U.S. Soldier Bowe Bergdahl Released by Taliban in Swap for Guantanamo Detainees

[Mermaid]

The prevailing buzz about this guy is that a) Two US military personnel were killed in previous rescue attempts, and b) That he deserted his battalion which resulted in his capture.

Even without these two factors, if true, I am not sure how I feel about swapping 5 of theirs for one of ours. I have to ruminate on it a bit.

What are your thoughts on this development?

WASHINGTONâ€"Taliban militants in Afghanistan on Saturday handed over Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who had been held as a prisoner of war for almost five years, to U.S. Special Operations Forces in exchange for the release of five Afghan Taliban prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay prison.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/in-prisoner-swap-taliban-releases-u-s-soldier-held-for-five-years-1401555125

[Poison Tree]

I wonder why the swap was made now. Do they think Bergdahl has Intel? Are they trying to advance Afghan/Taliban negotiations ahead of the US withdraw?

I'm really not that concerned about the price payed to get the guy back. It is a lot better than what Israel usually ends up paying. I'm sure we'll be hearing about how the 5 "we" released are going to rejoin the Taliban and maybe even about how they were high ranking Taliban, but what difference does 5 more fighters make--besides, it not like the Taliban/Al Qaeda have been hampered while these guys have been imprisoned nor by the continued drone strikes on their leaders. Just 5 more cogs in the machine as far as I can tell.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Consider the source, the Wall Street Journal, which if I'm not mistaken is owned by Murdock and Faux News and of course Obama is a secret Muslim,  Atheist, Commie, Nazi or something like that.
It's a pretty straight forward swap as best I can tell, but even if not he's free, no big worries. Countries often exchange prisoners and the war is finally winding down.

[Mermaid]

I think the problem is that now the Taliban has a very good reason to capture more Americans since we will now negotiate with them.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

In all these years they captured 1? The odds don't sound to good for it.

[Poison Tree]

I think the problem is that now the Taliban has a very good reason to capture more Americans since we will now negotiate with them.

And before now they haven't wanted to capture any?

[aileron]

The US is ending its involvement in the war in Afghanistan, so by then it can no longer keep people in Gitmo as prisoners of war.  If they had enough to indict them on criminal charges they would have done so long ago.  No POW status, no criminal charges, no choice.  They have to be let go.  May as well get the last American POW in the process.

[The Skeletal Atheist]

I think the problem is that now the Taliban has a very good reason to capture more Americans since we will now negotiate with them.

5 years is a long time to wait for 5 guys. As others have said the war is winding down, we're about to leave, there's no reason to hold onto this "we don't negotiate with terrorists" bs. Prisoner exchanges are a regular thing during war, so I fail to see the controversy here.

I'm just glad he wasn't turned into a new beheading video like Daniel Pearl.

[SGOS]

I fail to see the controversy here.

I saw that his happened.  Some people higher up the power ladder decided to do an exchange.  They could have decided not to.  No one will ever know what their motives are.  They do whatever they want.  The rest of us just watch.  I have no idea what the long term strategy is.  It doesn't make any difference.  The country is run by the powerful.  Some of them are assholes.  Some of them are idiots.  Fortunately, it's the same for other countries.  So there is a 50% chance that this won't matter in the end.

[Jason78]

The US is ending its involvement in the war in Afghanistan, so by then it can no longer keep people in Gitmo as prisoners of war.  If they had enough to indict them on criminal charges they would have done so long ago.  No POW status, no criminal charges, no choice.  They have to be let go.  May as well get the last American POW in the process.

Are you under some impression that the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are actually prisoners of war or is this satire?

[Mermaid]

And before now they haven't wanted to capture any?

Well, I think the hard line started by I think Reagan was that we do not negotiate with terrorists. Now, apparently that's not true?

[Mermaid]

The US is ending its involvement in the war in Afghanistan, so by then it can no longer keep people in Gitmo as prisoners of war.  If they had enough to indict them on criminal charges they would have done so long ago.  No POW status, no criminal charges, no choice.  They have to be let go.  May as well get the last American POW in the process.

I hope that's accurate, and that Gitmo is dismantled forever. I am not holding my breath, though.

[Poison Tree]

Well, I think the hard line started by I think Reagan was that we do not negotiate with terrorists. Now, apparently that's not true?

Oh?

[AllPurposeAtheist]

The nonstop nonsense is EVERYTHING the administration does is "emboldening" the bad guys. It's the never-ending right wing talking point.  If John McCain could just replace Obama retroactively we could attack all bad guys everywhere all the time and buy the whole world a puppy.

[aitm]

The guv'ment secretly implanted tracking devices into the bodies of the released men. They din't even know about it,, one day they was a sleepin and the next thing ya know...they woke up....hey little skeeter bite on the arm eh?  Oh no..,no no no my fellow countrymen (and bitches) they done got injected with a uranium tracking device....yeppers......now..I wanna talk about that so called "moon landing"...