And I'd like to know what "ransom" Gateway Pundit is talking about. Did Obama pay money here? Gateway Pundit is implying that, but offers no details whatsoever.
Don't know where Gateway Pundit got his information, but Ollie North claims to have a source who says $5-6 million changed hands.
Reportedly, the Taliban initially wanted ransom but were more than happy to accept the prisoner exchange deal Obama offered. Besides, Zero figured it gave him an excuse finally to get going on shutting down Camp Gitmo, something his base has long been expecting.
Prisoner exchanges are legal, if not always advisable, and have a history. E.g., KGB Colonel Rudolf Ivanovich Abel for Francis Gary Powers and US student Frederic Prior in 1961.
Paying ransom is legal, too, if even less advisable. Paying ransom to the Taliban would have evoked wonderful comparisons with Thomas Jefferson, who got the US in its first foreign war — with Mooselimb pirates over failure to pay ransom.