Army general testifies no one swayed him in Bergdahl case
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — The Army general who ordered Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s court martial testified Wednesday that he wasn’t swayed by negative comments from a powerful U.S. senator, saying that he takes his duty “very, very seriously.”
Gen. Robert B. Abrams, the four-star head of U.S. Army Forces Command, found himself in the unusual position of defending his objectivity against a defence effort to remove him from the case. Abrams referred the case to a general court-martial rather than a lower-level tribunal in December, weeks after U.S. Sen. John McCain indicated there would be repercussions if Bergdahl weren’t punished.
Wearing a short-sleeved white dress shirt and blue pants, Abrams asked a prosecutor curtly “Where do you want me?” as he strode toward the witness stand.
He grew testy when a defence attorney asked him to explain why he wasn’t afraid of McCain, who leads a Senate committee with the power to approve or scuttle assignments for top military commanders.