Five Hard Questions Surrounding Obama's Decision to Free Gitmo Prisoners

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/06/01/five-hard-questions-surrounding-o
bamas-decision-to-free-gitmo-prisoners/

The Saturday release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, believed to have been in Taliban
captivity since 2009, sparked all sorts of commentary, as observers
questioned everything from the Obama administration's tactics to the solider
in question.

Here are some of the more important questions being asked.
1.
"Did the U.S. negotiate with terrorists for (Bergdahl's) release?"

Candy Crowley asked this question point-blank of National Security Advisor
Susan Rice Sunday, and Rice initially dodged.
"I think the question now is," Crowley asked again, "and you point to the
kinds of warfare we're having now, that no longer can it be said that the
U.S. doesn't negotiate with terrorists?"
 "I wouldn't put it that way," Rice said. "When we are in battles with
terrorists and terrorists take an American prisoner, that prisoner still is
a U.S. serviceman or woman."
Obama administration officials have repeatedly pointed to the fact that the
U.S. did not directly negotiate with the terrorist group holding Bergdahl,
but rather went through an intermediary: the emir of Qatar.

2.
Does this prisoner exchange set a precedent for future negotiations between
the U.S. and the Taliban?

On "Meet the Press" Sunday, David Gregory asked Defense Secretary Chuck
Hagel whether the exchange might open the door to future negotiations.

"It could, it might, and we hope it will present an opening," Hagel
responded, saying he has long supporting Afghan-led efforts to work out
terms with the Taliban.

3.
Did the Obama administration break the law to get Bergdahl back?

Republican leaders blasted the Obama administration on Saturday, saying the
President had broken the law by going forward with the exchange without
giving Congress 30 days notice.
 Why couldn't the exchange have waited for another month to comply with the
law?
"We had information that (Bergdahl's) health could be deteriorating
rapidly," Defense Secretary Hagel said on Sunday. "We found an opportunity
(to secure his release), we took that opportunity; I'll stand by that
decision."
National Security Advisor Rice echoed Hagel on "This Week with George
Stephanopoulos," saying, "We had reason to be concerned that this was an
urgent and acute situation, that his life could have been at risk."

"We did not have thirty days to wait," Rice said, "and had we waited and
lost him, I don't think anybody would have forgiven the United States
government."

4.
Where do the Bergdahl family's sympathies lie?

Shortly before his disappearance in 2009, Bergdahl wrote to his family that
he was "ashamed to even be American," and Bergdahl's father is believed to
have posted a now-deleted tweet in which he says, "I am still working to
free all Guantanamo prisoners."
The tweet came mere days before Bergdahl was released - in exchange for five
Guantanamo detainees.

5.
How did Bergdahl wind up in Taliban hands?

Bergdahl wasn't captured during a mission - he instead appears to have
wandered off-base and then been captured - and he was initially listed as
"duty status unknown," not "missing/captured."
The circumstances could beg the question: was Bergdahl captured, did he
desert, or did he go looking for the Taliban?
 Military members have expressed mixed reactions to Bergdahl's release -
there's no consensus that he was a war hero, or even a POW in the first
place.

By Epictetus