Ex-Taliban Captive Bowe Bergdahl's Army Hearing 'Not an Interrogation'

ByABC NEWS ABCNews logo
Thursday, August 7, 2014

Former Taliban prisoner Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl met today with Army investigators in a session his attorney called "respectful," saying he "could not have asked for a better meeting."

Berghdahl's attorney, Eugene Fidell, said Bowe's session at Ft. Sam Houston with the investigator looking into the circumstances of his captivity lasted from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and will resume tomorrow at 7 a.m.

Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dahl, who is leading the investigation, was "respectful" of what Bowe has been through and easy going, Fidell said. "He has great bedside manner," and there was not a lot of "yes sir" type conversation, he added. "It was not an interrogation."

Fidell would not talk about what was asked or what Berghdahl said. But, he said, "This is a fascinating story."

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Bergdahl was freed in a controversial swap earlier this year for five Taliban prisoners who had been held in the American detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Fidell, who teaches military law at Yale, has been tasked with leading Bergdahl's legal team as the Army investigates the circumstances of Bergdahl's disappearance from his Afghan outpost and his capture by the Taliban in 2009. Military sources previously told ABC News Bergdahl may have simply walked off the Army base of his own volition, echoing the findings of an internal investigation completed in 2009, according to defense officials.

With reporting by ABC's Martha Raddatz and Rhonda Schwartz.

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