in the world."

Davies said it costs about $125 to build a library in Afghanistan.

"Any of us here in Hailey could do that," she said.

Davies said she has had to trust that the U.S. military is taking the right actions to secure Bergdahl's release, but that she would like to see something more "proactive" happen soon.

She said she is hopeful that a prisoner exchange could occur.

"There has got to be some common ground," she said. "They (the Taliban) are human, too. Through diplomatic negotiations, I think something could be possible. I am not asking for justice. I just would like to see something humanitarian happen.

"Bowe has become a sacrificial individual for the process we are in over there. We want him to come home. He was an innocent young man when he left the valley. He will be changed when he returns."

Tony Evans: tevans@mtexpress.com




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