New Serial could be about US ‘deserter’ Bowe Bergdahl

WHEN a US soldier vanished in Afghanistan, we learned he’d been abducted. Now he’s charged with desertion. Can Sarah Koenig figure out the truth?

Bowe Bergdahl

THE biggest podcast ever is back, and it’s set to be even more confounding and controversial than the first time around.

The team behind Serial has been researching the mysterious case of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, the US soldier on trial for desertion after he was used by Afghan insurgents in a prisoner exchange.

Presenter Sarah Koenig and one of the show’s producers were spotted in the courtroom at the former POW’s preliminary hearing in Texas, Maxim reported. They were also said to have obtained taped interviews with Bergdahl from screenwriter Mark Boal, who is apparently working on a movie version of the story. Hollywood Reporterconfirmed the rumours.

Bergdahl’s bizarre story would make gripping listening. The soldier, then 23, vanished from his post in eastern Afghanistan on June 30 2009. For the next five years, his only contact with the world was in disturbing propaganda videos that showed him looking emaciated and hollow-eyed, begging for release.

In May 2014, he was released in exchange for five Guantanamo Bay detainees. He claimed he had been abducted after walking away from his post in protest against conditions in his unit. But others believe a more sinister version of events.

Some believe the US government were concerned by his sickly appearance.

Bergdahl in a 2009 propaganda video.

Bergdahl found life in the army a “deception” from the beginning, his parents told Rolling Stone magazine in 2012, describing him as a “psychologically isolated” young man. His platoon were sent to train in the extreme heat of the Mojave Desert, a punishing experience.

Fellow soldiers said Bergdahl‘s behaviour was odd and intense. He avoided spending time with his comrades, training hard alone, studying maps and reading books on philosophy.

In Afghanistan, he spent more time with locals than his platoon. A documentary made about his unit at the time showed a group of men with little order or faith in their mission, wearing baseball caps instead of helmets and clashing with villagers.

In a final email to his parents on June 27, Bergdahl outlined his disillusionment with his superiors, the army and America, and the pain of watching an Afghan child run down by his compatriots. “The future is too good to waste on lies,” he said. “I am sorry for everything.” Three days later, he was gone.

Within days, Bergdahl was captured, and characteristically Taliban videos began to emerge, showing Bergdahl criticising US foreign policy and pleading for help.

As his parents pleaded for action, some Americans decried him as a traitor, demanding he be left to his fate. A soldier from his unit said on Facebook he should be executed for desertion. The truth remained shrouded in secrecy, as the US government tried to silence discussion of the sensitive case.

His parents Jani and Bob Bergdahl received death threats.

When he was released last year in exchange for five suspected terrorists linked to mass killings and Osama bin Laden, there was uproar. His family in Idaho received death threats. Some said the government had taken action because he looked so dangerously ill.

In March of htis year, a US official announced that the soldier would be court-martialed on charges of desertion and misbehaviour before the enemy, the latter an accusation that has barely been used since World War II. Desertion can carry a maximum penalty of death, although most military officials do not believe that’s likely in this case.

Fans of the Serial podcast, as well as those intrigued by Bergdahl’s curious story, will be thrilled to hear Koenig delve into the conflicting narratives in her signature implacable style. As an ongoing court drama, it will be a marked departure from the first series on a puzzling 1999 high school murder.

Critics who thought the first series represented an unnecessary intrusion into the lives of those connected with the victim will undoubtedly have further misgivings this time over possible interference with an active case.

The soldier in a vehicle guarded by the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan.

Former members of Bergdahl’s unit who claimed they were interviewed by the Serial team say they have doubts about the podcast’s ability to shed light on the mystery. One said it could further confuse the search for the truth while another called it “the height of crassness.”

Emily Condon, a Serial production manager, told Maxim: “We’d very much appreciate if fellow journalists would give us some room and not feel the need to attempt to dig into and try to figure out what you think we might be doing, especially since we’re actively reporting stories, and having a bunch of wild speculation out there makes our job reporting harder. Doesn’t feel very menschy. In any case, here’s what I can tell you: The Serial staff is currently working on several things simultaneously: Season 2, Season 3, and some other podcast projects. For now we’re not talking publicly about anything that we’re working on.”

Bergdahl, left, and defence counsel Eugene Fidell, centre, watch Major General Kenneth Dahl give evidence at the preliminary hearing last week.