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Michigan Representatives, Levin, Dingell, Defend Bergdahl's Rights

DETROIT (WWJ) -- Recently, a Taliban spokesman refused to comment on whether the group had threatened to kill the recently released U.S. Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl.

The Obama administration reportedly told lawmakers that the reason they weren't told in advance about the deal to free Bergdahl last weekend, was that there was information that the Taliban might kill him if the deal was made public.

Michigan U.S. Senator Carl Levin -- Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee -- said that there's evidence to indicate so.

"Our citizens should not prejudge what happened here," Levin said. "And, by the way, what happened to him when he was imprisoned is probably going to unfold as something that will make people who jumped to conclusions think again because there's real evidence that he was mistreated."

Michigan Congressman John Dingell also urged that people should wait to learn more.

"One of our rules is that we don't leave our people behind," Dingell said. "I don't know whether Bergdahl is a good guy or a bad guy, but he is an American and he is entitled to the presumption that he's a good guy and for now, that's enough."

Bergdahl continues to recover at a U.S. military hospital in Germany -- after his negotiated release last weekend in exchange for five Taliban detainees who were being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

 

 

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