American POW freed in prisoner swap. And the GOP doesn't like it.....

That said, any time a president breaks a law, there will be questions about impeachment and people on both sides of the aisle are accusing the administration of breaking the law.

 

sure but as far as I can tell, nobody is calling for impeachment besides one former congressman. Seems like a desperate attempt to detract from the issue.

This just keeps getting worse

http://hotair.com/archives/2014/06/04/soldier-army-told-us-to-lie-about-bergdahls-capture/

 

I've heard a few, but most of them are just really pissed off soldiers or Republican lapdogs. I don't think anyone could seriously make the case for impeachment based on breaking that law, censure is a real possibility though because there is anger about this from both Republicans and Democrats.

 

A rose by any other name...

 

....still wouldn't be worth trading 5 Taliban leaders for.

 

Assumption, innocent until proven guilty.

 

Any POW is worth 5 Taliban prisoners.

 

Sure it's an assumption, an assumption based on the evidence. It's odd that you want to ignore that evidence seemingly only because it doesn't say what you want it to say. There is very little question that he was a deserter, and that is treason. I mean, feel free to hold out hope, but it won't really matter.

 

So Napolitano and fox news friends does not qualify? We know that both parties use their media affiliates as a feeler to how their constituents reacts. Once they get a reaction they need, we then see politicians jump in to the bandwagon.

 

See that's where we just disagree. No POW, no person is worth 5 Taliban leaders. Perhaps in a game of checkers you could make that case, but not in chess. You don't trade a Rook, a 2 Knights, and 2 Bishops for a pawn (especially not a traitorous pawn).

It sets a bad precedent along with just being plain stupid. On top of that, it's even worse when you have to break the law just to do something stupid.

 

no. none of them can impeach.

 

Next Obama drone strike anyone? I guess this administration really thinks Americans will eat any mush they try to feed us.

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Afghan Villagers: Bergdahl Was Deliberately Heading For Taliban Strongholds…

Via WaPo:http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...call-when-bergdahl-stumbled-into-their-midst/

Among the most tantalizing mysteries surrounding Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s departure from his U.S. military base in 2009 is this: Was he trying to find the Taliban? Or did he simply wander away and get captured? Politicians and members of the military have criticized the Obama administration’s decision to swap five jailed Taliban leaders for Bergdahl, saying the soldier may have deserted.

Until now, few details have emerged about the circumstances of Bergdahl’s disappearance from his base. But The Washington Post has reached Afghan villagers who spotted Bergdahl shortly after he slipped away from his base. To them, it’s clear something was wrong with the American. And he seemed to be deliberately heading for Taliban strongholds, they say.

“It was very confusing to us. Why would he leave the base?” said Jamal, an elder in the village of Yusef Khel, about a half-mile from the American military installation. (Like many Afghans, he goes by only one name). “The people thought it was a covert agenda – maybe he was sent to the village by the U.S.”

Locals remember Bergdahl walking through the village in a haze. They later told Afghan investigators that they had warned the American that he was heading into a dangerous area.

“They tried to tell him not to go there, that it is dangerous. But he kept going over the mountain. The villagers tried to give him water and bread, but he didn’t take it,” said Ibrahim Manikhel, the district’s intelligence chief.

“We think he probably was high after smoking hashish,” Manikhel said. “Why would an American want to find the Taliban?”

Residents still remember the massive search effort that followed Bergdahl’s disappearance. But the village eventually returned to normal – albeit still with grave problems from Taliban fighters – and few locals thought about the American soldier until this past week, when his face flashed across Afghan news programs.

“I had forgotten about that abducted American,” said Manikhel. “I hope the U.S. can re-arrest the Talibs that they released.”

 

It doesn't matter whether he is or isn't at the point of decision to engage in a prisoner swap. At that point, he is a POW who deserves to be returned from the battlefield we put him on.

I don't want to ignore anything, I want him to have his day in court before ANYONE convicts him, that includes you. It isn't about whether there is or isn't overwhelming evidence, it is about the fact that he hasn't been tried, much less convicted of anything. Innocent until proven guilty is part of the bedrock of this nation, the fact that you're willing to toss that founding principle of our country out the window for partisan considerations says everything that needs to be said about you.

 

Bullsh!t. Go look at history, the more powerful of the parties involved in a conflict, the party which captures more prisoners, always has to give more. It is truly sad that your Obama hatred has caused you to ignore one of the bedrock principles of our republic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Israeli_prisoner_exchanges

"Israeli prisoner exchanges refer to exchanges of prisoners during the Arab-Israeli conflict. Israel has exchanged POWs with its Arab neighbors, and has released about 7,000 Palestinian prisoners to secure freedom for 19 Israelis and to retrieve the bodies of eight others."

5 to 1 seems like a small price to pay compared to the ~350:1 rate that Israel has with Palestinian prisoner exchanges.

 

You can pretend to be stupid all you like, but of course things like him being a deserter would go into their thinking, you seem to ignore the fact that they knew where he was for years and the military decided that it wasn't worth going after him because he was a deserter.

Also, you keep going off on some really ridiculous tangent about innocence until guilt is proven, but that's irrelevant. Even if he was 100% innocent and was just a good Army private, he wouldn't be worth trading 5 Taliban leaders for.....of course if he was just a good Army private, the military would have sent a team to rescue him.

Finally, cut the BS, this isn't a partisan issue, no matter how much you want it to be.

 

Bergdahl was a hostage not a POW. And it looks like money was involved in this deal as well.

---------------------------------

Oliver North: I Know A Ransom Of Five To Six Million Was Paid To Free Bergdahi

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-...-Ransom-5-6-Million-Was-Paid-to-Free-Bergdahl

Tuesday on NewsMax TV, former U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Oliver North said U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was not a prisoner of war because he was actually being held "hostage" by the Haqqanis, a terrorist group separate from the Taliban and associated heavily with al Qaeda.

North said he knew there was at least a $1 million dollar ransom being demanded for Bergdahl some time ago so he estimated the price paid to release the hostage must be close to $5-6 million now.

"Someone paid a ransom," North said. "Whether the Qataries paid it, or some big oil sheik, or somebody used our petrodollars, but there was a ransom paid in cash for each one of them, my guess somewhere in the round numbers of $5 or 6 million to get Bergdahl freed. I know that the offer that was on the table before was close to a million."

 

I've been swamped with work so haven't been able to follow this situation as closely as possible. This whole situation seems half-baked and I am not quite sure what the urgency was of freeing Bergdahl was. My own guess is that with the involvement widing down in Afghanistan the Admin. didn't want to leave him in Taliban hands as a longterm propaganda tool they could continue to trot out.

Regarding the Taliban freed I have been hearing that this may be part of something larger meant to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table with the Afghan government. The US exchanging Bergdahl for these guys might give the Afghan government some coverage in regard to negotiating prisoners that the US is holding.

 

Feinstein must be racist.

-----------------------

OBAMA: SORRY I BROKE THE LAW IN NOT NOTIFYING CONGRESS ABOUT PRISONER SWAP

Feinstein said that it was “very disappointing” that President Obama decided not to alert Congress about the deal, suggesting that there was not a “level of trust” at the White House.
"He apologized for it and said it was an oversight," Feinstein said about the call with Blinken, clarifying that it was her “impression” of the call.

Feinstein said that in previous conversations with Senators about the trade, “there were very strong views and they were virtually unanimous against trade.”

“The White House is pretty unilateral about what they want to do when they want to do it,” she added, pointing out that the White House failed to work together with Congress in the situation.

Feinstein explained that she still had questions about Bergdahl, particular about the nature of his captivity.

“I certainly want to know more about whether this man is a deserter or not, I think that’s important to at least know, soldiers died looking for him, that’s important to give them credit,” she added.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/06/03/Obama-Sorry-I-Broke-The-Law

 

I'm curious where you are getting the info that the military knew where he was for years. The border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan is loaded with hiding places along with the whole region. Remember it took 11 years to find Bin Ladin. Also knowing where someone is doesn't mean it would be easy to go and get him.

Once again it's not that easy to just rescue someone deep in enemy territory.

 

F*** you for the insult.

Tangent? Are you being deliberately obtuse? Innocent until proven guilty is the entirety of the point. Until he is convicted by a jury of his peers, he is not a "traitor," not a "deserter," and is a member of our military forces. As he was taken hostage, that makes him a POW. As far as the history of prisoner exchanges goes, even 10:1 is a pretty good rate given the several hundred Taliban we have at Gitmo and the lone soldier they had.

BTW, you can't have it both ways. You keep claiming that men were killed in the efforts to search for him (a claim disputed by the Pentagon), but then say that they knew exactly where he was and didn't rescue him because he was a deserter. Figure out what your story is and get back to me.

Yes, it is. Everything about Obama is a partisan issue to people like you, as evidenced by this very thread. You're ignoring a bedrock principle of our nation in order to try and manufacture outrage about a prisoner exchange that, under any other president, would have gone unnoticed. Do you really think that that were Bush president under the same circumstances that Fox would be stoking the fire under people like you? That is a rhetorical question, the obvious answer is "no."