[](/sites/default/files/uploads/2014/06/berg88.jpg)As Time Magazine reported this week, “Asked whether the Taliban would be inspired by the exchange to kidnap others, a commander laughed. “Definitely.”
Once again, President Barack Obama has shown why he is a horrible President. A weak, impotent American president. Here are some quotes that are important to share in regards to just how awful this deal was for America:
“Swapping Bergdahl for illegal enemy combatants (terrorists, in common parlance) signaled unmistakably to Taliban and al Qaeda that Obama is determined to withdraw from Afghanistan no matter what the cost to the United States or those in Afghanistan fighting to remain free.” – John Bolton
“We all must be mindful that the United States has diplomatic, civilian, and military personnel deployed in other countries with both challenging security environments and active terrorist networks interested in targeting not just our facilities but our people. One of their greatest protections – knowing that the United States does not negotiate with terrorists – has been compromised.” – John Boehner
“I fear that the administration’s decision to negotiate with the Taliban for Sgt. Bergdahl’s release could encourage future terrorist kidnappings of Americans.” – U.S. Senator for Florida, Marco Rubio
“If you negotiate here, you’ve sent a message to every al Qaeda group in the world – by the way, some who are holding U.S. hostages today – that there is some value now in that hostage in a way that they didn’t have before.” – Mike Rogers
“By releasing these five top Taliban commanders, the U.S. is demonstrating that it is throwing in the towel in the long struggle against the Taliban and its al-Qaeda allies in Afghanistan.” – Jonathan S. Tobin
“This is an example of a signing statement where the President is taking power for himself that the law didn’t give him.” – Jeffrey Toobin
“While not as well known as Guantanamo inmates like 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the Taliban 5 were some of the worst outlaws in the U.S. war on terror. And their release will end up replenishing the diminished leadership ranks of the Afghan Taliban at a moment when the United States is winding down the war there.” – Eli Lake, Josh Rogin
“The idea that we’re now making trades, what does that do for every single soldier stationed abroad? It says the reason why the U.S. has had the policy for decades of not negotiating with terrorists is because once you start doing it, every other terrorist has an incentive to capture more soldiers.” – Senator Ted Cruz
“One was the deputy minister of intelligence for the Taliban. One was the deputy minister of defense for the Taliban. These are no local level individuals. These are leaders and this is serious to put them back on the street.” – James Lankford
“At least when Israel releases terrorists to gain the freedom of one of its soldiers, the country’s leaders have the grace to treat the decision as a regrettable action made out of necessity and nothing to celebrate.” – Jonathan S. Tobin
“It’s very interesting to me that they would be willing to release five extraordinarily dangerous Taliban members in exchange for this soldier who apparently left his post.” – Senator Susan Collins
“We have now set a price. We have a changing footprint in Afghanistan which would put our soldiers at risk for this notion that ‘If I can get one, I can get five Taliban released.” – Mike Rogers
“Radical Islamists are serious about killing in pursuit of their extreme objectives. Releasing their soldiers can only embolden them to take more Americans hostage. The deal for Sgt. Bergdahl may well turn out to have been a bargain with the devil.”– Cal Thomas
“If it was an isolated incident, then maybe you could just say, ‘Oh, this was an emergency situation.’ But what you have is a pattern of the administration ignoring the law, whether it’s health care, immigration or now national security. And obviously those sorts of patterns undermine our system of government.” – Rep. Mac Thornberry
“America has maintained a prohibition on negotiating with terrorists for good reason.” – James Inhofe
“Shame on the Obama administration for this “prisoner exchange.” It is sad that a U.S. soldier was a hostage for five years in the hands of the Taliban, but releasing five Taliban is wrong. These people will likely kill more of our troops, and this deal will encourage more hostage-taking.” – Sassan K. Darian
“Mr. Obama is more willing to negotiate with the Taliban than Congress.” – Joseph Curl
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