President Obama has broken the law once again by exchanging 5 Taliban leaders who were in detention in Guantanamo Bay for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who had been held captive for 5 years in Afghanistan by the Taliban.
In order to release any prisoners from Guantanamo Bay the Obama administration is suppose to notify Congress first, which was not done.
One Republican also stated that this puts our troops around the world at greater risk because it gives incentive for our soldiers to be captured.
Amid jubilation Saturday over the release of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl from captivity by the Taliban, senior Republicans on Capitol Hill said they were troubled by the means by which it was accomplished, which was a deal to release five Afghan detainees from the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Top Republicans on the Senate and House armed services committees went so far as to accuse President Obama of having broken the law, which requires the administration to notify Congress before any transfers from Guantanamo are carried out.
“Trading five senior Taliban leaders from detention in Guantanamo Bay for Bergdahl’s release may have consequences for the rest of our forces and all Americans. Our terrorist adversaries now have a strong incentive to capture Americans. That incentive will put our forces in Afghanistan and around the world at even greater risk,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. McKeon (R-Calif.) and the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, James M. Inhofe (Okla.), said in a joint statement.
Lawmakers were not notified of the Guantanamo detainees’ transfer until after it occurred.
The law requires the defense secretary to notify relevant congressional committees at least 30 days before making any transfers of prisoners, to explain the reason and to provide assurances that those released would not be in a position to reengage in activities that could threaten the United States or its interests.
Before the current law was enacted at the end of last year, the conditions were even more stringent. However, the administration and some Democrats had pressed for them to be loosened, in part to give them more flexibility to negotiate for Bergdahl’s release.
A senior administration official, agreeing to speak on the condition of anonymity to explain the timing of the congressional notification, acknowledged that the law was not followed. When he signed the law last year, Obama issued a signing statement contending that the notification requirement was an unconstitutional infringement on his powers as commander in chief and that he therefore could override it.
“Due to a near-term opportunity to save Sergeant Bergdahl’s life, we moved as quickly as possible,” the official said. “The administration determined that given these unique and exigent circumstances, such a transfer should go forward notwithstanding the notice requirement.”
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said that the detainees transferred from Guantanamo to Qatar, where they are to stay for at least a year, “are hardened terrorists who have the blood of Americans and countless Afghans on their hands. I am eager to learn what precise steps are being taken to ensure that these vicious and violent Taliban extremists never return to the fight against the United States and our partners or engage in any activities that can threaten the prospects for peace and security in Afghanistan.”
Beyond this individual instance, some raised the larger question of whether it is sound policy for the United States to have, in the words of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), “negotiated with terrorists.”
Rogers said the action marked a “fundamental shift in U.S. policy.”
You all can defend this criminal behavior of Obama all you like but do you not believe in following rules? Why is it o.k. for him and his other criminal partners allowed to do exactly anything they want regardless how wrong it is and some of you still think it is alright. We are suppose to teach our children right from wrong and how in heavens name are we to do this with such criminal activities going on and them getting away with it. WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE is probably what you are thinking,,,,.Well, it makes 100% difference. I want our kids, grandkids, and now great grandkids to grow up with Godly morals and not satens evils, lies, treason, and all the other evils he has got away with. So you who think what he does is o.k. then you will have to face God with this and not me.
Did we just bring another traitor back to the US? Was he kidnapped or did he walk away? Did he get training for terrorism or freedom?
so when has Obama obeyed the law, HE MAKES HIS OWN LAWS AS HE NEEDS THEM.
EL FRAUDO strikes again
When are you going to learn that the law is what he says it is.
By the way,,,,DID ANY OF YOU LOSE ANYONE IN TH TWIN TOWERS, OKLAHOMA BOMBINGS, OVERSEAS, OR THE OTHER WARS????? wE DID AND WE HAVE NO MERCY FOR ANYONE WHO TURNS THESE SADISTIC HORRID GITMO KILLERS BACK OUT ON THE STREETS TO KILL AGAIN. AND THIS IS A GIVEN. IT IS THEIR WAY OF LIFE. DO ANY OF YOU LIVE IN OR AROUND CHICAGO AS WE DO AND KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT WHAT LIFESTYLE OBAMA AND HIS GROUP OF ISLAMIC CRIMINALS HAVE HAD PLANNED BEFORE HE CAME INTO OFFICE. WE KNOW AND YOU WHO WANT TO STILL CLING ON TO THIS PERSONS SKIRT TAILS WILL SEE WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN AND SOON.
Bitching about it on Facebook does absolutely no good what soever – all it really does is drive traffic over to sites like this that post the article from another news source and then visitors click on ads and the site owner earns a few sheckles…. the only way to stop Obama is to Impeach him – and after almost 6 years of bitching and whining about his illegal acts nothing has happened, none of the Republicans in Washington have done anything to stop Obama – all we hear is lip service – all of this is just a huge waste of time because nobody ever follows through and does anything about it but whine and snivel on social media LMAO !!!
Sad when America has such a weak leader.
Tell that to this soldiers family.. He was the last American there…You all should be glad he is home..
Shame on you!!!
Some of these Comments are laughable.