Most Americans who watched the video purporting to show the moment Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was released into U.S. custody were likely primarily interested in seeing what Bergdahl looked like after nearly five years in Taliban captivity.
But the video is alarming for a number of reasons from a Special Forces perspective, a Special Forces contact told Glenn Beck early Thursday morning.
Beck said he had a conversation with a "Special Forces guy" at around 5:00 a.m., and though he left the individual unnamed, Beck shared on his radio program all of the warning signs the individual pointed out in the video.
In this image taken from video obtained from Voice Of Jihad Website, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, right, stands with a Taliban fighter in eastern Afghanistan. The Taliban on Wednesday, June 4, 2014, released a video showing the handover of Bergdahl to U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan, touting the swap of the American soldier for five Taliban detainees from Guantanamo as a significant achievement for the insurgents. (AP Photo/Voice Of Jihad Website via AP video)
The Video Was Recorded by the Taliban
Beck said his Special Forces contact watched and discussed the video with some of his teammates, and that they were struck by a number of things. The individual first pointed out that the video was recorded by the Taliban.
Beck noted that it was reported several days ago that the video was recorded by the Taliban, before the individual added some insight into what that actually means.
When you are in an American helicopter in a war zone, the individual told Beck, and you see "a guy on the ground with a rocket launcher ... and a video camera," you have a shoot-to-kill order because the combatant is almost certainly planning to kill you and your teammates and create a propaganda video.
He therefore asked whether the U.S. government agreed to let the Taliban record the exchange, and why, or if we didn't realize it was being recorded.
Landing in Low Ground
"Problem number two: anybody notice that we're landing in a valley?" Beck asked. "Anybody notice that? Do you see the mountain sides all around? We're landing our helicopter in the low point, so they have all of the high points."
"It's a specific ambush location," Beck's co-host Pat Gray added. "They're making the exchange in a place where they could easily be ambushed."
The individual recording the video even zooms in on the hills multiple times, revealing armed Taliban surrounding the Americans in the helicopter.
In this image taken from video obtained from Voice Of Jihad Website, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a Taliban fighter looks at the helicopter carrying Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl taking off in eastern Afghanistan. The Taliban on Wednesday, June 4, 2014 released a video showing the handover of Bergdahl to U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Voice Of Jihad Website via AP video)
Bergdahl Is Frisked Just Feet From U.S. Helicopter
Beck said his contact also pointed out that after the exchange, Bergdahl wasn't frisked until he was mere feet from the U.S. helicopter, where a number of American teammates had stayed behind.
"They go out. They get the guy. They bring him up to the helicopter. And that's when our guys frisk him," Beck said, noting that if Bergdahl had explosives on him he would have been able to blow up the helicopter and "kill everybody there."
"This is so sloppy on our part," Beck said. "How many rules were violated with us in this prisoner exchange? ... Every soldier I've talked to is embarrassed by this."
Beck summarized the conversation in a Facebook post Thursday morning:
Watch Beck's complete analysis of the video below:
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