Under the headline, "Everything the White House Told You About Bowe Bergdahl Was Wrong," Nancy Youssef, a former Detroit Free Press reporter, has written a blunt assessment for The Daily Beast about the bumbling prisoner swap that went very badly for the Obama administration.
Youseff points out that the events leading up to Wednesday's military charges against the Army sergeant went from a White House ceremony hailing Bergdahl's freedom from Taliban detention a year ago to the prospect now that he might serve the rest of his life in a U.S. military prison.
Here are some excerpts from Youssef's piece:
"The prison exchange that some political operatives thought would be heralded was instead widely condemned. And the war that was supposed to be ending with no soldier left behind has now been extended for five months.
"... The political benefits and the timing of the war both proved incorrect. The president faced immediate backlash for heralding a soldier suspected of abandoning his post. That was only further fueled when, in a June 2014 interview with CNN, (when U.N. Ambassador Susan) Rice said Bergdahl served with “honor and distinction.”
"... There are many in the military who remain tremendously angry at Bergdahl. They believe he was a deserter and that the 5-year search for him endangered other troops" while it exerted large amounts of Army resources.
And here's how one key congressman summed up the whole mess:
“At the heart of this whole situation, there’s still the decision to trade five Taliban detainees for a deserter, when there were in fact other options on the table. We’re aware of those options and frankly, the White House made a big mistake,” Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican, told The Daily Beast.
“And tying Bergdahl to an end-of-war effort was no less an error in judgment. The Army’s going to continue its process, which has taken way too long already, but it’s evident the administration screwed this up and nothing exists to justify the swap.”
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