Bergdahl

Prisoner Exchange

If Bergdahl were really a bad guy who had turned against his country, I'd say let him rot. However, he may well be a confused or sympathetic young man who just cared about Afghans and deplored the effects of our military actions.

We don't know this answer to this, nor do we know if or how many soldiers were lost searching for him. If he was so bad, why try to rescue him?

Notify Congress? This was a bad law designed to hinder the President's plans to close Guantanamo. Forget about it.

And we traded bad guys. In hostage negotiations, do we expect the other side to ask for military cooks?

The Qatar delay of a year is a good thing. And if enough countries would offer us something of value for our prisoners, maybe we could at last get this infamous prison closed.

 

The White House's announcement and explanation of the exchange was a PR disaster. We really didn't need to have those Bergdahl parents join Mr. Obama in the Rose Garden for the announcement.

And we didn't need to have Susan Rice go on TV to claim that Sgt. Bergdahl served with “honor and distinction”. As Eugene Robinson said someone in the White House must have it in for Ms. Rice to send her out to make dubious or controversial statements.