WikiLeaks Document Suggests One Way Bowe Bergdahl May Have Been Captured

WikiLeaks Document Suggests One Way Bowe Bergdahl May Have Been Captured

A document released by WikiLeaks contains an intercepted communication that suggests Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban while relieving himself -- although other aspects of the intercept are at odds with what is known about Bergdahl's disappearance.

The question of just how Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban has become an increasingly politicized one since his release in a prisoner exchange. Some conservatives have suggested that Bergdahl was a deserter. Others, meanwhile, maintain that he was simply absent without leave. The brief intercept published by WikiLeaks as part of a much larger chronicle of Bergdahl's disappearance suggests a third course of events altogether -- that he had not even left his base.

"WE WERE ATTACKING THE POST HE WAS SITTING TAKING EXPLETIVE HE HAD NO GUN WITH HIM," reads the July 1, 2009, intercept of an apparent Taliban communication.

That intercept, which was also referred to in a 2012 Rolling Stone article, suggests the soldier had little role in his capture by the Taliban.

But other aspects of the WikiLeaks document suggest that Bergdahl did indeed leave his base willingly. Another intercept suggests that "an American Soldier with a camera is looking for someone who speaks English."

Few other sources support the idea that Bergdahl was taken by the Taliban while the base was being attacked. A military review conducted after his disappearance in 2009 concluded that he most likely simply walked away at night.

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Bowe Bergdahl

Bowe Bergdahl

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