Out of the murk

In his important CNN story on the Bergdahl deal, Jake Tapper writes: “At least six soldiers were killed in subsequent searches for him, according to soldiers involved in the operations to find him. The Pentagon was not able to provide details on specific operations in which any soldiers killed during that time were involved.”

Tapper subsequently reported the names of the six Americans killed in the effort over the following weeks as Staff Sgt. Clayton Bowen, Private First Class Morris Walker, Staff Sgt. Kirk Curtiss, Second Lt. Darryn Andrews, Private First Class Matthew Martinek, Staff Sgt. Michael Murphrey.” Nathan Bradley Bethea made the same case in a Daily Beast column.

The New York Times put two reports on the case and found the results “murky.” John Sexton comments on the Times story in “NY Times says it’s murky, soldiers say it’s not.”

The Times does not specifically address Michael Daly’s Daily Beast column “The Army lied about the hero who died looking for Bergdahl.” Daly tells the story of Darryn Andrews and Matthew Martinek, two of those who died looking for Bergdahl. Lieutenant Andrews was awarded a Silver Star for his actions in the attack that cost his life. The Military Times has a sort of sidebar to Daly’s column: “Gold Star mom: ‘This guy was worth my son’s life?”

I trust that all will become clear in the fullness of time. At this point, however, the deaths of Lieutenant Andrews and Private Martinek must be removed from the murk in which the Times saw fit to leave them.

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