A good evening to you on this monday night we begin with the fast moving story of american Bowe Bergdahl and the fire storm over the deal that released him from captivity. Five taliban leaders have gone free in the deal and lot of people arguing too high a price to pay. Other people wondering about the young man who wandered off his post. The only thing everyone seems to agree on those sent to his rescue were heroic. Our coverage of the release of Bowe Bergdahl begins with martha raddatz. Reporter tonight we are hearing stunning accusations for those who risked their lives to save him with even a former Senior Defense official calling bergdahl a deserter. Reporter tonight the question who really is Bowe Bergdahl . The soldier, hospitalized in the stable condition. He was held so long by the taliban we know he is still speaking in their native language, finding english difficult. Let him go. Get me to come home. Reporter it was 7 00 p. M. Saturday with u. S. Drones and helicopters track
this hour. this hour an american is free for the first time in five years. That in and of itself is good but there are serious questions about the cost to free Sergeant Bowe bergdahl and concern bordering on anger about how he ended up in taliban hands to begin with. Was he a deserter . Bergdahl is treated right now in germany. Special Operations Forces picked him up from the taliban on saturday after almost five years of captivity in afghanistan. He was in pakistan for a big chunk of that. In exchange, five taliban prisoners were released from guantanamo. Some suggest that is a price too high to pay especially given that some of his fellow troops say he deserted his post and that at least six soldiers were killed in searches for him. Some of those troops say he should be courtmartialed. Lets bring in our senior White House Correspondent joe johns. We should say, theres no publicly verified account of how Sergeant Bergdahl left his post but there are suggestions that he walked off. The
reporter: well, gretchen, pentagon spokesman, colonel steve warren, says bergdahl is still being treated by a team of medical experts in germany, including a team of psychologists. is he in stable condition but remains hospitalized to deal with his nutritional needs after five years in captivity, we re told. bergdahl is still having trouble or choosing not to speak english. there are indications he may have converted to islam. he still has not spoken to his parents, gretchen. so do we know anything more about the circumstances that took him off the base back in 2009? we know from members of his unite who have reached out, and from senior military officials at the time that beau walked off base after standing watch, he left without a weapon, he took a journal and a compass only. statements by his father have raised some eyebrows about what his intentions were. most of all, i m proud of how much you wanted to help the afghan people and what you were willing to do to g
so and it s disturbing to me the taliban are the ones that name the people to be released. the pentagon says bergdahl s safety and health were in danger that s why they didn t give congress a 30-days heads up about the transfer. the white house didn t negotiate directly with terrorists. the question now is and you point to the kinds of work we are having now no longer can it be said the u.s. doesn t negotiate with terrorists. i wroo put it that way at all. when we are embattled with terrorists that prisoner is still a u.s. serviceman or woman. we have a sacred obligation to bring that person back. the last we heard sergeant bergdahl still hasn t spoken to i see had parents back ter hee states. heather? peter doocy, thank youment we appreciate it. a sense of pride by the obama administration is not shared by many who served with him. veterans and soldiers calling him a deserter who once said he was quote a shame to even be american. we have that past o story. whi
ladies and gentlemen, governor mike huckabee. [ applause ] thank you, thank you very much. we have an audience here in new york. and welcome to all of you. and welcome to the huckabee in the fox news studios in new york city. i mentioned a couple of weeks ago my wife and i were celebrating 40 years of marriage and we took a trip to china, great wall and forbidden city and tinamen square and shanghai and the province of shindu. it was there that janet held and fed a baby panda and no, i did not bring a real one home for the grandkids. i know that many americans fearr that china will get too strong. i m not too worried about china getting too strong. i am worried that america might be getting to weak. other nations having a strong economy is not bad for the united states. it is one less hungry mouthed country wanting us to take care of it and of their people. if they have money maybe they will buy the things we innovate and make. we need to fear not making things. that happens