Jay Carney On US-Taliban Deal: Bowe Bergdahl ‘Was Not A Hostage’

Jay Carney discusses the release of Bowe Bergdahl.
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White House Press Secretary Jay Carney on Monday pushed back against the idea that the United States negotiated with terrorists to secure the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was held prisoner in Afghanistan for nearly five years.

On CNN’s “New Day,” host Chris Cuomo asked Carney to expand on Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s assertion that exchanging Bergdahl for five Afghan detainees held in the Guantanamo Bay facility did not amount to negotiating with terrorists.

“Why parse words and have the secretary of defense say we didn’t negotiate with terrorists?” Cuomo asked.

“The fact is he was held in an armed conflict,” Carney responded. “We were engaged in an armed conflict with the Taliban, and we have a history in this country of making sure that our prisoners of war are returned to us. We don’t leave them behind. He was not a hostage, he was a prisoner.”

The Obama administration’s national security team decided to move forward with the deal because the threat posed by the detainees who were traded for Bergdahl was “sufficiently mitigated,” Carney added. Asked to clarify how that threat was “mitigated,” Carney said the detainees would be monitored by host countries and placed under travel bans.

Cuomo also brought up speculation that Bergdahl may have walked off his post when he was captured by the Taliban. He asked Carney if the possibility that Bergdahl was a deserter should have factored into the administration’s decision to broker a deal.

“Here’s what matters. He was a prisoner in an armed conflict, a member of the military, and in that situation the United States does not leave its men and women behind,” Carney replied. “And for five years, we’ve been engaged in an effort to try to secure his release and we were very fortunate to do that this weekend.”

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Notable Replies

  1. I think if Obama cured cancer tomorrow, the media would give him shit about putting radiologists out of business.

    The very same fuckers who have been screaming endlessly about the loss of American lives in Benghazi and on VA waiting lists are now bitching that we actually brought an American solider home rather than letting him die a horrible death thousands of miles away.

  2. “Here’s what matters. He was a prisoner in an armed conflict, a member of the military, and in that situation the United States does not leave its men and women behind,” Carney replied.

    So go Cheney yourselves…

  3. If I had already announced, like Carney, that I were quitting my job, I might have said something like this: “Look, let’s get real. The Taliban are intensely unpleasant people but they aren’t international terrorists. Second, everyone negotiates with everyone even if they say they don’t. Ever heard of a place called Israel? Third, these currently whining Republicans already scuttled a deal to bring this kid home. They’d have let an American soldier die of despair in some cave in Pakistan. So, in short, fuck you all and let’s move on to the next question.”

    I guess that’s why it’s unlikely I’ll ever be the White House press secretary. But if he said it I would stand in line to buy him a beer.

  4. The MSM have become loathsome assassins of joy.

  5. The man was a deserter. Anyone who calls in him a hero is dead wrong.When Bowe is healthy he should be tried and locked up.

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