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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHere are the Taliban Terrorists Obama Released to Free POW Bowe Bergdahl
Well, we knew they weren't good guys if they were in Gitmo.
Eli Lake
Josh Rogin
05.31.14
Here are the Taliban Terrorists Obama Released to Free POW Bowe Bergdahl
In exchange for Army Sgt. Bowe Berghdahl, the U.S. has released five senior Taliban commanders from the Guantanamo Bay prison. They are considered some of the worst of the worst.
The five Guantanamo detainees released by the Obama administration in exchange for Americas last prisoner of war in Afghanistan, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, are bad guys. They are top Taliban commanders the group has tried to free for more than a decade.
According to a 2008 Pentagon dossier on Guantanamo Bay inmates, all five men released were considered to be a high risk to launch attacks against the United States and its allies if they were liberated. The exchange shows that the Obama administration was willing to pay a steep price, indeed, for Bergdahls freedom. The administration says they will be transferred to Qatar, which played a key role in the negotiations.
In the initial statements released about the deal, the White House declined to name the detainees who would be leaving the Cuba based prison Obama has been trying to close since his first day in office.
A senior U.S. defense official confirmed Saturday that the prisoners to be released include Mullah Mohammad Fazl, Mullah Norullah Noori, Abdul Haq Wasiq, Khairullah Khairkhwa and Mohammed Nabi Omari.
While not as well known as Guantanamo inmates like 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the Taliban 5 were some of the worst outlaws in the U.S. war on terror. And their release will end up replenishing the diminished leadership ranks of the Afghan Taliban at a moment when the United States is winding down the war there.
more...
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/31/us-pays-high-price-for-last-pow-in-afghanistan.html
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)JJChambers
(1,115 posts)I truly wouldn't be surprised if our military drugged / anesthetized these men and implanted some sort of miniature tracking device into them. I expect we have such technology and I'm certain that our military wouldn't pass on such an opportunity.
DireStrike
(6,452 posts)As far as I know there isn't an unpowered tracking device that can be just picked up remotely. If you have to put in batteries, that device will be much larger and easier to detect, and far less healthy to implant, if you can even keep it working inside the body. It would also be very temporary, and you would want to watch these assets for some time before picking them up again. I wonder how long you're supposed to wait when you release prisoners before you can go and try to capture them again. Are you supposed to close your eyes and count to 1000 or something?
There is tech to wirelessly power implanted devices, but it involves the user holding a specific charger near the device in their body. I think that if we had medical devices that could draw ambient power from the human body somehow, they would be on the path to commercialization.
Still, if I'm one of these guys, I'm gonna get an X-ray scan.
kelliekat44
(7,759 posts)Leme
(1,092 posts)I don't think President Obama would drone them...but one never knows.
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)Regarding U.S. attempts to try Wikileaks head Julian Assange under the Espionage Act of 1917, Lake has said: "I oppose the application of the espionage statute to Assange because the same kind of prosecution would make me a criminal too."[11][12]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Lake
babylonsister
(170,963 posts)like here...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/freed-prisoners-were-battle-hardened-taliban-commanders/2014/05/31/d52b3005-636e-4c65-a1da-2b9ace667e4d_story.html?hpid=z1
Freed prisoners were battle-hardened Taliban commanders
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)Nothing more, nothing less. If another source, e.g. the WaPo, is reporting the same thing as Lake, than it is very likely he is correct in this report. Absent the back-up reporting, I wouldn't rely on Lake as a reliable source. I was told the same thing by another DU'er the very first time I posted something by Lake.