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U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, held for nearly five years by the Taliban, is now in U.S. custody, President Barack Obama said on Saturday. As part of Bergdahl's release, the United States is turning over five Taliban detainees at the U.S. facility in Guantanamo, Cuba, to the custody of Qatar, U.S. officials said. Bergdahl's freedom follows months of indirect U.S.-Taliban talks with Qatar acting as intermediary, the officials said.

On Thursday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel, former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) discussed a number of issues related to the news of the day with host Sean Hannity including President Barack Obama and his perceived weaknesses, the friction between the GOP establishment and the Tea Party and her role in the political process. But she also took on the scandal surrounding the Veterans Administration hospitals that has resulted in a number of deaths for American military veterans. (Video at Breitbart.com)

President Obama finally addressed the nation Wednesday about the growing scandal at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. After meeting with VA Secretary Eric Shinseki he pledged to hold folks accountable. Thanks, Mr. President. By now most American have heard about the VA’s infamous patient “secret wait lists” which reportedly contributed to the deaths of up to 40 veterans in the Phoenix area alone. Those patriots were American heroes who served our country proudly. Yet they were left to die waiting to see a doctor. < snip > Despite the fact that Al Qaeda terrorists carried out the Sept. 11...

A federal judge has brushed aside the Justice Department's objections and ordered the government to produce 34 videotapes of a hunger-striking prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay naval base. U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler also is ordering the government to turn over medical records from last year for the prisoner, Abu Wa'el Dhiab (A-boo wa'EL Dee-ab). The tapes show the prisoner being removed from his cell and force-fed.

The White House is threatening a veto of the House version of a $601 billion defense bill over election-year moves to spare weapons systems and popular programs in the face of limited budgets. […] The White House also complained about the bill’s limits on the president’s ability to transfer terror suspects being held at the U.S. facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. …

A federal judge in Washington has temporarily banned U.S. military officials from force-feeding a terror prisoner at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, at least until she can review his medical records and screen videotapes of authorities forcing him to eat during his ongoing hunger strike there. If U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler permanently bars the military from forcing all hunger strikers to eat, the Pentagon would have to come up with a new way to secure the health and safety of many of the 150 detainees who are on hunger strikes.

A federal prosecutor confirmed the existence Monday of the FBI investigation that has thrown the Sept. 11 war crimes tribunal at Guantanamo into disarray. The FBI has opened a preliminary criminal investigation "that involves, at least in part, classified information," Assistant U.S. Attorney Fernando Campoamor Sanchez said in a court motion. The prosecutor did not disclose the nature or focus of the investigation.

Gitmo Guards Attacked on ‘Daily Basis’ by Detainees Physical, verbal assaults, body fluids aimed at guards Guantanamo's Camp 6 detention facility / AP BY: Adam Kredo Follow @Kredo0 April 15, 2014 4:30 pm GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE—Prison guards here at the Guantanamo Bay prison are attacked on a “daily basis” by detainees, according to Commander John Filostat, a prison spokesman for the Joint Task Force (JTF) Guantanamo. There are “daily attacks against the guard both verbal and physical,” such as scratching and other assaults, Filostat told reporters on Tuesday. “Guards endure that on a daily basis.” Detainees also engage in...

President Jose Mujica of Uruguay has said his country will take five prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba. Mr Mujica said he had agreed to a request from President Barack Obama to take some of the detainees remaining at the controversial US military camp. "The US president wants to solve this problem so he's asking several countries to host them and I told him I will," Mr Mujica told local media.

The Obama administration has allowed a fighter in Osama bin Laden’s 55th Arab Brigade to publish a sob letter in an international media outlet describing the “humiliating and brutal treatments” he suffers at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay Cuba. Earlier in the year the administration let the mastermind of 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), dispatch propaganda from his Guantanamo jail cell, undoubtedly aiding and abetting more terrorism. That was disgraceful enough; allowing the Al Qaeda operative, an enemy combatant who’s admitted being the architect of the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil, to issue a manifesto from his...

The semi-annual report on "Re-engagement of Detainees Formerly Held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba" was released on Wednesday by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Out of a total of 614 former prisoners (up from 603 six months ago), intelligence has confirmed that 104 (up from 100) have re-engaged in terrorism/insurgent activities while another 74 are suspected of doing so. The latest report nudged the recidivism rate up to an even 29 percent from 28.9 percent last September. The report provides a chart breaking down the statistics into a number of categories:

Only including link due to copyright limitations: http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/02/19/taliban-prisoners-us-soldier-afghanistan-column/5619727/

The Obama administration will attempt to resume talks with the Taliban to free the only known American soldier in captivity in exchange for the release of Taliban prisoners held at the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The move is an attempt to free Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl before the majority of US forces leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014, the report in the Washington Post said, citing current and former officials. The swap would trade Bergdahl for five Taliban members who would be released from Guantanamo Bay into protective custody in Qatar, the Post reported.

Montreal (AFP) - A Canadian hard-rock band says it sent the Pentagon a $666,000 bill after a former Guantanamo Bay guard alleged that the US military used their music to torture detainees. Skinny Puppy found out their music was blasted out at the detention center in southern Cuba from a former guard who is a fan of the band, keyboardist Cevin Key told Canada's CTV Television. -snip- Key said band members were "offended" to learn the claims that their music was played at Guantanamo to "inflict damage" on detainees. "I wouldn't want to be subjected to any overly loud music...

Just dig a little deeper into who has been driving the anti-Gitmo disinformation campaign these past 12 years, and we discover an international, fervently anti-American, far-left coalition attacking the nation through a savvy propaganda effort. This includes those linked to Al Qaeda financiers, communist groups, anarchist movements - backed by sympathetic press and politicians. Regrettably, it’s a coalition President Barack Obama has sided with in his priority to release as many Al Qaeda, Taliban and “affiliates” as humanly possible.the State Dept. will finally designate ex-Gitmo detainee, Libya’s Sufian Bin Qumu, and his group, Ansar Al-Sharia as “foreign terrorist entities” for...

The State Department on Friday for the first time blamed specific groups and militants for the 2012 Benghazi attack, designating them as terrorists -- a move that further undermines initial claims the attack was spontaneous. The department announced that it was labeling Ansar al-Sharia in Benghazi and Ansar al-Sharia in Darnah as terror organizations, in part over their role in the Benghazi attack. It applied the same label to Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia, over a separate attack on Americans in Tunis. The State Department also labeled as terrorists Sufian bin Qumu, head of the Darnah branch and a former Guantanamo...

The Al Qaeda terrorist—Osama Bin Laden’s bodyguard—determined to be “too dangerous to be released” from Guantanamo just a few years ago will be freed from the military prison because President Obama’s new parole board found he no longer poses a “significant threat to the United States.” The shocking about-face comes on the heels of mainstream news reports disclosing that a former Guantanamo detainee , Sufian bin Qumu, participated in the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack on the U.S. mission in Libya. Bin Qumu was released from the prison at the U.S. naval base in Cuba despite having historic ties to the...

Obama Donor Helped Free Terrorist Behind Benghazi Attack January 8, 2014 by Daniel Greenfield The left is rushing to blame Bush for the Benghazi attack, now that the State Department is moving to name a former Gitmo detainee released by Bush as a key figure in the attack. But Gitmo detainees were released as part of a pressure and lawfare campaign by the radical pro-terrorist left. Including Obama’s backers. The left-wing organization that helped spring Qumu was the Center for Constitutional Rights. Last April, the group issued an indignant press release painting Qumu as a harmless victim and blasting those...

American officials have identified a former inmate of the Guantánamo Bay detention camp as a possible key organizer of the Benghazi attack which killed the ambassador to Libya 16 months ago, the British Guardian reported on Wednesday. Abu Sufyan bin Qumu, a leading Libyan terrorist, was named at the time as a possible suspect in the September 11, 2012 attack on the consulate in Benghazi in which the ambassador, Christopher Stevens, and three other Americans were killed. …

Almost sixteen months after the attack on our consulate in Benghazi, we still have held no one accountable — but the roster of terrorists is expanding in familiar directions. The Washington Post reported overnight that Obama administration officials now suspect a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay as being one of the leaders. Abu Sufian bin Qumu has connections to al-Qaeda as well, despite a recent report from the New York Times asserting that AQ had no involvement in the attack: U.S. officials suspect that a former Guantanamo Bay detainee played a role in the attack on the American diplomatic compound...