The deal to free Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in exchange for five Taliban detainees held by the U.S. military nixed a broader effort by the Department of Defense to include other U.S. citizens held by the Taliban and its allies, a top congressional aide said Thursday.
| This wasn't about a trade, this was about setting a precedent to empty Gitmo in defiance of a clear law that says Champ can't empty Gitmo without the consent of Congress. Champ wants to empty Gitmo. That's what this is all about. Getting Sgt. Bergdahl in "exchange" was supposed to be the fig leaf that would quiet the Pentagon and the Republicans -- look see, we got one of our boys out. |
The Department of Defense had a "broader goal" of including Caitlan Coleman of York , Pa., her baby who was born in captivity and her Canadian husband, Joshua Boyle, in a deal to free Bergdahl, said Joe Kasper, chief of staff to Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who sits on the House Armed Services Committee.
Among Americans held captive is Warren Weinstein, a contractor from Rockville, Md., who was abducted in 2011 in Pakistan and is detained by al-Qaeda militants aligned with the Taliban.
| All of these Americans are more worthy of our attention than Sgt. Bergdahl. But Champ will try to use these Americans as pawns, as an excuse to free more mooks from Gitmo, just watch and see... |
"The DoD was looking at this in the whole scope of things, to deal with these people as well," Kasper told USA TODAY in an interview. "Instead of five for one, why not five for five?"
"I don't know how far they'd gotten in pursuing this broader goal," Kasper said.
In a letter sent Monday to President Obama, Hunter said the Defense Department plan, which Hunter said did not have time to materialize before negotiations headed by the State Department gained Bergdahl's release, did not include a prisoner exchange.
"Now a situation has been created whereby prisoner exchanges – specifically disproportionate exchanges – are viewed by the Taliban and other aligned forces as achievable," Hunter said.
| Paleos learned this with Israel where 100:1 or 1000:1 exchanges are now the norm... |
Marie Harf, a spokeswoman for the State Department, said Thursday the idea of negotiating for the release of civilian hostages was never seriously discussed. "It is longstanding U.S. policy not to make concessions to hostage-takers," Harf said.
The exchange for Bergdahl was consistent with that policy because he was "a combatant detained in the course of an armed conflict," and "not a hostage," Harf said. "His status as a missing or captured soldier is distinct from someone who, for example, may be a civilian hostage."
| I'm sure that's a fine point for some folks who are good with words, but to most of us it's a point that lacks a distinction... |
Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale, a Pentagon spokesman, said Thursday that he's "not comfortable commenting on what a congressman says that reveals classified information."
Breasseale said he's "totally unaware" of any intelligence analysis that concluded the Bergdahl Taliban swap would cause "a raised threat" to other U.S. personnel.
Asked about efforts to free other U.S. captives, another Pentagon spokesperson, Navy Cmdr. Amy Derrick-Frost, said the Defense Department continues to work with other government agencies to secure the safe return of Americans whose lives are at risk or who are held unlawfully abroad.
Bergdahl's release last weekend has prompted renewed calls from the families of other U.S. detainees in Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea and Cuba to ask why the United States has not obtained their loved ones' freedom as well.
| A good point, but remember they're just civilians... |
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