Since disappearing from his Army base in Afghanistan in June, 2009, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has been at the center of a fierce controversy. A number of his fellow soldiers claim Bergdahl is a deserter and voluntarily sought out the militants who held him for five years until he was freed after President Obama approved a prisoner swap involving the so-called “Taliban five.”
Now, as the website Foreign Policy notes, Bergdahl remains in legal limbo “that will only end when the U.S. Army decides whether to charge him with deserting his post or let him leave the military without massive penalties.”
Though a decision by the military has been expected for some time, as Western Journalism has reported, there is still no official word on the findings of the Bergdahl investigation that has dragged on for many months.
“It’s astonishing that we’re now approaching a year,” said Zachary Spilman, a civilian defense attorney and lead author of the military justice blog CAAFlog. “The Army is very clearly moving very slowly and trying to make sure that whatever it does is right.”
But even as the military’s probe into the Bergdahl situation reportedly continues, there’s word that a big Hollywood movie about Bergdahl is in the works, to be directed by a woman whose previous war films have been critically acclaimed.
The industry website Deadline reports that Kathryn Bigelow, noted for her films “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty” will direct the Bergdahl biopic.
News of this project follows on the tremendous success of the two war films “American Sniper” and “Lone Survivor,” though both of those movies focused on the heroic actions of dedicated soldiers respected by their fellow warriors.
No word yet on casting for the Bergdahl film, which might well depend on the outcome of the long-awaited decision whether to prosecute Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for desertion.
The Army announced on June 16th of last year that it had begun investigating the circumstances surrounding Bergdahl’s disappearance and capture.
