# Should we be deeply troubled by the deal Obama cut with the Taliban? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 1, 2014, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796 "2014-06-01T23:30:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796/81 "2014-06-03T19:10:18Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > The 2013 National Defense Authorization Act was enacted last year. If there’s precedent for breaking the law then Obama did it. I was thinking of Nixon and Reagan, actually. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796/82 "2014-06-03T19:27:35Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I was thinking of Nixon and Reagan, actually. > :rolleyes: Well that’s lovely but the law didn’t exist back then. brand spanking new and ready to be followed. And it was really tough too. It involved picking up a phone. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796/83 "2014-06-03T19:35:00Z")
I wasn’t speaking of “the law”, but the law, as in a law. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796/84 "2014-06-03T20:38:30Z")
> [@slowlearner](#): > > …we went into full revenge mode killing hundreds of thousands of Arabs… Sorry old chap, I haven’t being following the news too closely. I must have missed the story about the U.S. forces and their allies killing ‘hundreds of thousands of Arabs’. Would you care to provide a link for the enrichment of my education? ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796/85 "2014-06-03T20:42:56Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Apparently it is OK for the President to break the law, if he is in a hurry. It must really bug you to witness a president using his powers for good instead of evil. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796/86 "2014-06-03T21:39:36Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Hey Mods: there’s so much idiocy in this thread that it really needs its own Pit thread. But two where only one is needed seems kinda silly too. How about moving this one to the Pit? So long as it’s polite idiocy, it doesn’t need Pitting. Um… Your grandmother’s sun hat is unflattering… There, that’ll get it moved! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796/87 "2014-06-04T01:03:47Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > So long as it’s polite idiocy, it doesn’t need Pitting. > > Um… Your grandmother’s sun hat is unflattering… > > There, that’ll get it moved! And my grandmother really stinks, too! At least I’ll bet she does, after decomposing for a couple of decades. Agree the sun hat wouldn’t do a thing for her at this point, what with her being six feet underground and all. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796/88 "2014-06-04T01:12:17Z")
Gentlemanly, refined discussion. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796/89 "2014-06-04T02:35:21Z")
So how many veterans of foreign wars died while on the waiting list at the VA hospital in Phoenix. We could of traded some lower level terrorist at Guantanamo Bay for them to get treatment too. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796/90 "2014-06-04T03:29:23Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > It begs the question why now? Why go to Afghanistan on a “support the troops” Memorial Day visit. Why does the President all of a sudden need to garner some brownie points with Veterans? American troops are being withdrawn from Afghanistan. As several people have pointed out, the United States will have a lot less leverage against the Taliban once it no longer has the option of military strikes to back up its demands. So any deal made after this year would have been made under worse terms. ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796/91 "2014-06-04T04:47:22Z")
I don’t have a problem with the prisoner exchange but it does appear that the administration has badly mishandled this. The soldier’s history should concern even the President’s supporters and he should have been made available for an interview by now. This is an embarrassment to the President. ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796/92 "2014-06-04T04:54:17Z")
It’s looking even more ham fisted. I don’t think there is anything particularly sinister here beyond hastiness and a basic lack of due diligence. > **[Taliban Release For Bergdahl: Obama Overrode Past Internal Objections](https://time.com/2818827/taliban-bergdahl-pow-release-objections-white-house/)** > > Taliban Release For Bergdahl: Obama Overrode Past Internal Objections ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796/93 "2014-06-04T05:14:26Z")
> [@Lochdale](#): > > I don’t have a problem with the prisoner exchange but it does appear that the administration has badly mishandled this. > > The soldier’s history should concern even the President’s supporters and he should have been made available for an interview by now. This is an embarrassment to the President. The problem is that some people have been crying wolf since 2008. There are people who are insisting every action taken by the Obama administration has been wrong. We all know that if Obama hadn’t made the deal and had left Bergdahl in Afghanistan, these same people who be denouncing him for that decision with equal fervor. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796/94 "2014-06-04T06:22:03Z")
So Bergdahl had a habit of sneaking off the post. That has to make him the dumbest MF serving in the Army. I can’t imagine a more hostile place in the world than an American alone in Iraq or Afghanistan. There’s no such thing as a safe village over there. The villagers might be ok, but somebody will tip off the insurgents and they’ll drop by pretty quick. Outright desertion makes even less sense. Where the heck do you go? You’re in the middle of Afghanistan. Not exactly a place you can just hitchhike out of. [http://www.navytimes.com/article/20140603/NEWS05/306030078/Sources-Bergdahl-may-walked-off-base-more-than-once](http://www.navytimes.com/article/20140603/NEWS05/306030078/Sources-Bergdahl-may-walked-off-base-more-than-once) > [@](#): > > An internal military investigation found that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl intentionally sneaked away from his forward operating base in Afghanistan just before he disappeared in 2009 — and that may not have been the first time he left the post without permission, according to officials familiar with the probe. > > “We have no indication that he intended to leave permanently,” one government official familiar with the investigation told Military Times. Several soldiers in Bergdahl’s unit told investigators that Bergdahl talked about his desire to leave the base unaccompanied and that he may have done so and returned unharmed at least once before the night he disappeared for good, the official said. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796/95 "2014-06-04T09:10:33Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > So Bergdahl had a habit of sneaking off the post. That has to make him the dumbest MF serving in the Army. I can’t imagine a more hostile place in the world than an American alone in Iraq or Afghanistan. There’s no such thing as a safe village over there. The villagers might be ok, but somebody will tip off the insurgents and they’ll drop by pretty quick. > > Outright desertion makes even less sense. Where the heck do you go? You’re in the middle of Afghanistan. Not exactly a place you can just hitchhike out of. > > [http://www.navytimes.com/article/20140603/NEWS05/306030078/Sources-Bergdahl-may-walked-off-base-more-than-once](http://www.navytimes.com/article/20140603/NEWS05/306030078/Sources-Bergdahl-may-walked-off-base-more-than-once) Interesting stuff, if true, but I don’t see what these allegations have to do with the efforts to try and get him released. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796/96 "2014-06-04T09:46:35Z")
Truth is there were no easy solutions in Afghanistan. We took out the Taliban largely using their enemies the other warlords and such who were hardly any better. Karzie himself is supposed to keep a boy lover. Now word is coming down that the US knew where this guy was being kept but any military action to rescue him would have put too many lives, both US and Afghan civilian, in jeopardy. They say 6 men already died trying. I’m fine with Obama sending all the Guantanamo prisoners back to wherever they came from and closing the damn thing. Let Afghanistan or wherever deal with them. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796/97 "2014-06-04T09:47:59Z")
Why bargain away five high ranking Taliban prisoners for someone that joined the other side? Or allegedly tried to and got taken prisoner? He made his choice. Let him accept the consequences. We may need that bargaining position later. Who knows what might come up in the next couple years. The Taliban has focused on getting these 5 back for years. We’ve wasted the best bargaining chip we had. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796/98 "2014-06-04T10:59:30Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Why bargain away five high ranking Taliban prisoners for someone that joined the other side? Or allegedly tried to and got taken prisoner? He made his choice. Let him accept the consequences. He allegedly made a choice. We don’t know what choice he made. I’m not willing to leave a soldier behind for the enemy, just because he is accused of desertion, and just because he supposedly left a note behind that was critical of the USA. > [@](#): > > We may need that bargaining position later. Who knows what might come up in the next couple years. The Taliban has focused on getting these 5 back for years. We’ve wasted the best bargaining chip we had. It may have been an unwise trade, but not because of anything Bergdahl did – we were duty-bound to treat him like any other soldier who was captured by enemy forces. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796/99 "2014-06-04T13:23:52Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I recall one of the Lebanon hostages was a minister that had gone there to give aid. IIRC those same terrorists grabbed a couple more people right after releasing the Lebanon hostages. > > Which is what will probably happen in Afghanistan. Some poor soldier will get dragged off into captivity to replace the guy we just got back. Or more likely, some independant contractors who probably have less security and would make better targets. Didn’t Israel have this exact problem after the first round of prisoner exchanges with the PLO? The PLO realized that kidnapping Israelis was an excellent way to get their own guys released, so guess what happened? And the fact that we traded 5 high-level baddies for 1 deserter (or at best, AWOL) just rubs salt in the wound. My guess is the Administration will tell the army not to court-marshal him, even tho he undoubtably should be. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796/100 "2014-06-04T13:31:14Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > My guess is the Administration will tell the army not to court-marshal him, even tho he undoubtably should be. So far it looks as if the Army will be investigating him (as they should), and if the evidence warrants, they will bring charges. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-be-deeply-troubled-by-the-deal-obama-cut-with-the-taliban/689796.md?page=6)