News and Commentary

FLASHBACK: Obama Sent Taliban Terrorists To Qatar

   DailyWire.com

In May of 2014, then President Barack Obama released five Islamic terrorists from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility into Qatar’s custody in exchange for the Taliban’s return of Bowe Bergdahl; the Taliban partly operates its international diplomatic operations via representatives in Qatar.

Bergdahl is an army soldier who was deployed to Afghanistan in May of 2009. He subsequently deserted his post in June of 2009, falling into the capture of the Taliban for five years until his 2014 release.

In a 2014 statement, the Government Accountability Office concluded that the Obama administration had violated federal law in its “Bergdahl swap,” spending monies appropriated for national defense to facilitate the exchange.

As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton praised Obama’s decision to release Islamic terrorists in exchange for Bergdahl’s 2014 release. A spokesman of hers at the time claimed she had “authorized negotiations with the Taliban that included a transfer for Sgt. Bergdahl.” Bergdahl’s American citizenship justified the Obama administration’s exchange with the Taliban, said Clinton, “whatever the circumstances.”

The New York Post reported that the five Islamic terrorists released to Qatar – dubbed “The Taliban 5” – received a “hero’s welcome” upon arrival in the Islamic Gulf State.

Bergdahl’s court martial for desertion is scheduled for August. His legal team failed in an attempt to have charges against him dismissed, alleging that comments made by Donald Trump as a presidential candidate in 2016 – describing Bergdahl as a “dirty, rotten traitor” – amounted to “unlawful command influence.”

FT. BRAGG, NC – JULY 7: U.S. Army Sgt. Robert Bowdrie ‘Bowe’ Bergdahl, 30, of Hailey, Idaho, arrives at the Ft. Bragg military courthouse with his legal counsel for a pretrial military hearing on July 7, 2016 in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. Bergdahl faces charges of desertion and endangering troops stemming from his decision to leave his outpost in 2009, which landed him five years in Taliban captivity.

Six soldiers died in Bergdahl’s unit following his desertion, with conflicting accounts regarding the degree to which Bergdahl’s abandonment of his post led to their deaths.

At least three of the five released Islamic terrorists have since sought to reconnect with their “old terror networks,” according to a 2015 report from Fox News’ Catherine Herridge, citing an unnamed “government official familiar with the intelligence.”

Five Arab states – Bahrain, Egypt, Libya’s interim government, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – cut ties with Qatar on Monday, accusing the Islamic Gulf State of materially supporting the Islamic State (ISIS) and its ideological and religious progenitor – the Muslim Brotherhood. Qatar is also the home of Al-Jazeera, a state-run propaganda outlet with an English-language division.

Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter.

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