Posted on 06/11/2014 6:23:23 AM PDT by don-o
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Defense Department General Counsel Stephen Preston testify on the release of five Taliban detainees in exchange for Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl.
(Excerpt) Read more at c-span.org ...
First question. Was any money involved?
Can we get the latest version of The List, please?
I want testimony from the CIA guy that was outed.
Is Hagel going to fall on his pocket knife?
The Haqqani network of local Afghan Mafiosi held Bergdahl.
The Haqqani network doesn’t even LIKE The Taliban.
Why did Haqqani Mafiosi exchange Bergdahl for Taliban Leaders they would shoot if they caught them?
I'm sure we're not allowed to monitor it. So how many CIA dudes to we have running around Qatar now?
Chuck....Why isn't Karzai speaking to us?
2. Previously consulted with congress
3. Swiftboating
4. It was an oversight, sorry
5. Platoon full of psychopaths
6. Taliban threated to kill
7. "What difference does it make?"
8. Stockholm Syndrome
9. PTSD
10. No evidence converted to Islam, fraternized with Taliban, and declared jihad
11. Physically abused, confined in cage
12. Racism
13. Moderate Taliban
14. “Raggedy" platoon
15. "No matter what, to leave an American behind in the hands of people who would torture him, cut of his head, do any number of things"
16. Obama broke unconstitutional law (that he signed)
17. Wasn't only soldier to 'walk off' post
18. Only tenuous link to U.S. deaths
19. “PR campaign by Republicans” ... to “muddy the waters”
20. Hagel, NOT Obama, made the final call on #Bergdahl swap, (see also #16)
21. The Taliban Five aren't as bad as you think, three were governors
22. Decision made day before
23. Taliban Five akin to soldiers in American Revolution
24. Taliban ‘part of the fabric Of Afghanistan’ — not ‘terrorists’
25. "The president made the ultimate decision."
Who in their right mind trades a PFC that walked away from his post for five Taliban generals?
Afghanistan will suffer most from the release of the 5.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/02/us-afghanistan-usa-bergdahl-idUSKBN0ED0I620140602
(Reuters) - The Afghan president is angry at being kept in the dark over a deal to free five Taliban leaders in exchange for a captured U.S. soldier, and accuses Washington of failing to back a peace plan for the war-torn country, a senior source said on Monday.
The five prisoners were flown to Qatar on Sunday as part of a secret agreement to release Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who left Afghanistan for Germany on the same day.
The only known U.S. prisoner of war in Afghanistan, Bergdahl had been held captive for five years.
“The president is now even more distrustful of U.S. intentions in the country,” said the source close to President Hamid Karzai’s palace in Kabul, who declined to be identified.
“He is asking: How come the prisoner exchange worked out so well, when the Afghan peace process failed to make any significant progress?”
Even Al-Jazeera has problems with release of Taliban War Criminals:
To add insult to injury, on May 31, five high-ranking Taliban members incarcerated at Guantanamo on a variety of charges, including mass killings, were set free in exchange for one US soldier, allegedly a deserter. The question on the minds of the Afghan people now is: Whatever happened to the US policy of “we will not negotiate with terrorists”.
In February, 65 prisoners were released from the high-security Bagram detention centre, in spite of US protests. The men were allegedly responsible for the deaths of Afghan civilians and coalition troops. Afghan President Hamid Karzai claimed there was not enough evidence against them, but the US called the move “regrettable”.
If the US found the release of these 65 detainees so unpalatable, how could it have freed five of the Taliban’s most dangerous leaders last week, who will now live in luxurious Qatar?
One of the so-called “Guantanamo Five” is Mullah Fazl, who has been described as “vicious and violent”. In 1999, he was one of the senior Taliban commanders who were accused of overseeing the destruction of an area near Kabul called Shamali. Fazl allegedly supervised the burning of villages and other atrocities, including rape. On my visit to the area, I witnessed the scale of the destruction, and a local commander told me how over 300,000 villagers were chased out during Fazl’s campaign.
We applaud the US policy of not leaving any soldier behind. But does this policy apply to one who allegedly deserts his post and walks off into the night into known enemy territory? What about the six brave soldiers who - according to CNN - lost their lives looking for the alleged deserter? Do their lives not count in the grand scheme of things? And what about the multitude of Afghans who have been murdered by these five men and their followers?
The US statement that these five men will not be allowed to leave Qatar for one year is hard to stomach. They may not venture out of Qatar, because they will be under strict surveillance, but they will be free to move around the country as they wish.
Hagel will appear hung over from last nights vodka bender. Make sure he’s sworn in so his lies are under oath.
Thanks for posting this!
‘The Taliban is in the House.’ You know,—the White one.
Hagel rhymes with bagel and a bagel has a hole,
Hagel will finagle but the bagel wont lose soul.
See my tagline since 10-10-12.
The ranking D member (?) is starting out laying out support for the decision. He’s asserting that we have to negotiate with the Taliban.
Rambling on about status of Gitmo detainees.
true to tag
First mention of Bush - RE: Signing statements.
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