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Today’s reflection: From odd Rose Garden receptions,“And then there were times when he was very idealistic. Some of the stuff he said might have sounded smart inside his head at the time, but I was never inside his head,” to odder emails, clandestine negotiations and unlikely homecomings, things just seem to be growing curiouser and curiouser.Butt all we need is…“Let’s be careful out there.” h/t Sgt. Phil Esterhaus Posted from: Michelle Obama’s Mirror 

MSBNC host Chris Matthews became the first on his network to express the slightest bit of skepticism over the Obama administration’s deal to trade Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five high-ranking Taliban officials from Guantanamo Bay, with Matthews repeatedly questioning the wisdom of trading an “AWOL” and possibly treasonous soldier for terrorist mass murderers. Matthews opened his program Monday with a deeply suspicious look into Bergdahl’s statements and actions before he went inexplicably missing from his post in the summer of 2009. In particular, the MSNBC host highlighted portions of a piece by late Rolling Stone reporter Michael Hastings, which...

A Pentagon investigation concluded in 2010 that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl walked away from his unit, and after an initial flurry of searching the military decided not to exert extraordinary efforts to rescue him, according to a former senior defense official who was involved in the matter. Instead, the U.S. government pursued negotiations to get him back over the following five years of his captivity — a track that led to his release over the weekend. Bergdahl was being checked and treated Monday at a U.S. military hospital in Germany as questions mounted at home over the swap that resulted...

In June 2012, fearless Rolling Stone contributing editor Michael Hastings wrote the definitive first account of Bowe Bergdahl — the young American soldier who was captured by the Taliban and became the last American prisoner of war. Hastings, the journalist who brought down the career of General Stanley McChrystal in these pages, died in a car accident one year later. Bergdahl was freed this weekend. Hastings' incredible story is available in full here: The mother and father sit at the kitchen table in their Idaho farmhouse, watching their son on YouTube plead for his life. The Taliban captured 26-year-old Bowe...

A former U.S. officer who served in Afghanistan with Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl claims that soldiers were threatened by U.S. authorities if they questioned his story. After he was captured, Bergdahl said on a video from his captors that he lagged behind on patrol, although other sources in the military suggested anonymously that he walked away from his post. “Not only has this nebulous non-story been put out for years but you know these soldiers of 4th Brigade 25th Infantry Division were threatened with legal repercussions if they spoke about Bergdahl. Everybody officially mandated silencing of what we saw has been...

The deal that got Bowe Bergdahl released in exchange for five high-ranking Taliban detainees doesn't sit right with the family of an Army lieutenant killed in an ambush while searching for the missing sergeant. "He was killed while looking for this deserter," said Andy Andrews, father of 2nd Lt. Darryn Andrews, who died in eastern Afghanistan in September 2009. "If this guy [Bergdahl] had not gone off post, our son would not have been killed." The Defense Department has never said Bergdahl was away without leave and has pointedly described him as a "prisoner of war." The Andrews family did...

“Imperial Presidency” perfectly describes what the Obama Administration has become as it increasingly violates the Obama Official Portrait Smilelimits on its power defined by the U.S. Constitution. Criticisms of how President Obama is overstepping his authority are now being heard from all sides of the political spectrum. A remarkable 33-page report posted on the internet by the Majority Leader of the House, Eric Cantor, proves how imperial the Obama Administration has become. This easy-to-read report, which can be downloaded by anyone from www.majorityleader.gov/TheImperialPresidency/, details dozens of examples of how the current occupant of the White House is exercising powers the...

June 2, 2014 Marine Vet Held by Iran to Kerry: Don’t Set Bad Precedent by Trading for My Release Bridget Johnson The news cycle is currently focused on the swap to release Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl — five Taliban commanders for the Idaho native — but many Americans still remain held abroad by nefarious regimes or terrorists.One of those, a Marine veteran who served with distinction in Iraq, specifically said last fall that, even though his unlawful imprisonment in Iran was taking a horrible toll, he would not want his release to come from any sort of swap with Iran.From...

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan—There is excitement and enthusiasm among the senior leadership of the military now that Sgt Bowe Bergdahl, the only U.S. soldier held as a prisoner of war, is on his way home. But among rank-and-file troops at Bagram Air Field on Sunday, there was much more ambivalence. SNIP Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived for a two-hour stop at Bagram and met briefly with some of the elite special-operations forces who brought back Sgt. Bergdahl from a group of Taliban officials. Speaking before a group of more than 200 troops, Mr. Hagel thanked those "who had something to...

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After questions about the legality of the White House sidestepping a law requiring Congress be given thirty day approval notice for a prisoner swap, CNN chief Washington correspondent Joe Johns asked outgoing White House Press Secretary Jay Carney if President Barack Obama “feel[s] as though, on this issue and this kind of issue, he’s above the law.” “Absolutely not,” Carney replied. “We have repeatedly noted concerns with this requirement. In signing statements, [Obama] has consistently made clear that the executive branch must have the flexibility to act swiftly in conducting negotiations with foreign countries regarding the circumstances of detainee transfers...

And the Constitutional violations just keep on comin’… Barack Obama isn’t just doubling down on shredding militaryamerica our founding document, he’s doing a boogie on it with a treasonous twist. Not just at home, but abroad — from the IRS scandal to Benghazi — his hubris and disdain for America is breathtaking. Bill Gertz reported this week on a memo outlining Obama’s plan to use the military against citizens – a memo from 2010. Remember how the blogs and many of us out here were ringing the alarm bells on Obama’s stance that he could use the military and drones...

Barack Obama broke a federal law that he signed just six months ago when he authorized the release of five high-ranking Taliban terror targets from the Guantanamo Bay detention center in exchange for the return of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, senior congressional Republicans claimed today. And the president may also have written a new chapter in the case for his own impeachment, according to a former federal prosecutor who helped bring the 1993 World Trade Center bombers to justice. 'The return of senior terrorists to the Taliban [is] ... a "high crime and misdemeanor",' author Andrew C. McCarthy told...

Full Title: [VIDEO]Jay Carney says WH will consult with obey federal law before transfer of GITMO detainees TWICE! Jay Carney told the press twice in 2013 that the White House will obey federal law and consult with Congress before releasing GITMO detainees: Kristen. Q Jay, going to back to Afghanistan, the Taliban has offered to release Bowe Bergdahl in exchange for five members of the Taliban who are currently being held at Guantanamo Bay. Is this something that the administration is considering? Is this something that the President would agree to? MR. CARNEY: What I can tell you is that...

On Monday, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin slammed President Barack Obama for trading five high-level terrorists for an American prisoner of war who reportedly deserted his troops five years ago and caused at least six soldiers to die while searching for him. "You blew it again, Barack Obama," Palin said, slamming Obama for "negotiating away any leverage against the bad guys as these bad guys – Osama Bin Laden's partners in evil crime – joyfully celebrate their 'win' in the deal you sealed." In a post titled, "Commander-in-Chief's Definition of 'Honorable Service' Includes Anti-American Actions While in Uniform; He Just...

Father Of Soldier Who Obama Released, Declares Muslim Victory Call, And Obama Smiles As Soon As He Hears The War Cry Of Allah

Jihad in America: Enemy in our Midst       “Elfgeeh frequently used Twitter to tweet and retweet messages expressing support for various terrorist groups and holy war, seeking donations to assist fighters in Syria, and praising al-Qaida as ‘our only savior,’ authorities said.” But remember: if you want mosques monitored and the Muslim community to work for reform, to teach against these ideas, you’re a racistIslamophobicantiMuslimbigot. “Yemeni Accused of Plotting to Kill Troops,” Associated Press, June 2, 2014: A New York business owner from Yemen plotted vengeance attacks against members of the U.S. military for American actions overseas and...

A 2010 report by the Daily Mail quoted a Taliban captor of Bowe Bergdahl, the American soldier released in a deal announced this weekend in exchange for five Guantanamo Bay detainees, stating Bergdahl converted to Islam and was teaching Taliban fighters bomb-making skills. The report came after about one year that Bergdahl had deserted his post in June 2009 while based in eastern Afghanistan. At least six American soldiers reportedly lost their lives in attempts to return Bergdahl to his unit. The captor, who called himself Haji Nadeem, said Bergdahl taught basic ambush training as well as how to take...

Their son, Second Lieutenant Darryn Andrews, was also named in Nathan Bradley Bethea’s Daily Beast piece today as one of the men from his battalion killed in action during the search. If the accusation is true, it wouldn’t be the first time higher-ups tweaked the narrative about how an American soldier died to make it less problematic for the military. At the time his family say they were told that his men were hunting a Taliban commander and that the truck at the front of their group ended in a hole after being hit by an Improvised Explosive Device. As...

A senior official confirms to Fox News that the conduct of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl -- both in his final stretch of active duty in Afghanistan and then, too, during his time when he lived among the Taliban -- has been thoroughly investigated by the U.S. intelligence community and is the subject of "a major classified file." In conveying as much, the Defense Department source confirmed to Fox News that many within the intelligence community harbor serious outstanding concerns not only that Bergdahl may have been a deserter but that he may have been an active collaborator with the enemy. The...