The Bergdahl boomerang: GOP lawmakers who long urged a rescue now sour on the idea

Rep. Richard B. Nugent, a Republican lawmaker whose three sons have served in the military, made the case of captive soldier Bowe Bergdahl a personal cause. He delivered ­speeches about Bergdahl on the House floor. He introduced two resolutions affirming that the United States would not abandon him in Afghanistan.

What Nugent wanted, he told a crowd at a rally for Bergdahl’s release in February, was for “the United States to do everything possible not to leave any members of the armed forces behind.”

But today, Nugent says that when he said “do everything possible,” did not actually mean everything. Now that Bergdahl is free, the Florida congressman has become a critic of the deal that freed him.

Nugent believes that the Obama administration gave away too much by sending back five Taliban commanders held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and that it did not follow the law on consulting members of Congress.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-bergdahl-boomerang-gop-lawmakers-who-long-urged-a-rescue-now-sour-on-the-idea/2014/06/06/a538698a-ece3-11e3-93d2-edd4be1f5d9e_story.html?hpid=z1