This "deal" was a failure on so many levels that it is almost comical:
- Bergdahl is at best AWOL, and at worst a traitor.
- Despite his questionable actions, we dealt five - count 'em - five hardened terrorists for him
- If you think that it is impossible that at least one of those five ultimately kills at least one American citizen sometime in the future, I have a bridge I'd like to sell you. And if that murder (or murders) does happen, Obama just traded Bergdahl's life for some other Americans
- We've now shown we'll negotiate with terrorists. Not only will we negotiate with them, we're giddy to be fleeced by them. This change in approach will not be lost on our enemies, and we can now expect abductions galore. But since Obama has been looking for a way to close Gitmo since his inauguration, this might be part of the master plan
Congratulations, Mr. President. The blood of future murdered Americans is now on your hands.
Not to mention that this action was explicitly illegal. Rightfully or wrongfully, the law of the United States requires the Executive to give Congress 30 days notice of any release of prisoners from Gitmo. This requirement is so that Congress, and through them The People, have some modicum of political control over this issue, and the law was designed to prevent a President from making a bad deal like this one.
ReplyDeleteI am not a big "fan" of the law itself and it may or may not be constitutional. But that is not the point. The statute requires the President of the United States to give advanced notice of 30 days of this event, no exceptions. Obama did not give the 30 day notice and made a terrible deal and frankly, the claim that this was a health emergency does not pass the smell test to me. THey could have cut a deal to exchange 5 high ranked, hard core terrorist that are at such a risk level they are still detained at Guantanamo for a lowly American infantry private five years ago, and any day thereafter.
His health issues may well pan out that some sort of emergency action was required, but until that information is released I am a non-believer. Nor am I a believer that the Obama Administration will demonstrate any "transparency" on this issue. They have already sent National Security Advisor Susan Rice out to claim that Bergdahl served honourably and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hegel completely obfuscated when asked if Bergdahl was a deserter or not.
In the end, my prediction is that the conservative press is going to uncover all kinds of evidene that this was a political deal to create "joyous day" (another Susan Rice quote) to move the "dismal day" press coverage; that the health concerns were completely made up or exaggerated to avoid the notification issues with Congress for the "Wag the Dog" political timing; that the Administration will stonewall any and every investigation into the circumstances of Bergdahl's desertion, captivity, and release (except the FEEL GOOD PR of his homecoming, etc); and that the liberal media and Democratic operatives (redundant) could care less and in fact, will lead the charge that this is much ado about nothing.