Opinion

Getting to the truth of Bowe Bergdahl

More than two months after Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was freed from Afghan captivity — in exchange for five high-value Taliban militants at Gitmo — he was at last questioned by the Army about the details of his capture.

The so-called AR 15-6 hearing will determine if, prior to that capture, Bergdahl deserted his post and might therefore face a court martial.

Count on The New York Times to present Bergdahl’s side in as flattering a way as possible, including assurances from Bergdahl’s lawyer that his client answered all questions and didn’t invoke his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.

Now we recognize the Pentagon felt a need to give Bergdahl some “space” to readjust from his five years in captivity. But hard questions demand clear answers.

The soldiers who served by Bergdahl’s side say he deserted.

Some also say he bears some responsibility for six soldiers in Afghanistan who died after he went missing, either because the Army’s operations there became de facto searches for Bergdahl, or because the attacks that killed these men came only because the Taliban had calculated our Army was stretched thin by the search.

President Obama did not help when he unveiled Sgt. Bergdahl’s mother and father at a celebratory White House press conference.

In fact, it is the president who ignited this controversy, first by exchanging Bergdahl for five dangerous Taliban leaders and, second, by using that Rose Garden press conference to all but call Bergdahl a hero.

Meanwhile, America waits for the thing that matters most here: an honest accounting of what Bergdahl did, and whether his actions cost the lives of six good soldiers.