FLASBACK: JUNE 2012 ---------------------------- The tensions came to a boil in January, when administration officials went to Capitol Hill to brief a handful of senators on the possibility of a prisoner exchange. The meeting, which excluded staffers, took place in a new secure conference room in the Capitol visitor center. According to sources in the briefing, the discussion sparked a sharp exchange between Senators John McCain and John Kerry, both of whom were decorated for their service in Vietnam. McCain, who endured almost six years of captivity as a prisoner of war, threw a fit at the prospect of releasing five Taliban detainees. Theyre the five biggest murderers in world history! McCain fumed. Kerry, who supported the transfer, thought that was going a bit far. John, he said, the five biggest murderers in the world? McCain was furious at the rebuke. They killed Americans! he responded. I suppose Senator Kerry is OK with that? McCain reluctantly came around on the prisoner exchange, according to those present at the meeting, but he has continued to speak out against negotiating with the Taliban. Opposition has also come from Sen. Saxby Chambliss, a Republican from Georgia who won election with a vicious smear campaign against former Sen. Max Cleland, a decorated Vietnam veteran who lost three limbs in the war. Chambliss, according to Bowes father, has insisted that America shouldnt make a prisoner trade for a deserter. Some top-level officials within the administration, including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, are very wary about making a swap for Bowe. Panetta and Hillary dont give a shit about getting him home, says one senior U.S. official involved in the negotiations. They want to be able to say they COINed their way out of Afghanistan, or whatever, so it doesnt look like they are cutting and running. (Both Clinton and Panetta, by law, would have to sign off on any exchange.) As with Vietnam, many in the military are resisting any attempt to end the war. Even after Robert Bales – the Army staff sergeant charged with massacring 17 Afghan civilians in March – they are making the argument that the war is turning a corner, says this official. They dont realize that the mission is changing. We dont need all those U.S. soldiers there anymore. Those in the Pentagon who oppose the prisoner exchange have insisted that the deal would send the wrong message to Americas enemies. The Pentagon is making the argument that American soldiers would become targets for kidnapping, says a senior administration official. We pushed back on that. They already are – the Taliban and Al Qaeda have been using their resources to kidnap Americans for years. Prisoner exchanges take place at the ground level all the time in Afghanistan, and Gen. David Petraeus, now the head of the CIA, has pointed out in discussions about Bowe that U.S. forces made distasteful swaps in Iraq – including one involving Qais Khazali, a Shiite extremist who orchestrated the kidnapping and execution of four U.S. soldiers in Karbala in 2007. Even a hard-line Israeli nationalist like Benjamin Netanyahu has recognized the value of a single soldier: In October, the prime minister agreed to free 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli corporal who had been held captive by Hamas for five years. The move was overwhelmingly supported by the majority of Israelis. The Israelis really care about the value of one life, says a senior U.S. official. Does the American public?
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 19:19:40 +0000
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