White House apologizes to lawmakers over secret POW Swap.....

clownboy said:

Not every scandal rises to the level of impeachment. Bad judgement or just plain idiocy isn't the standard. You have nothing to bet with in the first place.

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Really? Here, I'll make it easier for you: Let's bet a signature and a forum donation that this doesn't get anywhere. Say $100? Loser puts on a pro-DEM/pro-GOP signature?

Hatuey said:

Well, let's start with the whole "signing statements" debacle:

Presidential Signing Statements Research Guide — Georgetown Law



When Democrats tried to create laws against their use? Not a single Republican cared enough to support the bill. If the problem is that Obama "broke the law" by using signing statements to circumvent the law, Republicans are going to have to try and explain away why they were in favor of this BEFORE Obama became president. They've already been in support of this:



It's simple and Bush set the standard, the president can do what he feels is necessary within his constitutional power when interpreting the law. None of this was even questionable by Republicans before 2008. Now they're against it? Tough ****. Obama brought an American home and sent a few goat herders to be disappeared in Qatar. Win-win.

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Try again.....Jonathon Turley.....uhm that would be the Constitutional Attorney. Oh and I doubt you can say he leans to the Right. Already Pointed out that BO attaching his Concern of the Executive Being Limited is nothing more than his Concern. Like Bush Who BO criticized for doing this very same thing that BO now just did with his signing agreement. Which then as Turley aptly pointed out how BO then signed the Law and took those Kudos.

Which say nothing about BO's own Person admitting they Assumed and took Congress for Granted.


Obama: Congress consulted on prisoner exchange.....

President Barack Obama on Tuesday defended his decision to release five Afghan detainees from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for freeing an American soldier, saying his administration had consulted with Congress about that possibility "for some time."

There have long been questions about how Bergdahl disappeared from his unit nearly five years ago. The Pentagon concluded in 2010 that Bergdahl walked away, and, after an initial flurry of searching, the military curbed any high-risk rescue plans.

Despite the Pentagon's conclusions, Obama said the government was not currently seeking to punish Bergdahl as a deserter.

"Our main priority is making sure the transition that he's undergoing after five years in captivity is successful," he said.

Obama suggested Tuesday that lawmakers were aware of the prospect that the U.S. could agree to a prisoner swap with the Taliban. And he defended how his administration handled the formal notifications, saying that when the opportunity to free Bergdahl presented itself, "We seized that opportunity." Officials said delaying Bergdahl's transfer in order to comply with the congressional notification rules would have interfered with two of the president's constitutional authorities: protecting the lives of Americans abroad and protecting U.S. soldiers.

"Because such interference would significantly alter the balance between Congress and the president, and could even raise constitutional concerns, we believe it is fair to conclude that Congress did not intend that the administration would be barred from taking the action it did in these circumstances," White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement released shortly after Obama's news conference.....snip~

Obama: Congress consulted on prisoner exchange


You can thank Caitlin for helping all to understand how they like to assume and take for granted Congress.

Thanks for Trying! :lol:

Hatuey said:

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Violins? No one is playing violins unless it's those who justify this administration's actions. And right now the number being played is Chopin's Funeral March


When an administration starts attacking honorable vets as liars as they did today during a briefing from the State Department because they dare come forth and tell the truth, or when they have a yahoo like Susan Rice one of this administration's National Security advisers proclaiming Bergdahl served honorably when even the Pentagon had concluded he was a deserter, they are up a creek without a paddle. Cheers!

Hatuey said:

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MMC said:

Try again.....Jonathon Turley.....uhm that would be the Constitutional Attorney. Oh and I doubt you can say he leans to the Right. Already Pointed out that BO attaching his Concern of the Executive Being Limited is nothing more than his Concern.

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Arguments from Authority? Lol. You're kidding right? Do you know what precedent means? It means nothing will happen. Even if it got as far as an impeachment, Republicans would have to seriously distance themselves away from their past support of signing statements. Good luck with that. Oh, and on Turley:

Jonathan Turley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

However, Turley has a strong libertarian streak and sometimes infuriates the left with a contrarian position.[10] For instance, he has said, “It is hard to read the Second Amendment and not honestly conclude that the Framers intended gun ownership to be an individual right.”[8] Moreover, Turley testified in favor of the Clinton impeachment.[32]

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Again, try and impeach the president on this. I dare Republicans and even lukewarm Democrats. - Remember the impeachments that were coming over Benghazi? The IRS scandal? Fast & Furious? Where are those? You think the American public will stand behind an impeachment on this? Hahahaha.

Hatuey said:

Arguments from Authority? Lol. You're kidding right? Do you know what precedent means? It means nothing will happen. Even if it got as far as an impeachment, Republicans would have to seriously distance themselves away from their past support of signing statements. Good luck with that. Oh, and on Turley:

Jonathan Turley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Again, try and impeach the president on this. I dare Republicans and even lukewarm Democrats. - Remember the impeachments that were coming over Benghazi? The IRS scandal? Fast & Furious? Where are those? You think the American public will stand behind an impeachment on this? Hahahaha.

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Again we don't need to Impeach to Humiliate and make a Putz look like a Putz. That would include you Precious BO.

Hatuey said:

Really? Here, I'll make it easier for you: Let's bet a signature and a forum donation that this doesn't get anywhere. Say $100? Loser puts on a pro-DEM/pro-GOP signature?

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No, I'm not betting with you nor will I play this game of wandering goalposts. You have absurdly reduced the events to favor a discounting of what just happened. These weren't "goat herders" that were released. This wasn't your ordinary POW that was bargained for.

The American public isn't buying it now, but who knows, they may swallow the tripe coming from your echo chamber. In any event, we're talking democrats here and a lame duck POTUS, it's very likely another scandal will be along soon to make folks forget about this. Look for a wag the dog around election time.

Hatuey said:

Arguments from Authority? Lol. You're kidding right? Do you know what precedent means? It means nothing will happen. Even if it got as far as an impeachment, Republicans would have to seriously distance themselves away from their past support of signing statements. Good luck with that. Oh, and on Turley:

Jonathan Turley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Again, try and impeach the president on this. I dare Republicans and even lukewarm Democrats. - Remember the impeachments that were coming over Benghazi? The IRS scandal? Fast & Furious? Where are those? You think the American public will stand behind an impeachment on this? Hahahaha.

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Do you think the majority of American people confronted with one lie after another exposed of this administration will be so quick to vote Democrat in the next election? I don't think so. I don't hear anyone in Congress shouting out impeachment, and that is what counts as they do handle that aspect. But I do hear both Democrats and Republicans associated with National Security livid and at the very least disturbed over what Obama and his administration have done. So your garbage has nowhere to go except into a green Glad bag to contain it and off to the landfill it goes. Cheers.

Perotista said:

Him being promoted twice is what I can't figure out. that is something else that seems rather stupid especially when the military knew he walked away from his post.

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Thing that kills me.....is they will always throw Gadhafi name or Saddam's up over how Bad they were. Yet these guys make them look like beginners.


And in Kabul Monday, the Afghan Foreign Ministry called the swap "against the norms of international law" if it came against the five imprisoned Taliban detainees' will. The ministry said: "No state can transfer another country's citizen to a third country and put restriction on their freedom."

The five detainees left Guantanamo aboard a U.S. military aircraft flying to Qatar, which served as go-between in the negotiations. They are to be banned from leaving Qatar for at least a year. Among the five: a Taliban deputy intelligence minister, a former Taliban interior minister with ties to the late al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and a figure linked by human rights monitors to mass killings of Shiite Muslims in Afghanistan in 2000 and 2001.....snip~

U.S. concluded in 2010 that Bergdahl walked away

clownboy said:

No, I'm not betting with you nor will I play this game of wandering goalposts. You have absurdly reduced the events to favor a discounting of what just happened. These weren't "goat herders" that were released. This wasn't your ordinary POW that was bargained for.

The American public isn't buying it now, but who knows, they may swallow the tripe coming from your echo chamber. In any event, we're talking democrats here and a lame duck POTUS, it's very likely another scandal will be along soon to make folks forget about this. Look for a wag the dog around election time.

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Heya CB its his Peace talks with the Taliban.....look I put this up back in Feb around here.


U.S. seeks prisoner swap with Taliban to free Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.....


In an effort to free American captive Bowe Bergdahl before the bulk of U.S. forces leave Afghanistan this year, the Obama administration has decided to try to resume talks with the Taliban and sweeten an offer to trade Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for the Army sergeant, current and former officials said.

To refresh the American offer, which has been on the table for more than two years, senior officials from the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies decided within the past month to allow the simultaneous release of all five men. Taliban representatives had objected to the previous plan to release the prisoners by ones or twos as a test of Taliban and Qatari intermediaries’ ability to make sure the men did not return to militancy.

Two people familiar with the decision stressed that it was the Taliban that broke off negotiations nearly two years ago and that the U.S. door to talks has been open since. The renewed offer has not been formally made, and no State Department or other officials have immediate plans to travel to Doha, Qatar, where any contact facilitated by the Qatari government would take place.

The mid-January decision by officials at the level of deputy secretary would confine any new talks to the prisoner issue. Negotiations would not attempt wider engagement with the Taliban on a host of issues related to the future of Afghanistan. U.S. officials had once hoped to use the prisoner exchange as a means to build confidence for those larger discussions, which would also have involved the Afghan government. Now, the United States is primarily focused on getting Bergdahl home.

Bergdahl, an Army infantryman assigned to a unit from Alaska, was taken captive after walking off his base in the eastern province of Paktika, a decision that confounded his comrades and commanders in Afghanistan. The U.S. military launched a massive manhunt, fearing it would be nearly impossible to find him if his captors smuggled him into Pakistan. The Taliban soon took credit for capturing him and offered to release him in exchange for $1 million and 21 Afghan prisoners.

The Taliban broke off talks before they ever really began in 2012, and an effort to resurrect negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government last year ended in an embarrassing shambles. A political office promised to the Taliban was readied in Doha but closed two days after it opened in June amid a row over the raising of a flag the Taliban used when it ruled Afghanistan prior to the 2001 U.S. invasion.

Taliban representatives remain in Doha, and the office is a de facto political headquarters.....snip~

U.S. seeks prisoner swap with Taliban to free Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl - The Washington Post
Feb 17, 2014 <<<<< !

Page Not Found - Debate Politics Forums (Parents of fallen soldier: Our son died looking for Bergdahl and the military lied to)



Now the Taliban Leader BO and his Team had working with them.....has come up missing in Qatar. His family his extremely worried since. The rest of the Taliban considered him a traitor.

Oh and BTW today Qatar stated these 5 were not Prisoners of Qatar.....They are Guests!

vesper said:

Do you think the majority of American people confronted with one lie after another exposed of this administration will be so quick to vote Democrat in the next election? I don't think so. I don't hear anyone in Congress shouting out impeachment, and that is what counts as they do handle that aspect. But I do hear both Democrats and Republicans associated with National Security livid and at the very least disturbed over what Obama and his administration have done. So your garbage has nowhere to go except into a green Glad bag to contain it and off to the landfill it goes. Cheers.

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A total of 2 presidents have been impeached in our 200+ year history. The odds are forever in my favor. This is how it will go down:

Republicans will make noise. Republicans won't grow the balls to do anything about it. Obama will end his presidency in 2016, and Republicans will find something else to complain when the next POTUS is a Democrat. End of story.

Perotista said:

Him being promoted twice is what I can't figure out. that is something else that seems rather stupid especially when the military knew he walked away from his post.

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Pero, I have a couple of questions. 1) Will the men who came forward, in spite of signing a Non-Disclosure document, be in some kind of trouble for doing so? It would be vey unfair to expect them to remain silent when they know the truth is not being told. 2) most people agree that promoting a suspected deserter does not make sense - is promoting people based on time in service and nothing else? 3) why was his file marked "classified? Is this routine when someone is AWOL?

There are a lot of strange things going on here, and this all seems to have happened in the past six years since Obama has been POTUS. Could this tie in with the "Arab Spring" movement in the ME? Was Bergdahl thinking he could help somehow? There is more to this than we are being told - and I guess we'll have to wait to find out. In the meantime, he'll be with his family in the US, so that much is good. He can't be blamed for the terms of the swap.

Breaking news over the Radio WBBM FM CBS radio 870AM.....Dick Durbin says they had to do this to save Bergdahl due to his health. :shock:

Can someone call Dick and let him know fast forward to June 4th 2014. :lamo

MMC said:

Then Humiliation before the Press and in Public.....is all that's left and coming, non-stop, until his pasture time arrives. :lol:

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At the very least, Obama should be grounded and lose his basketball until his grades improve.

jimbo said:

At the very least, Obama should be grounded and lose his basketball until his grades improve.

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I would take away all his free memberships to the most luxurious Golf Courses around the Country. :golf

MMC said:

Breaking news over the Radio WBBM FM CBS radio 870AM.....Dick Durbin says they had to do this to save Bergdahl due to his health. :shock:

Can someone call Dick and let him know fast forward to June 4th 2014. :lamo

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I watched the video of the exchange and Bergdahl looked pretty healthy to me. I suppose the Taliban don't have Obamacare, yet.

The Taliban even told Berdahl to hurry back to Afghanistan.

Of the three Americans who exited the Army UH-60, all dressed in civvies, two looked military or CIA. But the short guy looked really dorky looking and not so healthy looking. Had to be an Obama State Department official. He even had to be helped back on the helicopter.

Hatuey said:

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Are you attempting to make a comparison between Obama and Nero? If so I agree with you.

APACHERAT said:

I watched the video of the exchange and Bergdahl looked pretty healthy to me. I suppose the Taliban don't have Obamacare, yet.

The Taliban even told Berdahl to hurry back to Afghanistan.

Of the three Americans who exited the Army UH-60, all dressed in civvies, two looked military or CIA. But the short guy looked really dorky looking and not so healthy looking. Had to be an Obama State Department official. He even had to be helped back on the helicopter.

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The Hospital in Germany stated he was in good health considering the circumstances.....no reports of anything life threatening. But don't forget two years ago, Team BO was saying his health was changing. After Gates reported that Apparently the Taliban were taking care of him.

Hatuey said:

A total of 2 presidents have been impeached in our 200+ year history. The odds are forever in my favor. This is how it will go down:

Republicans will make noise. Republicans won't grow the balls to do anything about it. Obama will end his presidency in 2016, and Republicans will find something else to complain when the next POTUS is a Democrat. End of story.

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But no one is talking impeachment in Congress at this time. However, if future discoveries unfold that neither the right or the left can in all honesty justify that could change. Quite frankly, previous scandals this administration has found itself embroiled in has found bi-partisan support in pursuing the truth contrary to some like yourself who think all are witch hunts directed at Obama by the rightwing. It may be only a handful of Democrats but nevertheless it has been bi-partisan on many issues. Not every Democrat comes from the San Francisco Bay area, Chicago or the nanny state of NYC. If our laws don't mean anything and a sitting president can take it upon himself to bend or change the rules we have a serious problem. Why have a legislative branch at all if a president can make his own rules. Why have a judiciary branch if the executive can dictate what laws will be followed and what laws will not? Obama broke the law, he knows it or he wouldn't be apologizing for it. Sometimes apologies are just not enough.

MMC said:

Thing that kills me.....is they will always throw Gadhafi name or Saddam's up over how Bad they were. Yet these guys make them look like beginners.


And in Kabul Monday, the Afghan Foreign Ministry called the swap "against the norms of international law" if it came against the five imprisoned Taliban detainees' will. The ministry said: "No state can transfer another country's citizen to a third country and put restriction on their freedom."

The five detainees left Guantanamo aboard a U.S. military aircraft flying to Qatar, which served as go-between in the negotiations. They are to be banned from leaving Qatar for at least a year. Among the five: a Taliban deputy intelligence minister, a former Taliban interior minister with ties to the late al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and a figure linked by human rights monitors to mass killings of Shiite Muslims in Afghanistan in 2000 and 2001.....snip~

U.S. concluded in 2010 that Bergdahl walked away

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You know what is really strange about all of this, the White House never seen the storm rising from the release of the 5 hard core Taliban leaders. They thought it would be all hugs and kisses. One has to wonder if anyone ever told the president that Bergdahl deserted his post. Yet one has to assume the president knew something was wrong or they would have notified the present Afghan government, perhaps those countries of NATO that has troops in Afghanistan, certainly certain congressional committee heads.

Another thing I wonder about, the president could have made this deal two years ago, the same deal. I assume it was always on the table as far as the Taliban was concerned for the entire two year period, from then till now. Why now when you turned it down two years ago? So many unanswered questions. There has to be something else brewing, or afoot as they say. This whole thing has me flummox.

Perotista said:

You know what is really strange about all of this, the White House never seen the storm rising from the release of the 5 hard core Taliban leaders. They thought it would be all hugs and kisses. One has to wonder if anyone ever told the president that Bergdahl deserted his post. Yet one has to assume the president knew something was wrong or they would have notified the present Afghan government, perhaps those countries of NATO that has troops in Afghanistan, certainly certain congressional committee heads.

Another thing I wonder about, the president could have made this deal two years ago, the same deal. I assume it was always on the table as far as the Taliban was concerned for the entire two year period, from then till now. Why now when you turned it down two years ago? So many unanswered questions. There has to be something else brewing, or afoot as they say. This whole thing has me flummox.

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His excuse is they didn't want to tell Karzai. But Karzai is no longer the President of Afghanistan. Also the New President said he would sign BO's Agreement to keep the 9800 hundred there. As soon as he did.....the Taliban told us to take ALL of our people out also said they would stop the Election. But didn't.

So why is BO negotiating with terrorists again?

Perotista said:

You know what is really strange about all of this, the White House never seen the storm rising from the release of the 5 hard core Taliban leaders. They thought it would be all hugs and kisses. One has to wonder if anyone ever told the president that Bergdahl deserted his post. Yet one has to assume the president knew something was wrong or they would have notified the present Afghan government, perhaps those countries of NATO that has troops in Afghanistan, certainly certain congressional committee heads.

Another thing I wonder about, the president could have made this deal two years ago, the same deal. I assume it was always on the table as far as the Taliban was concerned for the entire two year period, from then till now. Why now when you turned it down two years ago? So many unanswered questions. There has to be something else brewing, or afoot as they say. This whole thing has me flummox.

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Wasn't this same deal 2 years ago turned down more by Congress than BO? If so then the most likely reason for going it on his own in spite of being illegal was that he knew that the deal would not pass now.

What I don't get is why this was so important to BO.

polgara said:

Pero, I have a couple of questions. 1) Will the men who came forward, in spite of signing a Non-Disclosure document, be in some kind of trouble for doing so? It would be vey unfair to expect them to remain silent when they know the truth is not being told. 2) most people agree that promoting a suspected deserter does not make sense - is promoting people based on time in service and nothing else? 3) why was his file marked "classified? Is this routine when someone is AWOL?

There are a lot of strange things going on here, and this all seems to have happened in the past six years since Obama has been POTUS. Could this tie in with the "Arab Spring" movement in the ME? Was Bergdahl thinking he could help somehow? There is more to this than we are being told - and I guess we'll have to wait to find out. In the meantime, he'll be with his family in the US, so that much is good. He can't be blamed for the terms of the swap.

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I do not know Pol, they could be but probably not after Bergdahl was released. It all depends on the wording of the nondisclosure documents. As for the promotions, it may be the army’s policy to promote POW’s automatically, I do not know the answer to that. But usually one has to go before a board, be recommended, plus a few other things. As far as his file being classified, the military or the army in this case didn’t want the public to know what is in it, you probably can include the news organizations and of course those who had him. No it is not routine. Most personal files are marked FOUO or whatever they call it these days, that is for official use only. Another protective marking is sensitive but unclassified which might be what I was thinking about. There is also a restricted file in ones 201 or military records. Where only certain people are authorized to view that portion. There can be classified 201 files and unclas 201 files or portions. It all depends on what the soldier was involved in. But in Bergdahl's case, it is my understanding he wasn't involved in anything that would warrant the classification of his 201 file. So not wanting the media, the public, his captures etc. is probably why it was.

Yes, like you I agree there has to be a whole lot more we aren’t being told about this. So much of it makes no sense unless his release and swap is a small step in something much larger that we do not know anything about yet. There are tons of things it could be, yet they are all pure speculation and as such isn’t worth much.

MMC said:

His excuse is they didn't want to tell Karzai. But Karzai is no longer the President of Afghanistan. Also the New President said he would sign BO's Agreement to keep the 9800 hundred there. As soon as he did.....the Taliban told us to take ALL of our people out also said they would stop the Election. But didn't.

So why is BO negotiating with terrorists again?

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I don't know, only the president knows that answer.

jimbo said:

Wasn't this same deal 2 years ago turned down more by Congress than BO? If so then the most likely reason for going it on his own in spite of being illegal was that he knew that the deal would not pass now.

What I don't get is why this was so important to BO.

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From what I read about it, it was then Defense Secretary Panetta that nixed the deal back then. I suppose with the president's approval or non-approval of it. As to why it is so important to the president, I don't get it either. That is unless this is the first step in something else that is going on between the president and the Taliban.