Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dahl, the Army general who led the investigation into Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's actions in Afghanistan felt that it would be 'inappropriate' to send Bergdahl to prison.
Dahl said he "did not find any evidence to corroborate the reporting that Bergdahl was ... sympathetic to the Taliban," after interviewing him for over 36 hours, reported CNN.
Dahl was of the opinion that Bergdahl wanted to draw attention to poor leadership by his action which resulted in him being captured and held captive by the Taliban, before being freed in exchange for five members of the terror network held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, last year.
I don't "believe there is a jail sentence at the end of this process," said Dahl according to CNN.
Terence Russell, a Defense Department expert who debriefed Bergdahl, said that the sergeant had escaped and was caught twice, eventually locked by captors in a 7-square-foot metal cage for more than three years. During his years in captivity Bergdahl was tortured, beaten with a rubber hose and copper wire, denied food and water and suffered "uncontrollable diarrhea" for more than three years.
"Sgt. Bergdahl did that - did the best he could do - and I respect him for it. He had to fight the enemy alone. ... You can't underestimate how hard that is," said Russell according to LA Times.
Bergdahl, now 29, is seen as an introvert, fascinated by Asian culture - particularly the Samurai warrior code - and inspired by Ayn Rand's character John Galt. "He has unrealistically idealistic standards and expectations of other people," Dahl said, according to The Daily Beast.
Experts feel that it will take weeks, probably months before any decision regarding Bergdahl is made, and ultimately it will be Gen. Robert B. Abrams, head of U.S. Army Forces Command, who decides Bergdahl's future.
