The backgrounds of these Taliban leaders does underscore, however, that the detainees in Guantanamo were not all “innocent” people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, a narrative that has been urged by many critics of Guantanamo, especially in Europe.
Moreover, the Taliban leaders’ backgrounds demonstrate that it would have been legally difficult, if not impossible, to prosecute them in federal courts — as many human rights groups have urged — because U.S. criminal statutes did not apply to their activities in Afghanistan and because the U.S. military had not collected evidence about them that would have been admissible in federal court. And, if the Taliban had actually been treated as POWs under the Geneva Conventions (for which there has always been a good argument), they would have had to be prosecuted in a military court, not a civilian court, pursuant to Article 102 of the Third Geneva Convention.
In short, all of this demonstrates that — while Guantanamo has indisputably caused great harm to the reputation of the United States (and should in my view be closed) — the practical issue of what to do with al Qaida and Taliban leaders captured in Afghanistan (both in 2001 and today) has been a much more difficult problem than critics of Guantanamo, including President Obama, members of the Obama Administration, and human rights groups, have been willing to acknowledge.
Read from the beginning at Lawfare Blog
Well…..DUH!!!
It was WAR!
But Obama was in such a hurry to let these guys go to Qutar that he refused to respect Federal law and inform Congress.
When will and who will our next kidnapped American be?
Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has issued a rare public statement hailing the exchange of five Guantanamo Bay detainees for a Taliban-held US soldier as a “big victory”.
Now, who heard about the shooter who killed 3 people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels?
The killer has been caught.
He admitted to the shooting.
Our media said he was French.
Yeah, he is French….sort of.
Mehdi Nemmouche had spent over a year in Syria and had links with radical Islamists.
In his possession were guns and a white sheet emblazoned with the name of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a jihadist group fighting in Syria, possibly to be used as a backdrop for his video.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27654505
@Nanny G:
By making this deal trading high level Taliban leaders for a single military member of little military importance, Obama has just made it open season on all Americans overseas.
When you sign up for the military, you will go to war. Death is the final line on the contract.
The idiot has made an illegal transfer of five, notorious militants for one useless GI. All fine will be back in the field of terrorism in less than sixty days.
Death before dishonor, maybe Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl failed to under stande the consequences of what it means to be an American soldier. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl never under stood the nature of his assignment. Five years in captivity, never lost a pound, played volleyball, grew a beard and celebrated x-mas.
He was kept alive at his request as a pawn for the future.
Garbage, he has no class and should not be vindigated as a hero. Want to be the ass++++ awards him a CMH.
It looks like the American they traded the 5 terrorist for was not who they said he was!
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/218196.php
http://michellemalkin.com/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10868673/Bowe-Bergdahl-a-darker-story-behind-the-release-of-Americas-last-prisoner-of-war.html
I could solve the problem with a .22 pistol and lots of ammo. They would not create any more problems for any one.
@Randy:
There are just too many people who think this guy is John Walker Lindh in a uniform.
And his father is praising Allah after his son is released? What’s up with that?
@retire05: His father had wanted ALL Gitmo detainees released!
Afghan Taliban Leader Boasts Prisoner Swap Is a Victory for Taliban
Did the Obama White House Trade Five Terrorists for a Taliban Sympathizer?
So we must question whether the Muslim conversion of Bergdahl and the islamic radicalism of his father might have anything to do with Obama, again bending over backwards to aid our enemies?
Marc Thiessen warned about the release of these 5 back in 2012- profiled in the WikiLeaks “Gitmo Files” the year before- when President Obama was considering it, in light of negotiating at the peace table with the Taliban.
For the most part, the ones left in Gitmo are the worst of the worst. Anyone believe these 5 won’t be returning to the battlefield to kill more Americans?