Legal, Shmegal

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Lots of unanswered questions about the prisoner swap of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five Taliban detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison.

Will negotiating this swap cause more Americans to be taken prisoner?

Did Sgt. Bergdahl desert his unit five years ago? Was he responsible for the deaths of other soldiers who had to search for him in dangerous terrain?

“[Bergdahl] served with honor and distinction,” National Security Advisor Susan Rice told the media.

How dangerous are the five released prisoners? Can we be confident they won’t return to the battlefield?

Only one question has been clearly answered: the Administration broke the law.

By law, the president must notify Congress 30 days before the release of anyone held at Gitmo. Obama didn’t do so.

“Oh I think he clearly broke the law,” said CNN Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin. “The law says 30 days notice. He didn’t give 30 days notice.”

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley concurred, telling CNN, “I don’t think there’s much debate that they’re in violation of the law.”

Gov. Bill Richardson (D‑NM), a former Ambassador to the United Nations, admitted as much, but called the law “impractical,” asking, “What is [Obama] supposed to do, give them 30 days?”

Well, yes.

The law, after all, was passed by a Republican House and Democratic Senate, and signed by Obama himself.

The president added a signing statement, at the time, expressing his view that Congress didn’t have the power to so limit him. Obama, like his predecessor, ignores the law, pretending that a president’s signing statement is an all-powerful pocket veto.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Tags barack obama, Bowe Bergdahl

16 replies on “Legal, Shmegal”

This deal was wrong on so many levels it’s totally shameful. A deserter traded for 5 cold blooded killers? His buddies wanted him shot as a deserter!

My nephew, a helicopter pilot at Ft Bragg, says the military reaction is not good. I suspect obummah just took down military moral by 10 – 20% in one stroke. The officer corp must be mortified by this.

WHen i look around, everything obummah does takes us down more. Can he really be anti-American?

Yes, Obama broke the law. Now it’s time to take him to court. At that time, an important question will need to be addressed: Does Congress have the authority to dictate POW policy to the Commander in Chief? All the Republicans have to do is show that the authority of the Commander in Chief ends the moment a combatant is taken prisoner. Seems unlikely to me.

Obama has the right to break the law as long as he accepts the consequences.

If it’s true that this guy is a deserter, then wouldn’t leaving him in enemy hands and denying him the right to a trial be rather similar to keeping Gitmo prisoners without trying them — except that Bergdahl is a U.S. citizen?

I do have a question though. Why is it five to one? While I admit that one U.S. citizen is probably worth an infinite number of Taliban, I can’t understand why it wasn’t a one to one deal. At least it’s a better ratio than the Israelis get for their Palestinian prisoners. It always seems to be 500 to one or something ridiculous like that when they swap prisoners.

Obummah’s lack of judgement here is shocking.

OT: Vouchers

After a pivotal vote in the legislature, Louisiana is now set to become the first state to extend school choice to all students trapped in failing public schools. Education reformers just have to wait for Gov. Bobby Jindal’s signature.

Today, the state legislature passed Senate Bill 61, known as the Louisiana Public School Choice Act. If signed into law by Governor Bobby Jindal, the bill would allow parents of students in schools graded “D” or “F“to enroll their child in any public school that is graded “C” or above, beginning in the 2014 – 2015 school year. Parents throughout the state would no longer be limited by arbitrary school district lines that force their children to attend failing schools.

http://reason.com/blog/2014/06/02/groundbreaking-statewide-school-choice‑b

30 days notice? That is what everyone is focusing on? What about giving aid to the enemy? He released, without consulting Congress, 5 TOP Taliban people! This is TREASON guys. Who cares whether or not he notified this Congress (who would rubberstamp anything he wanted to do anyway)in this stupid rule????? BIG PICTURE.…BIG PICTURE. Obama proves AGAIN he is willing to take down this country for his own gain and everyone is worried about 30 days. This country is completely done if that is really the only fall-out to this.

Alinski said that under times of stress to press twice as hard on the accelerator.
This is that.

The Sovereign, rejected in the Declaration of Independence, returns.
Clearly the law applies to the subjects only, and then only if the royalty in government decide to apply it. As for the president, it appears he is exempt and above any law of his choosing.
What are we teaching our children and citizens?

must read on petition to punish bowe bergdahl:

http://twitchy.com/2014/06/03/meet-army-msg-mark-allen-hero-wounded-in-search-for-bowe-bergdahl-petition-drive-to-punish-bergdahl-moves-forward-photos/

Obama broke the law. WOW!!

Now tell me something new.

Our President thinks he is king or perhaps a dictator. He firmly believes he is the smartest guy in the room & unequivocally knows what is right for this country. So screw anyone or any institution that gets in his way.
That said, I don’t believe any soldier should be left behind in enemy clutches, even if he did desert. (Which we do not know for sure; I am not a rush to judgment gal.) However, 5 Taliban fighters, a questionable trade which the President knew or else he would’ve gone to Congress. Every day, I am more disgusted. I can not wait until his reign is over… if there is a country left.

Does the Constitution give Congress the power to dictate war strategy to the President? I can’t find it anywhere.

As for the wisdom of the trade, I’m not sure I would have made the same decision, but the Gitmo prisoners are a millstone around our neck. Eventually, we’ll have to release them. Does the Geneva Convention allow countries to keep POWs until they die of old age? Does anyone thing the U.S. and the Taliban will make up any time soon?

I hate to trade for a deserter, but I always thought an accused U.S. citizen has a right to a trial. I guess not anymore.