Meet The Press has been preempted today due to the French Open Men's Final, however we have something further to say in the midst of the growing complaints about the way in which the Obama Administration handled the return of Sgt. Bergdahl.
As has been a pattern with the Obama Administration, they did the right thing, getting our U.S. soldier out of imprisonment, but didn't communicate anything well to anyone else outside of it as to avoid a number of strong publicly-aired dissents from U.S. Senators on both sides of the aisle.
If the president has the authority to make this prison exchange, which he does, and briefed a Senate Select Committee on the issue then the administration wouldn't have typically underestimated the negative reaction from Congress. The president doesn't need to take their advice, but at least he he's informed about their view and Senators are in the know.
With all that said, we haven't changed our opinion from last week's column and we still think getting back Sgt. Bergdahl was right thing to do and if that was the best deal we could get then so be it. And for those who say that we paid too high a price for a soldier who it seems deserted his post, which some people on our cable news have noted it as a crime punishable by death.
If this price was too high, should the United States discontinued the negotiations because it doesn't 'negotiate with terrorists.' (We clearly do.) It wasn't going to be a one-for-one trade, no way. The Taliban has seen the Israelis release hundreds of Palestinians in exchange for a single soldier. The U.S. has offered 7 for 1 deals in the past with millions in cash thrown in. So the U.S. walks away which leaves the Taliban with no choice but to execute him. Is that how it should have been handled?
However, Congress is not completely off the hook; they need to dial it back because now the FBI is investigating threats on the lives of Bowe Bergdahl's parents, because of the slander going on in the news media. This is despicable beyond the pale.
If Sgt. Bergdahl did desert, we would speculate that he had some time to reflect on that decision in the last five years. We think it's safe to say that 'regret' came into the picture. Never mind the promise that our U.S. military makes to every member of the armed forces - we will not leave you behind, no matter what we will come and get you.
If one of our soldiers did something wrong, then he or she should be held responsible - we have no problem with that, but the bottom line is this: We bring everybody back home, period, hard stop.
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