|
Bergdahl's Release Has No Effect on the War on Terror
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
June 2, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Criticized
on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” former Vietnam prisoner of war Sen. John McCain
(R-Ariz.} ripped President Barack Obama for bypassing Congress to secure the
release of 28-year-old Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. McCain contends that releasing hardcore terrorists from Guantanamo Bay threatens U.S.
national security. As a condition of the May 31 prisoner swap that sprung Bergdahl from Haqqani captivity,
the U.S. exchanged five hardened Taliban prisoners. Looking to score political points,
McCain insists that five old, tired and worn-out Taliban prisoners threaten U.S.
national security. House Armed
Services Chairman Howard McKeon (R-Calif.) insists that the prisoner swap that
obtained Bergdahl’s release harms the U.S. by encouraging terrorists to take
more Americans hostages. McKeon’s
logic holds about as much water as today’s low-flow toilets.
Whether or not Bergdahl was released or not, America’s terrorist enemies
seek to snatch Americans at any possible time.
It goes without saying that given the chance, of course terrorists would
snatch Americans. Whatever the U.S.
policy about not negotiating with terrorists, it’s routinely done when both
parties agree. While it’s true the
U.S. got badly out-bargained in the latest prisoner swap for Bergkahl, it’s also
true he was the last U.S. soldier in captivity.
Withy the war ending officially at year’s end, the White House wanted to
get him out. McKeon insists that
the White House broke the law requiring the president to consult with Congress
over prisoner swaps. Speaking on
CNN’s “State of the Union” with Candy Crowley, 49-year-old White House National
Security Advisor Susan Rice insisted there was an “exigent” circumstance with
Bergdahl’s deteriorating medical condition.
White House officials, while not consulting Congress, were happy to get
rid of five more Guantanamo Bay prisoners.
Obama pledged campaigning in 2008 he would close Guantanamo Bay at the
earliest possible time. Five years
later there’s no end in sight to closing Camp X-Ray yet the White House jumped to rid the controversial barbed wire
island prison of more detainees.
Opened in Jan. 2002, only three months after Sept. 11 and only two months after
the fall of the Taliban, Guantanomo Bay Detention Facility was designed to hold
the most dangerous terrorists plucked on the Afghanistan-Pakistan battlefield. Allegations of torture marred the
U.S. reputation in the ensuing years holding what the former Bush administration
called “battlefield detainees.” Bush officials skirted the Geneva Convention,
defining the prisoners as battlefield detainees or enemy combatants.
With all the adverse publicity on Guantanamo Bay, Obama vowed to close a
blight on U.S. foreign policy. Bush
administration supporters, like McCain, backed Guantanamo as a necessary evil in
the age of global terrorism, opposing shuttering the facility. Suggesting that releasing beaten-down Guantanamo detainees threaten U.S. national
security makes good headlines before the Nov. Midterm elections but lacks any
reality. What’s controversial about
Bergdahl’s release is not the fact that White House officials didn’t inform
Congress but how the 23-year-old private disappeared June 30, 2009 into
Haqqani’s hands. “Bowe Bergdahl
deserted during a time of war, and his fellow Americans lost their lives
searching for him,” said Bergdahls’ former Sgt. Matt Vierkant, a member of his
Blackfoot Company platoon. Vierkant
regrets Bergdahl recognized as a war hero.
Spending nearly five years in captivity kept by Afghan’s Haqqani Network,
Bergdahl now finds himself debriefing at U.S. Army Hospital in Landstuhl,
Germany. Debriefers will no doubt piece together whether or not Bergdahl
actually deserted, prompting calls for prosecution. “Our first priority is assuring his
wellbeing and health and reuniting him with his family,” said Defense Secretary
Chuck Hagel, calling question of desertion
premature. Negotiating
through Qatar for the prisoner swap technically bypasses the rule that Congress
must be given 30 days notice. Proving she’s still good at spinning on national TV, Rice said that “exigent”
circumstances superseded the requirement that the White House notify Congress. Whether Bergdahl deserted or not,
the White House did a captive U.S. soldier a service getting him released from
enemy hands.
Reports of Bergdahl leaving his post June 30, 2009 without his weapons suggest that he
was not captured by the Taliban or Haqqani Network. Judging by first hand reports from
Bergdahl’s platoon-mates, there’s good reason to believe he went AWOL, most
likely suffering from some kind of stress disorder. Landstuhl debriefers should piece
together the whole story about what happened on that night when the 23-year-old
Army sergeant went missing. Whether
or not spending five years with the Haqqani Network sounds like enough
punishment for the misguided member of the 1st battalion, 501st Infantry
Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, that facts of
Bergdahl’s case must come out. Talk
of courts martial or dishonorable discharge are premature, until his medical
condition is fully known. Army
debriefers should have no problem pinpointing Bergdahl’s state-of-mind.
|
