Bergdahl Returns to US Tonight

Bowe Bergdahl will be back in the US late tonight. Both AP and CNN quote defense officials as saying he will be transferred overnight from a military base in Germany to the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. The reports offer no more details on Bergdahl's recuperation after being held five years by the Taliban. The issue of his return came up publicly yesterday when defense chief Chuck Hagel testified before Congress, and Republican Jeff Miller pressed him on why Bergdahl was still in Germany, notes the Idaho Statesman.

“Why hasn’t he been returned to the United States?" asked Miller, who seemed to be suggesting that the Pentagon was keeping Bergdahl overseas to shield him from questions. "We have seriously wounded soldiers that have returned to the United States almost immediately after they are stabilized. ... You’re trying to tell me that he’s being held in Landstuhl, Germany because of his medical condition?”

• Hagel: “Congressman, I hope you’re not implying anything other than that. The fact—
• Miller: "I'm just asking the question."
• Hagel: “I’m gonna give you an answer too. I don’t like the implication of the question. He’s being held there because our medical professionals don’t believe he’s ready ... to take the next step to rehabilitation.”

(More Bowe Bergdahl stories.)