Fustercluck after Fustercluck. 24/7/365 David
On Jun 4, 2014, at 1:56 PM, BILROJ via Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > Bergdahl Uproar Has WH in Damage Control Mode > > By Alexis Simendinger - June 4, 2014 > > http://www.realclearpolitics.com > > What could be more uplifting? Amid a national uproar over veterans' health > care, President Obama would surprise Americans and the steadfast parents of > Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl by celebrating a soldier's negotiated rescue from the > Taliban's clutches after five long years. > > As the Afghanistan War lumbered to what Obama vowed last week would be a > "responsible" end, the last American POW from that conflict would come home. > > That was the script, but the rest of the story sent the White House > scrambling into its third day of damage control Tuesday. Obama found himself > spending part of his day defending his decisions even though he was traveling > in Poland. Back home, the president's chief of staff, Denis McDonough, and > deputy national security adviser, Tony Blinken, went to Capitol Hill seeking > to quiet accusations that the president ignored statutory instructions to > alert Congress in advance about such prisoner swaps. Lawmakers urged > investigatory hearings. > > Behind the scenes, White House staff members hastened to marshal support from > advocacy groups and military representatives, including a statement from Gen. > Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and another from > Secretary of the Army John McHugh. The president's communications team > unearthed earlier, contrasting statements from some GOP lawmakers as a way to > use partisan politics as an explanation for the blowback. > > The price of retrieving Bergdahl via U.S. Army Special Forces was > one-for-five, meaning the administration agreed to trade five terror suspects > selected by the Taliban from the prison at Guantanamo Bay in exchange for the > adventure-loving Army volunteer from a small town in Idaho. > > It was not without risks, known risks. > > In fact, the commander-in-chief, who vowed in 2008 to close Gitmo, knew that > in 2011 and 2012, when talks with the Taliban wobbled before breaking off, > that some lawmakers objected to the administration's efforts, arguing against > negotiations with Taliban extremists, and warning that Gitmo prisoners, if > released, would work anew to kill Americans and U.S. allies. > > At the White House, where the president shared his lectern Saturday with > Bergdahl's parents (who happened to be in Washington on a previously planned > trip and did not know until hours before that their son was safe), Obama was > familiar with Bob and Jani's go-anywhere/stop-at-nothing efforts to secure > their son's release, officials acknowledged. > > Bob Bergdahl, among many of his other public efforts on behalf of his son, > supported a citizen petition that attracted 9,239 signatures calling for the > U.S. rescue of Bowe. It had been sent to the White House. > > But by Tuesday nearly 13,000 irate citizens had signed another petition > posted to the White House website calling for the administration to "punish > Bowe Bergdahl for being AWOL/desertion during Operation Enduring Freedom." > > Obama was familiar, too, with the Defense Department's examination of reports > dating to the time of Bergdahl's capture that he had deserted his unit or was > AWOL shortly before he was taken prisoner, setting off a search and rescue > mission that resulted in the deaths of six fellow soldiers. > > The president also privately knew for almost a week that a prisoner swap with > the Taliban was tantalizingly close to being concluded, administration > officials said. Obama and his team opted not to alert lawmakers, or President > Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan, because they feared leaks would scuttle talks > that relied on the government of Qatar as the middleman. And if that > happened, they worried that the release would slip away, perhaps for good. > > During a week in which Obama hailed an end to U.S. combat in Afghanistan, > defended the contours of his foreign policies during a West Point > commencement address, and accepted the resignation of his Veterans Affairs > secretary, four-star Gen. Eric Shinseki, the president imagined that the > rescue of an American POW would be cheered, rather than condemned, especially > by active-duty military and veterans. > > But the trade-offs, motives, and peculiar White House communications invited > scrutiny of Sgt. Bergdahl's service record, of the politics of his bearded > father, of the adage that Americans "leave no soldier behind," and the > conventional wisdom that the United States refuses to negotiate with > terrorists because doing so encourages future seizures of personnel. > > Dempsey and other administration officials conceded that a full examination > of Bergdahl's service record in Afghanistan and his capture are pending, and > could result in potential punitive action by the Defense Department. That > possibility, they argued, is entirely separate from the merits of securing > his release and return to the United States. Bergdahl, 28, is expected to > recover for an unspecified period of time at Brooke Army Medical Center in > San Antonio, Texas. > > Meanwhile, lawmakers lost no time in questioning the administration's > actions, arguing that by law their assent was required before detainees are > transferred from the Guantanamo detainee facility in Cuba. White House aides > apologized Tuesday for the tardy notifications on Capitol Hill, explaining to > Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, > that offering Congress a 30-day advance notification had been impossible. > > The president's team believes notification requirements in law do not > constitutionally bind Obama's decisions as commander-in-chief, and do not > require the president to obtain Congress's express approval. > > White House spokesman Jay Carney said Blinken, joined by other members of the > national security team, explained the "unique circumstance" of Bergdahl's > release to lawmakers. > > An NSC official would not comment directly to describe Blinken's > conversations, but told RCP that following Bergdahl's release Saturday, > officials from the White House, State and Defense departments, and the Office > of the Director of National Intelligence were in "close touch" with members > of Congress and their staffs, and would continue those discussions. > > Appearing on MSNBC Tuesday while standing on the White House lawn, Blinken > said the administration remained confident that Qatar would keep "a tight > check on the activities and the movements" of the five Afghan prisoners who > were flown there from Cuba. "We have the assurances we need from the > government of Qatar," he said, deflecting a question about Qatar's record of > supporting terror groups such as Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. "We'll be > watching very carefully," he added. > > That won't be enough for Republican lawmakers, who want hearings on the > matter, backed by House Speaker John Boehner. In a statement, the speaker > said the administration consulted him and key congressional chairmen in late > 2011 and January 2012 about the possibility of a prisoner exchange. But > reactions were negative, and lawmakers expected the administration to consult > them anew, should an opening present itself again to retrieve the Army > sergeant, Boehner said. > > The speaker said the White House opted not to consult lawmakers in recent > days because "the administration knew it faced serious and sober bipartisan > concern and opposition." > > At the prospect of new GOP-chaired hearings and a military decision about > Bergdahl's service performance in Afghanistan at a later date, administration > officials patiently defended Obama's intentions -- despite their weariness > after a seemingly endless spring of rolling domestic messes. But they also > invented scorched-earth, straw-man arguments in which they maintained that > administration critics would have preferred that Bergdahl "rot" in a Taliban > prison. Privately, they vented that saving a soldier who might not be a > saint, in exchange for five prisoners perceived as evil since 9/11, was more > of a public relations challenge than they'd bargained for. > > "I wouldn't be doing it if I thought that it was contrary to American > national security," the president told reporters Tuesday. His comments came > during a news conference in Warsaw at the start of a week in which he'll mark > the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion at Normandy, where 9,387 Americans > remain buried. > > "We saw an opportunity. We were concerned about Sergeant Bergdahl's health," > he added. "We had the cooperation of the Qataris to execute an exchange and > we seized that opportunity. And the process was truncated because we wanted > to make sure that we did not miss that window." > > No matter how Bergdahl served his country in Afghanistan, volunteering to > wear the U.S. uniform means his country could not forsake him, administration > officials said. "Regardless of the circumstances, whatever those > circumstances may turn out to be, we still get an American soldier back if > he's held in captivity," Obama said. "Period. Full stop." > > > > > -- > -- > Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community > <[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism > Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. 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