Taliban's soldier video part of bigger strategy?
WASHINGTON (CNN) - The United States military has been relatively mum on the recent capture of Army Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl. So has his family in Idaho.
And with good reason.
"The family members just don't want to do or risk doing anything to inflame the situation," said Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling. "And you can see how easily that can happen ... We're going to respect that."
Experts think his captors have a different purpose in releasing the video.
Related: Videos of POWs a staple of war propaganda
Tom Fuentes, a former FBI associate director of international operations and a CNN contributor, said the 28-minute Web video released by the Taliban showing Berghdal is an effective method of humanizing and tugging at the hearts of Americans - and the U.S. government.
"Showing him in the video does make the soldier more valuable and makes the insurgents more difficult to deal with in trying to get him back," Fuentes said. "The face of an unknown soldier, like in the past, is one thing but when they put the person on TV it definitely adds to the pressure [on the government]."
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My prayers are with this brave soldier and his family.
Annihilate al-Qaeda and terminate the torturin' talibans. We would not mind if some of them are captured and humiliated in a humane way, if possible.
All of you idiots who justified torture, do you still feel it's a good method of interrogation. Seeing that poor boy and knowing what atrocities our enemies can now justify makes my skin crawl. Perhaps we can exchange Cheney for him. This is the fruit produced from the seeds the right has sewn.