Obama: Congress was consulted on deserter-for-terrorist swap

obama bergdahl
While on a trip to Poland in an effort to further demoralize our already jittery allies, Barack Obama defended his swapping of five very seasoned Taliban guerrilla commanders ensconced at Club Gitmo for an American deserter.
President Barack Obama defended his decision to release five detainees from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl today, saying the country had an obligation to not leave its military personnel behind.
‘Is there a possibility of some of them trying to return to activities that are detrimental to us? Absolutely,’ Obama said during today’s press conference of the recently released detainees.’That’s been true of all the prisoners that were released from Guantanamo. There’s a certain recidivism rate that takes place.’
But the president added, ‘I wouldn’t be doing it if I thought that it was contrary to American national security.’

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I’m sure that the men, women and children — American, Allied, and Afghan — that these five war criminals will kill to celebrate their new-found freedom will appreciate the nuances of recidivism rates. While this statement was merely tone deaf and offensive, he followed it up with an unabashed lie.

Obama said Tuesday that lawmakers were aware that the U.S. could agree to a prisoner swap with the Taliban ‘for quite some time,’ and he defended how his administration handled the formal notifications, saying that when the opportunity to free Bergdahl presented itself, ‘We seized that opportunity.’

John Boeher:

House Speaker John A. Boehner said Tuesday that President Obama may have broken the law in failing to notify Congress of his plans to transfer Taliban fighters from Guantanamo Bay, elevating the battle over this weekend’s deal to a constitutional clash between Congress and the executive branch.

Mr. Boehner said the White House avoided fulfilling the law because officials knew they wouldn’t get approval of Congress, after earlier broad overtures about a prisoner exchange met with resistance.

Senator Tim Scott:

Senator Tim Scott telling WACH Fox in statement that quote: “I have serious concerns about the release of five high-ranking Taliban leaders. Frankly, allowing these terrorists back into the theater of war puts more Americans at risk and puts a price on our troops around the world. Beyond that, I’m concerned the White House did not notify congress as the law requires, something this administration seems to continue to forget.”

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 Mike Rogers:

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said Tuesday that lawmakers hadn’t been consulted by the Obama administration on the possibility of a prisoner swap in exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl since at least 2011.

The leaders of the House and Senate national security committees — Armed Services, Foreign Affairs and Intelligence — met with administration officials in 2011 to discuss the possibility of a prisoner exchange in 2011, Rogers said. “And in a bipartisan way, they said, this is not a great idea. That’s the last time we really heard from the administration.”

Obama is the classic case of a narcissistic dim bulb who imagines himself to be the smartest guy in the room. When confronted with resistance, that resistance never comes from differing perspective or more experience, rather it comes from racism, partisanship, or just denseness. In this case, Obama overrode the collective judgment of the Congressional leadership, the military and the intelligence community to swap five very dangerous men for a deluded young man who seems to have a pathological narcissism that Obama can identify with.

 

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