Free Republic

When Republican members of Congress learned in November 2011 that the Obama administration was contemplating a swap -- Taliban terrorists for captured ArmySgt. Bowe Bergdahl -- they wrote to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of their fears. Mrs. Clinton wrote back that they had nothing to worry about. The White House would follow the law requiring a 30-day heads-up. "I want to make clear that any transfer from Guantanamo will be undertaken after consultation with Congress and pursuant to all legal requirements for transfers, including those spelled out in the FY2012 [National] Defense Authorization Act," she said of the law...

FBI, Hazmat Crew Outside SF Building FBI agents, San Francisco police and fire crews, and a hazardous materials team converged on an apartment building between Jackson and Polk streets Saturday morning. FBI agents, San Francisco police and fire crews, and a hazardous materials team converged on an apartment building between Jackson and Polk streets in the Russian Hill neighborhood Saturday morning, according to San Francisco police. The San Francisco FBI office told NBC Bay Area that the agency is executing a search warrant as part of a criminal investigation. The FBI said that the investigation poses "no threat to...

The Pentagon is under fire for making a ransom payment to an Afghan earlier this year as part of a failed bid to win the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, according to U.S. officials. Sgt. Bergdahl was released in May after nearly five years in captivity as part of a controversial exchange for five terrorists held at the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The ransom payment was first disclosed by Rep. Duncan Hunter in a Nov. 5 letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. Mr. Hunter stated in the letter that Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) made...

WASHINGTON/KABUL (Reuters) - The frantic search for Bowe Bergdahl began the moment his comrades discovered he was no longer inside the fragile outpost in a rock-strewn valley in one of the most hostile corners of Afghanistan. Exactly why Bergdahl left is subject to intense scrutiny. But accounts by two Taliban sources as well as several U.S. officials and fellow soldiers raise doubt over media reports that he had sought to join the Taliban, and over suggestions that the deaths later that year of six soldiers in his battalion were related to the search for him. His dramatic release on May...

Some of the men held here for more than a decade have been drafting plans for work and marriage on the outside or studying languages, preparing for a not-too-distant future beyond the coiled razor wire that surrounds the U.S. prison perched at the edge of the Caribbean Sea. Until the past week, they had good reason to believe their ticket out might be imminent, if not home then at least to another country. President Barack Obama and others in the administration say they are committed to closing the Guantanamo detention center and military officials say they can resume transfers at...