Quote:
Originally Posted by Rochard
If he was kidnapped or if he deserted his post doesn't matter. He was in fact in the US Army. If he was kidnapped he needed to be found. If he deserted his post and turned himself in, we would still need to find him and return him to the US and then try him.
|
Certainly don't argue with this. Just in the means to getting it done. Or least I got pauses/concerns.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rochard
But a "high level" detainee has zero value to us at this point. We've pumped all of the information we can pump them with.
|
Agreed the info likely been extracted. But I'm not sure I like the ramifications of putting them back in the hands of the Taliban where they can rejoin the fight. Especially a 5 for 1 trade.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rochard
Can you put up a link to this law and explain how it applies here? A few searches turned up nothing specific.
|
Quote:
Among other complications, there was a potential legal obstacle: Congress has imposed statutory restrictions on the transfer of detainees from Guantánamo Bay. The statutes say the secretary of defense must determine that a transfer is in the interest of national security, that steps have been taken to substantially mitigate a future threat by a released detainee, and that the secretary notify Congress 30 days before any transfer of his determination.
In this case, the secretary, Chuck Hagel, acknowledged in a statement that he did not notify Congress ahead of time. When Mr. Obama signed a bill containing the latest version of the transfer restrictions into law, he issued a signing statement claiming that he could lawfully override them under his executive powers.
?The executive branch must have the flexibility, among other things, to act swiftly in conducting negotiations with foreign countries regarding the circumstances of detainee transfers,? he wrote in the signing statement, adding that if the restrictions ?operate in a manner that violates constitutional separation of powers principles, my administration will implement them in a manner that avoids the constitutional conflict.?
An administration official said the circumstances of a fast-moving exchange deal made it appropriate to act outside the statutory framework for transfers.
|
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/us...y-taliban.html
I lean 65-70% towards not liking the way they handled the transfer for him. Especially if he deserted his post during war. But a hearing should answer a lot of questions, and maybe at the end, I fall on the other side of supporting it.