This trade was unconscionable
I would not have released Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl under these circumstances.
He was not a prisoner of war, he was with the Haqqani network, which is a terrorist organization.
I wouldn’t have given the Taliban five prisoners — four are serious commanders likely to return to the battlefield — when we have soldiers on the field for another 12 months.
That means those individuals are likely to reengage in combat operations against the U.S. while our soldiers are still in Afghanistan. That’s unconscionable. This to me is just about the policy of what happened. I’m hearing from two groups that are really worried about this decision: diplomats and their families, and soldiers and their families.
They think there’s a price on their heads. That’s not a partisan issue.
Bringing Bergdahl home is one thing, and we’re certainly happy for the family, but the methodology is important here.
I almost wish the administration would just stop talking about it and come up and meet their membersof Congress and introduce themselves to these national security committees who do this work every single day. That would be a goodstart. Back in 2011, the administration did come, as according to the law, and had a discussion, a bipartisan meeting.
And in a bi-partisan way people said this is not a great idea. That’s the last time we really heard from the administration.
I don’t know what the President means when he says he consulted Congress for some time.
We hadn’t heard any thing since 2011 on any details of any prisoner exchange.
At least their public rhetoric does not match the facts on the ground. They said that the swap was done because Bergdahl had an acute medical condition. But we were informed that it wasn’t acute. I don’t know why you would say that in the first place.
They said they had to work within a few days of notice. We understand that the decision was made weeks ago.