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Historical perspective: Deserters or prisoners of war?
Vietnam era case similar to Bergdahl's; 2 men faced questions, doubts after release from captivity
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This image made from video released by the Taliban and obtained by IntelCenter on Dec. 8, 2010, shows a man believed to be Bowe Bergdahl at left. Bergdahl, a U.S. Army soldier, went missing from his outpost in Afghanistan in June 2009. He was released from Taliban captivity May 31 as part of a negotiated deal in exchange for five enemy combatants held in the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The recent return to U.S. military control of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is curiously similar to the case of another American serviceman who spent years either as a collaborator with, or a prisoner of, enemy forces before being released, that of Marine Pfc. Robert Garwood. It was 35 years ago that Garwood emerged from the jungles of Vietnam after 14 years of either captivity or aiding and abetting the enemy, depending on whose version of the story is to be believed.