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Bowe Bergdahl Arrives in the US

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Photo Credit: Fox News Bowe Bergdahl, the US Army sergeant who spent five years as a captive in Afghanistan before being traded for five high-profile Taliban leaders, arrived at an Army medical center in San Antonio, Fox News confirms.

A Pentagon spokesman, Rear Adm. John Kirby, said Bergdahl arrived early Friday at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio on a flight from Ramstein Air Base. The Idaho native is expected to be reunited there with his family.

He was captured in Afghanistan in June 2009 and released by the Taliban on May 31 in a deal struck by the Obama administration in which five Taliban officials were released from detention.

Kirby said that Bergdahl will — quote “continue the next phase of his reintegration process” at the Texas base. It is not known how long he will remain there or if and when he will be questioned about the circumstances behind his apparently voluntary departure from an Army base in Afghanistan in 2009.

Defense officials have said that Bergdahl’s case will undergo a full investigation. It is not known whether his mental state is currently an issue, but a journal he kept as well as Facebook posts written in the weeks leading up to his disappearance, have revealed a portrait of a young man frustrated with authority and attempting to deal with mental instability.

Read more from this story HERE.

Full Crisis Mode: Obama Administration Now Saying the Bergdahl Deal Was Chuck Hagel’s Call

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Photo Credit: AP / Pablo Martinez Monsivais, PoolWhite House officials on Monday attempted to distance President Obama from the decision to exchange five Taliban officers for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl by claiming that it was Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s call, a likely response to recent polls indicating that most Americans disapprove of the deal.

Members of the House of Representatives, who are still furious that the Obama administration failed to give them 30-day notice of the prisoner swap, were told during a closed-door briefing on Monday that the entire exchange hinged on Hagel’s approval.

Following the conclusion of the private meeting, Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, recounted what he learned.

“Now wait a minute, are you saying it was Secretary Hagel that made this decision, or was this the president of the United States?” McKeon told reporters. “It was the president of the United States that came out with the Bergdahls and took all the credit. And now that there’s been a little pushback, he’s moving away from it?”

Indeed, as noted by the Weekly Standard, there’s a major flaw in the White House’s attempt to pin the deal on the defense secretary: Hagel already said during a June 1 interview on “Meet the Press” that the final decision to trade five Taliban officers for Bergdahl came from Obama.

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President Obama vs. George Washington on Prisoner Exchange

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Photo Credit: TownHallBy Chuck Norris.

I have four colossal disagreements with how President Barack Obama cut the deal for the prisoner swap of five senior Taliban leaders for U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl; the former, the White House itself admits, could “absolutely” rejoin terrorist cells.

Sure, I have far more than four issues with how it all went down — for example, the absolute avoidance and disregard of constitutional submission and congressional consent. But this administration seems to have little regard for proper protocol with anything, so I’m going to focus here on a few different angles of argument.

No one is overlooking or minimizing the understandable elation of Bergdahl’s family over his homecoming. But was there really no other military or negotiating option than to return five of the most hardened criminals and enemies of the U.S. to the battlefield, where at least six other soldiers gave their lives trying to rescue Bergdahl?

Our whole country — including those across the political spectrum, from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. — is asking: Why, in the midst of war, would Obama release five of the greatest anti-American terrorists in exchange for Bergdahl, who, according to several of his own military colleagues and superiors, abandoned his post and platoon and likely even became sympathetic with the Taliban mission?

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Photo Credit: Carolyn Kaster, APUSA TODAY poll: Obama mishandled Bergdahl exchange

By Gregory Korte.

Public opposition to the exchange of five Taliban prisoners for captive Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has less to do with Bergdahl himself and more with how President Obama handled the transfer, according to a new USA TODAY/Pew Research Center poll.

The poll shows 43% of Americans say it was wrong for Obama to make the deal, compared with 34% who say it was the right thing to do.

Thirty percent of those surveyed have a strong opinion of Bergdahl, whose decision to leave his post in 2009 and subsequent capture by the Taliban is under investigation by the Army. Of those, half say they were sympathetic, and half say they are angry with Bergdahl.

The 128 veterans included in the poll are much more harsh in their assessment of the 28-year-old sergeant. Only 6% of veterans who responded say they sympathized with him, while 33% say they were angry. By 68%-16%, veterans say Obama made the wrong decision.

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This Journalist Died After Exposing Bowe Bergdahl’s Anti-Americanism

By Kris Zane.

At the time Rolling Stone reporter Michael Hastings was killed under suspicious circumstances, he had recently written a huge exposé on Bowe Bergdahl, revealing that he had deserted his unit and actively sought out the Taliban. Hastings had also revealed Bergdahl’s anti-American sentiments, publishing the emails to his father that so shocked America: “I am ashamed to be an American…The horror that is America is disgusting.”

This revelation actually came in July of 2012, when Hastings published a ten-thousand word article on Bergdahl, in which he had traveled to Afghanistan to speak to his former platoon mates, the soldiers violating their gag order to speak to Hastings anonymously. Hastings had also visited Bergdahl’s parents in Idaho, where he presumably obtained the emails. When we saw Obama pawing Bowe Bergdahl’s mother and hugging his father last week in the White House Rose Garden, this wasn’t how he was treating them in 2012. The Obama administration in 2012 had “encouraged” his parents to keep their mouths shut. The father, Robert Bergdahl, had gone on a very public crusade, criticizing the Obama administration for killing Afghanistan civilians, and had even said that one of the Taliban captors of his son had had his child murdered by a CIA drone—mirroring events in the popular Showtime series “Homeland”. This was stated at a very public GOP fundraising event in 2010 hosted by former RNC head Michael Steele. Robert Bergdahl had also just posted a video on YouTube, where he appealed directly to this son’s captors, stating: “…We must also thank those who have cared for our son for almost two years…We have wept that God may show his beneficence, his mercy and that his peace may come upon the people of Pakistan. As-salamu alaykum [peace be upon you].”

After this, the Obama administration actively sought to keep the lid on Robert Bergdahl and Michael Hastings’ reporting of Bowe Bergdahl, as secret FBI documents now reveal.

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‘I’ve Had Enough’: When Democrats Quit on Obama

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Photo Credit: GettyThe email hit my in-box at 9:41 p.m. last Wednesday. From one of the most powerful Democrats in Washington, a close adviser to the White House, the missive amounted to an electronic eye roll. “Even I have had enough.”

Another Democrat had quit on President Obama.

The tipping point for this person was the Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl case—not the soldier-for-Taliban swap itself as much as how the White House mishandled its obligation to communicate effectively and honestly to Congress and the public. More than that, Obama’s team had failed once again to acknowledge its mistakes, preferring to cast blame and seek cover behind talking points.

“DC is hard, and depressing,” the Democrat wrote. “I still believe good comes from government (e.g. 8 million in ACA). But that Politico story is a cautionary one: good reminder that you can’t go so in the bunker [and] no longer identify legitimate criticism.” That day, Politico had posted a story channeling the White House communications team’s response to the Bergdahl backlash.

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Not the First Time Obama Risked American Lives after Bypassing Congress

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Photo Credit: EPA; AP; ReutersBy Monte Kuligowski.

The chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence, Senator Diane Feinstein, was visibly upset with Barack Obama upon learning of the president’s secretive Bergdahl deal. It is reasonable that she and all members of Congress should be outraged. But should they be surprised that the president traded five of the most dangerous terrorists in Gitmo for the deserter, Bowe Bergdahl, without consulting Congress per the law passed to prevent exactly what Obama did?

Congress should, of course, be livid. But shocked, I don’t think so.

At this point, it should be hard for anyone could be surprised. The man with a pen and a phone had more than threatened to illegally bypass Congress; he had done so before.

And he had done so in big ways.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: Facebook Wife of soldier wounded searching for Bergdahl speaks out

By Jazz Shaw / HotAir.

The Bergdahl story continues to go from bad to very bad to really bad to worse. I first saw this story being written about by Rick Moran at PJ Media today. The wife of one of the soldiers who was grievously injured while searching for Bergdahl in Afghanistan has taken to social media to protest the handling of this story.

The wife of a disabled Afghanistan veteran who was injured while searching for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has posted a scathing message against him this week, adding a personal account to the rising protests against the negotiations with the Taliban that lead to Bergdahl’s freedom.

In a message she posted via Facebook, Shannon Allen, wife of Sgt. 1st Class Mark Allen, wrote ‘Meet my husband, injuries directly brought to you by the actions of this traitor. He can’t give an account of what went down, because he can no longer speak. Now, which guy is a “hero” again?!? Sick.’

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: AFPKerry defends Bergdahl-for-Taliban exchange

By Elise Labott.

The five Taliban figures who got out of Guantanamo in exchange for U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s release would be taking an “enormous risk” if they return to the battlefield, Secretary of State John Kerry told CNN in an interview that aired Sunday.

“I’m not telling you that they don’t have some ability at some point to go back and get involved (in fighting). But they also have an ability to get killed doing that. ” Kerry said in his first public comments on the controversial prisoner exchange.

Kerry defended the swap and told CNN the former detainees will be monitored closely — and not just by officials in Qatar, where they were flown after being released. He wouldn’t say who else will be watching, but he said the United States is confident the conditions of their release will be honored.

“And if they’re violated, then we have the ability to be able to do things,” he said, warning that the United States would do whatever is necessary to protect Americans “if these guys pick a fight with us in the future, or now, or at any time.”

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Six Soldiers Who Served with Bergdahl Come to Chilling Consensus in Riveting Interview

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Megyn Kelly interview with members of Bergdahl’s platoon

By Caroline Schaeffer.

Megyn Kelly hosted 6 members of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s platoon to discuss their reactions to the Bergdahl situation, and they were unanimous in their explanations of what they saw: Bergdahl deserted, he sought out the Taliban, and he deserves a court martial.

Read more from this story HERE.
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Photo Credit: GettyFeinstein Says She’s Seen No Evidence that Taliban Would Have Killed Bergdahl

By Jonathan Topaz.

Senate Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein said she has not seen any evidence that the Taliban would have killed Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl if details of an agreement had leaked, contrary to what Obama administration officials have said.

When asked whether there was a “credible threat” on Bergdahl’s life if word had gotten out, the California Democrat responded: “No, I don’t think there was a credible threat, but I don’t know. I have no information that there was.”

Feinstein’s comments, part of an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Political Capital with Al Hunt airing Friday evening, put her at odds with White House officials. At a briefing Wednesday, administration officials told lawmakers that they couldn’t give Congress advance notice on the Bergdahl deal because the Taliban vowed to kill him if any details about the prisoner exchange came out.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: WNDShrink questions sanity of Bergdahl AND Obama

By Drew Zahn.

A prominent psychotherapist and author has publicly questioned the mental stability of both Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl and the U.S. president who traded five terrorists back to the Taliban to secure Bergdahl’s release.

Dr. Gina Loudon is host of “Smart Life with Dr. Gina” on Money Biz Life Network and has appeared on or been cited by the BBC, ABC, CNN, New York Times, Fox News and more. Her columns also appear regularly on WND.

Earlier this week, Loudon told Lou Dobbs on Fox Business Network’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight” that Bergdahl’s anti-American rhetoric doesn’t suggest someone suffering from torture or even “Stockholm Syndrome,” but rather the mind of a man whose thinking had been twisted long before his capture by the Taliban.

She also suggested President Obama may relate to Bergdahl’s “anti-colonialist” rantings, and his recent “erratic” behavior may not be what we “deem sane.”

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: APIt worked: White House Bowe Bergdahl story took attention off Veterans Affairs scandal, deaths

By Paul Bedard.

It probably didn’t work out exactly as hoped, but the White House’s controversial trade of five hardened Taliban for a U.S. POW diverted the mainstream media’s attention away from the escalating Veterans Affairs Department scandal that threatened President Obama’s reputation with veterans.

According to a new report from the Center for Media Research, the VA story that dominated the news prior to the prisoner swap for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was reduced to a mere 2 minutes and 16 seconds over all three networks over the last week, said the conservative media watchdog.

Read more from this story HERE.
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Photo Credit: IJ Review Just What We Feared: Freed Taliban Leader Vows To Return To His Reign Of Terror

By Caroline Schaeffer.

One of the five freed Taliban members has vowed to return to Afghanistan so that he can fight Americans, according to a fellow militant and family member. For the next 12 months, Noorullah Noori will be monitored by the Qatari government, but after that time he plans to return to Afghanistan.

NBC News reports a family member has been in touch with the network to share Noori’s threats.

“After arriving in Qatar, Noorullah Noori kept insisting he would go to Afghanistan and fight American forces there,” a Taliban commander told NBC News via telephone from Afghanistan.

Read more from this story HERE.