OLIVER NORTH: BERGDAHL'S CAPTORS ONLY WANTED MONEY. — Transcript

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1. 0:00the the news of the week of course is
2. 0:01the Bergd Doll deal. And during the
3. 0:03break uh you were reminding me you were
4. 0:05uh national security staff from 81 to86
5. 0:07and you were the counterterrorism
6. 0:08official for President Reagan from 83
7. 0:10to86. Uh and you were in in on a few
8. 0:14hostage ceremonies and how did they
9. 0:17compare with the one we saw this week?
10. 0:18This week was surreal. I mean I was
11. 0:20there when uh we had a leave some names
12. 0:23out of this United States Army general
13. 0:24was kidnapped in in by the Red Brigades
14. 0:26in Italy and I was there for that event.
15. 0:29Uh I was there when he each of the three
16. 0:31hostages were brought back from uh from
17. 0:35Beirut. Uh I was sent off to do that and
18. 0:37that's what we did. Now a lot of people
19. 0:39have different opinions about whether we
20. 0:40did the right thing or the wrong thing,
21. 0:42but we got him home. Uh tried
22. 0:44desperately to get uh William Buckley,
23. 0:47the the CIA station chief, home and that
24. 0:49failed because he was murdered. Uh and
25. 0:52the same thing later on with with Bill
26. 0:54Higgins. So, I've got a lot of
27. 0:56experience in dealing with hostage
28. 0:57situations and with welcome home
29. 0:59ceremonies. The welcome home ceremony
30. 1:01that I saw in the Rose Garden this week
31. 1:02was surreal and and unfortunately what
32. 1:06the commander-in-chief has done is
33. 1:07invite the kind of criticism that has
34. 1:10come out about this case. I know a lot
35. 1:13about the Bergd Dolls. I've met the
36. 1:14family. I was asked to be involved in
37. 1:16some aspects of this situation because
38. 1:19of my experience before and I did so at
39. 1:23the request of a senior person in our US
40. 1:25government and uh I've heard a lot of
41. 1:28things about the young man. I've never
42. 1:30met him but I have met the family. Uh
43. 1:33some of some have posited that that he
44. 1:36has betrayed his country that he's
45. 1:38defected that he's actually taken up
46. 1:40arms against him. Here here's my take on
47. 1:42that one. None of us who have ever been
48. 1:45hostages understand fully what one goes
49. 1:48through under those circumstances.
50. 1:49That's number one. The so-called
51. 1:51Stockholm syndrome is a real thing. And
52. 1:54we'll leave it at that. Number three, he
53. 1:56deserves justice. Justice can be either
54. 1:59to him or for him. Now, you as an
55. 2:02attorney understand what I'm talking
56. 2:03about. That's only going to happen if
57. 2:06some very senior United States Army
58. 2:09officer, meaning a general, stands up in
59. 2:11his hind legs and convenes an article 32
60. 2:15investigation, which is the military
61. 2:17equivalent of a grand jury. But it's an
62. 2:21and for all those who are out there just
63. 2:22raising their hands right now saying,
64. 2:24"Oh, there's no such thing as military
65. 2:25justice or military justice is to
66. 2:28justice is, you know, military medicine
67. 2:29is to med." The reality of it is I asked
68. 2:32for a court marshal when I was indicted
69. 2:35by the special prosecutor. And the
70. 2:37reason he didn't want me to have it is
71. 2:38because he knew it was going to be a
72. 2:40fair trial, right?
73. 2:41And I'd have a jury of my peers, not a
74. 2:44jury with one high school graduate in
75. 2:45it.
76. 2:45That's why Khaled Shake Muhammad is
77. 2:47actually better off getting military
78. 2:49justice than civilian.
79. 2:50And you get it. So here here's my take.
80. 2:53What has to happen for justice to be
81. 2:56done for this young man or against him,
82. 2:59whether he's a nave, a villain, or a
83. 3:02hero, is going to be determined by
84. 3:04someone with guts enough, meaning stars
85. 3:07on their shoulders to convene that
86. 3:08article 32 investigation and then make a
87. 3:11judgment as to whether there should or
88. 3:12shouldn't be a court marshal. Now,
89. 3:13Oliver North, I don't know of anyone who
90. 3:15spent more time as an embedded uh
91. 3:17correspondent with the young men and
92. 3:19women who are fighting the wars of the
93. 3:21last 12 years than you. There might be
94. 3:22some when there a couple of guys out
95. 3:24there like uh Dell uh and and a few
96. 3:27others. John Burns spent a lot of time
97. 3:28in Iraq, but you put a lot of time out
98. 3:29there. What do you think about sending
99. 3:31back five in essence army group
100. 3:33commanders? I mean, these are senior
101. 3:35guys.
102. 3:36Well, one he Bergd Doll was never held
103. 3:38by the by by the Taliban. He was held by
104. 3:41the econ criminal gang, right? All they
105. 3:43ever wanted was money. They never want
106. 3:45they never once mentioned in all of the
107. 3:47dialogue that occurred trying to get him
108. 3:49back earlier that they wanted anything
109. 3:51but money. So somehow this
110. 3:54administration concocted the release of
111. 3:57five very senior very brutal terrorists.
112. 4:00Look at the the senior guy in that bunch
113. 4:03who was once the head of the so-called
114. 4:05Taliban army probably butchered and I
115. 4:08forgive the use of the word on on our
116. 4:11network here butchered a 100,000 people
117. 4:14Shiites, okay? Because it was his
118. 4:17mission to do that and and of course
119. 4:20they're now free and they're walking
120. 4:21around gutter and there's no real
121. 4:23control over whether they go back to the
122. 4:25battlefield or not. The record is
123. 4:27replete with examples of those who've
124. 4:29been released from Gitmo who've gone
125. 4:32back to the fight. We know that at least
126. 4:3425% of them did and that's the the only
127. 4:36reason we know that for sure is because
128. 4:37we found their bodies later on after
129. 4:39they'd attacked us. So the likelihood is
130. 4:42very high that you'd have them go back
131. 4:43to the