Obama's Handling of the Bergdahl Exchange Ought to Worry the Entire World

Why are Americans so agitated about the exchange of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl for five Taliban Guantanamo detainees. As with every Obama White House misstep, it takes time to ferret out the facts and understand their significance. Let's look at what has emerged in the ten days since Bergdahl was released to the US military. ~~~~~ The five freed senior Taliban detainees were sent to Qatar, a country that has not controlled terrorist activity effectively, according to a January briefing paper for Congress prepared by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service that said the Qatari government has close ties to Hamas leaders, including Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal, who "continues to operate in Doha after moving there from Damascus in 2012," according to the New York Post. The terms the Obama administration agreed to mean that Qatar will supervise the former detainees for at least one year, and Obama said on the condition the Qataris would be "keeping eyes on them and creating a structure in which we can monitor their activities." But the President admitted there's "absolutely" a chance they could return to jihadist causes against America. This part of the deal has been widely criticized for both its weakness and naiveté. Others are concerned about the administration's ability and willingness to enforce the terms of the deal. Two US officials said the State Department and US intelligence agencies had expressed skepticism in the past about Qatar's commitment to supervise militants released into their custody. The report also said that Moslem Brotherhood member Yusuf al Qaradawi, banned from the US since 1999 for extremist speeches and supporting attacks on American forces in Iraq, operates out of Qatar, advocating support for armed Islamist groups in Syria and encouraging Egyptian unrest, the report said. The report added that a member of the Qatari royal family, former interior minister Shaykh Abdullah bin Khalid Al Thani, provided support to al-Qaida, including one of the masterminds behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Khalid Sheik Mohammed. The Post quotes a senior-level Persian Gulf official as saying the detainees will be able to move freely around the country, will not be treated as prisoners, and that the US will not be involved in monitoring their activities. The danger in the deal can be seen in a similar release ten years ago of Taliban detainees to Morocco, which resulted in the terrorists returning to the battlefield in Syria, despite attempts by the Moroccan government to punish their recruitment of al-Qaida operatives, according to the Wall Street Journal. ~~~~~ The Obama White House and Secretary of State John Kerry - despite the firestorm of negative facts contradicting the President's position - are standing firm behind Obama's initial statement that the Bergdahl exchange is a fulfillment of America's policy of leaving no prisoner behind in enemy hands. National security advisor Susan Rice has even said Bergdahl served with "honor and distinction," despite soldiers who served with Bergdahl vowing that he walked away from his post not once but twice. Kerry said in a recorded interview aired on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday that it's "a lot of baloney" to suggest the five Taliban prisoners released in exchange for Sergeant Bergdahl will return to battle and kill Americans. Still, he told CNN, if they try "they'll likely be killed themselves." Kerry said the government of Qatar, which agreed to keep watch on the men for a year, aren't the only ones with an eye on them. When asked if that meant the US would be monitoring them, Kerry wouldn't be specific, but said that if the former prisoners don’t meet the terms of their release the United States has "the ability to do things...I'm not telling you that they don't have some ability at some point to go back and to get involved. But they also have an ability to get killed doing that. And I don't think anybody should doubt the capacity of the United States of America to protect Americans." Kerry also said that the freed Taliban detainee who already has vowed to return to kill more Americans is simply engaging in propaganda : "Propaganda is propaganda, and they'll say whatever they want to stir the waters." Kerry refused to discuss the question of Bergdahl's desertion, saying that "there is plenty of time to sort through what happened now that Bergdahl is safe from enemy hands." President Obama has also refused to revise his initial description of Bergdahl as a hero, saying : “I make absolutely no apologies for making sure that we get back a young man to his parents, and that the American people understand that this is somebody’s child, and that we don’t condition whether or not we make the effort to try and get them back.” While most Americans agree with the policy of not leaving any soldier behind on the battlefield, many nonetheless disagree with the President and his senior advisors and Cabinet members not even making a gesture that would affirm that they recognize the storm of criticism or the accounts of desertion by a half-dozen fellow soldiers. ~~~~~ Americans are also angry with the choice of the specific five detainees exchanged, who are considered senior and dangerous Taliban, and the fact that Obama broke the law in not notifying Congress so that appropriate committees could give their advice. Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, questioned on Sunday the Obama argument that Congress wasn’t informed about the swap for Bergdahl because he might have been killed if the deal was made public. Feinstein, a Democrat, told CBS’ Face the Nation that she and the committee’s top Republican, Senator Saxby Chambliss, had been briefed previously about the operation and kept that information confidential. When asked about the White House position that there were "credible threats" to Bergdahl's life if he were not quickly freed, Feinstein answered, “I have heard of none."She also raised questions about Obama’s original argument that Bergdahl’s health was in imminent danger, because the Defense Department has now told Fox News and other news media that he is being treated for some nutritional deficits that would be considered normal after being in captivity for five years. “I think his rapid recovery now may indicate he wasn’t close to death,” she said. Senator Chambliss said he also has heard of no credible threats to Bergdahl's life, saying that the Obama story changes as new contradictory facts surface : “Because he is in decent health, considering where he's been, they've changed their story, They said, 'Well, no, we suspected his life might be in danger, if word got out of this pending. Again I can just tell you there is no intelligence to support that.” Feinstein also said that Congress should take a look at the detainee release to make sure the US “got something meaningful in exchange.” She said there was “no question” about the value of freeing a US serviceman but that Congress should have been given the chance to review the value and dangers of the exchange. ~~~~~ And today, we have the most surprising revelation of all about Obama's actions relating to Sergeant Bergdahl - he allowed Bergdahl's parents to take part in secure video conferences with State Department and intelligence officials and senior military commanders, according to a published report in the Washington Times. The Bergdahl were allowed to join the conferences remotely from the Idaho National Guard headquarters soon after their son was captured in June 2009. The Bergdahls participated in up to 20 video conferences per year. Air Force Colonel Anthony Marsano said : "Mr. and Mrs. Bergdahl were regularly informed about what was happening...using video teleconferencing [with] various military and other government agencies." Larry Johnson, a former State Department official who worked on the 1980s cases of American citizens held hostage in Lebanon told the Times that granting such access to the family of a missing person is "wrong" : "The Bergdahls shouldn't have been part of that for no other reason than the off chance they may inadvertently divulge some tactic. It is one thing for government officials to interview the family, get insights from the family about what’s going on. But to put them in the middle of what is essentially a classified secure video conference is ridiculous." Colonel Marsano told The Times that he was not aware that the Bergdahls had exposed any sensitive information and would not discuss whether the couple had a security clearance or if any classified matters were brought up during the conferences. ~~~~~ Dear readers, while Barack Obama is the leader of the free world's leading nation, we all ought to be worried.