More bickering from the teabillies. Let the impeachment ceremonies begin, YAY !

the Teapers have no shame

Even if he was a deserter, he's a member of the military, the only U.S. military prisoner of the Afghan war. We don't leave prisoners of war behind as a matter of principle, no matter what the individual soldier was like. If the Republicans talk about impeachment, I'd like to see them try. The American people in the long run will only see this as a absolutely necessary move and one that shouldn't be subject to any conditions imposed by Republicans in Congress who want to play politics.

love to see the repukes shoot themselves into the foot !

They always do. And the Republican fellating media will be right there to spread it out like always.

intelligence of or information from the Taliban, having lived among them for years.

Apparently his life was in danger and Karzai is upset that he wasn't consulted regarding the trade.

However the crazies in the republican party simply want to find something to bash the president with, this is just their latest BS "scandal"!

I really think they will be hurt big time with this one if they keep it up. Americans are tired the war, and if they keep bashing the soldier and trying to use this against the president, they risk being seen as the total fools they really are!

all of the facts"? Due to our election laws we have allowed the introduction of Big Money to our FORMER Representatives. Give the guy a break! He just gets out of years of captivity to face this crap? Couldn't they have waited until they had more information and make the news later, if or when they arrest him and bring formal charges? Where is the fun in that, you say?
The RW politicians and Fox, Limpballs and the rest cannot wait! Our government, and the media who cover it, have become caricatures. We really could have the best thing going again if enough (mega huge masses) of people committed to wresting control from Big Money by demanding Publicly Funded Elections.
I know I am a broken record on this topic for all of the DU regulars, and to you, I apologize. To anyone new, or that hasn't come across me til now, I am dedicated to passing on this message because I firmly believe that none of the myriad serious issues we face are going to be solved until we stop the legal bribery of our politicians. I am old enough to have known a different time. A time, though not perfect, was a hell of a lot better than the circus we have now. You could usually rely on what you saw on the news. It wasn't near as hard to support a family. Public education was much better then than now. I worry for my kids and grand kids, and for everyone else for that matter. This is my effort to spread the word, if you agree please spread it too.

I know I did. Anything that he does is up for investigation. Issa is on it!

Cong. Issa: "Mr. White House Spokesman, why did the Evil Kenyan Usurper not come to us thirty days before he handed five Taliban Terrorists back so they could kill more of our heroes, and beg us for permission? And before you answer, remember that we're going to consider anything you say a lie and use it when we write articles of impeachment for Mr. Obama."

White House staffer: "If you're going to be that way, then fuck you and the horse you rode in on."

Issa: "Please expand on your remarks."

Staffer: "Okay. Bear in mind we've been telling Congress everything we had in our efforts to retrieve Sergeant Bergdahl, and we've already told you we were pursuing a prisoner exchange. In fact, we told you that months ago, so we've met our AUMF-mandated requirement for thirty days' notification. There are three reasons we didn't come to you 30 days before this operation commenced.

"First, we didn't have thirty days. The Taliban finally agreed to this, and if we were to delay the exchange by thirty days they'd withdraw their offer.

"Second, Sergeant Bergdahl didn't have thirty days. The Taliban said he was lookin' pretty poorly and needed trained doctors and well-equipped hospitals right away. The president believed, and we concurred, that Sergeant Bergdahl's parents would much rather have a live son than a folded flag.

"But most important, secrecy was of the essence. We have learned over the past five-and-a-half years that it's about as hard to keep classified information from leaking out of this joint than it is to keep water from leaking out of a bucket with no bottom. I mean, come on: We send you assholes a piece of quality Sensitive Compartmented Information with a cover sheet that says 'not to be released to unauthorized persons because people's lives are on the line,' and what's the first thing that happens? You go on Fox Fucking 'News' waving the shit around going 'woo, woo, look what that evil black bastard 53 percent of you were stupid enough to vote for is trying to hide from the American People!' If that would have happened, the only part of Sgt. Bergdahl we would have gotten back would have been his head. You know it as well as we. I thank you for the chance to expand my remarks, but I am going to alter my original remark: regardless of whether you're going to be that way, fuck you and the horse you rode in on. Now get the fuck out of my way. Unlike you assholes in Congress, President Obama actually works for the American people and I need to go help him."

No law Congress passes can change that. They would have to change the constitution itself and they didn't. Take it to the courts, lets see what happens.

Maybe wind this thing down.

The Republicans may be making a mistake -- I don't think the public will buy their arguments. Even Benghazi hasn't really gone anywhere.

Mission went off without a hitch, quite probably because the whiny little shits didn't know about it.

I assure you that they would do exactly that if they could. That's how fucking fucked-up we've become.

Maybe we'll finally get a court to review the validity of these signing statements. This looks like the perfect test case for such a suit for a couple reasons. 1. there is a pretty clear breach, and 2. this action isn't super important to either side. Someone will try to capitalize on it though to try and limit the power of the Executive.

And this won't become another Benghazi, Obama is close to being a lame duck if he isn't already. The Repubs can only rile up their opposition by impeaching or making a super big deal to the public's eye.

Maybe I'm just hoping this signing statement power gets reviewed at some point. IMO the executive is too powerful, and has been since Bush started going off and doing whatever he wanted. I'd like to see a less powerful president in the long term.

and Mujahideen.

three words.....take your choice and I won't sully this board with my three.

They are staffed by republicana.

"WE GOT TO CUT THE SPENDING!WE GOT TO CUT THE SPENDING! Hypocritical,lying,bastards!

waste taxpayers money.

As as soon as the release was made public some at DU started the countdown clock for when Republicans, or Darrel Issa would call for investigations over the issue. So here it is; the call has come.

...and thinks, "Gee, what if I get taken prisoner. Will Congress piss all over my chances of getting exchanged?"

Because I would be thinking that, yep.

What say you, DUer vets & active military?

curiously,
Bright

The is a large flaw in the argument against the President's authorization to trade the 5 GITMO detainees for this 1 American soldier. First of all he was the only American POW being actively held captive anywhere in the world at the time he was released. While we traded 5 Taliban fighters for him, they will not be able to enter Afghanistan until June 2015--6 months after all combat missions in Afghanistan will have ended, we will have less than 10,000 troops who will be acting as merely supervisors in training the Afghan forces. So if these 5 men do end up going back into battle, the only people they will be fighting will be other Afghans.

Imagine the outcry and the reasoning by Republicans to go back into Afghanistan even after 2016 should we have had even 1 known American actively being held captive as a POW by Taliban forces. I thought that was the beauty of the American Military is that they will not leave even 1 man behind. We have left this young man behind for 5 years now, and in 6 months when our Military presence will decline by some 28,000 soldiers, what chance would we have saving this mans life and returning the only POW with a military presence of less than 10,000?

I have some Facebook "friends" who are going ape shit over this whole thing. The funny thing is one of them is married to a 20 year veteran of the Air Force and when I said what if this was your husband what would you want done and the silence was deafening. Its all about their hatred of Obama and they cannot allow him to get any good press at all.

About the hippie peacenik liberals cursing and spitting on returning soldiers/POWs from the Vietnam Conflict? And how indifferent/uncaring Dems were to the struggles and plight of battle-scarred, sometimes disabled veterans trying to re-adjust to civilian life??

I seem to remember the GOP getting a lot of mileage out of that little talking point...