Pentagon broke law with Bergdahl prisoner swap, government watchdog says

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/08/21/pentagon-violated-law-with-bergdahl-prisoner-swap-government-watchdog-says/

says
Published August 21, 2014
FoxNews.com
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A nonpartisan government watchdog agency said Thursday that the Pentagon broke the law when it swapped five Taliban leaders for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl earlier this year.

The Government Accountability Office, in a legal opinion issued at the request of congressional lawmakers, said the Defense Department violated the law by failing to notify key Capitol Hill committees at least 30 days in advance.

Further, the report said the Pentagon broke another law by using funds that were not technically available.

Defense Department press secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby told Fox News Thursday night, "the operation to retrieve Sgt. Bergdahl was lawfully conducted and that was also the judgment of the Justice Department. Nothing has changed about our view that this was a lawful recovery operation."

The GAO said the law in this case is "clear and unambiguous." The agency said that while the Defense Department defended the legality of the controversial swap, "in our view, DOD has dismissed the significance of the express language" in the law.

The report comes several months after the Obama administration released five senior Taliban members from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for Bergdahl, who had disappeared in 2009. Under the exchange terms, the five Taliban are to remain in Qatar for a year.

Lawmakers at the time complained about the security implications of releasing Taliban leaders from Guantanamo, but also about the late notification by the Pentagon that they were going forward with the swap.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, among the lawmakers who requested the report, said Thursday that the president “clearly defied” the law.

“We have all seen the President decide to override the concept of checks and balances in many questionable executive actions, but the GAO opinion confirms that by doing so in connection with the release of Bowe Bergdahl, he engaged in a clear violation of the law,” she said in a statement. “I hope this opinion by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office sends a clear signal to the President that his recent shift towards unilateral action is not consistent with this nation's principles and our carefully designed separation of powers."

Whether the finding will result in any formal legal complaint remains to be seen. The House Armed Services Committee has prepared a “resolution of disapproval” potentially to be considered later this year about the swap, but such a measure is nonbinding.

[lostinblue 1,989]

Laws don't apply to the kenyan and holder.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Laws don't apply to the kenyan and holder.

You really need to stop with this racist nonsense.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Laws don't apply to the kenyan and holder.

What I don't get is.. We knew it was illegal from day one.. Why is it know the pentagons fault ?

[lostinblue 1,989]

What I don't get is.. We knew it was illegal from day one.. Why is it know the pentagons fault ?

The surprise here is that the GAO was allowed to tell the truth.

..... a very real possibilty We’ll have to Kill/Capture & or Fight these Clowns AGAIN? or they’ll be the Leaders, when they Join the ISIL…

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

[UncleBeer 244]

Law-breaking by our young constitutional-scholar preznit is a big yawn for all these low-information voters (well, to be fair, he's done it so often that it's no longer as shocking as it ought to be). But in '16, should a Republican win the White House, they'll quote the law books, chapter and verse for every tiny imagined infraction.

Edited August 23, 2014 by UncleBeer

[lostinblue 1,989]

Law-breaking by our young constitutional-scholar preznit is a big yawn for all these low-information voters (well, to be fair, he's done it so often that it's no longer as shocking as it ought to be). But in '16, should a Republican win the White House, they'll quote the law books, chapter and verse for every tiny imagined infraction.

Or they will make stuff up until they believe their own lies..... IE See Russia from my back door... or some variation

[Karee 4,190]

You really need to stop with this racist nonsense.

Why is calling him "the Kenyan" racist?

[UncleBeer 244]

Why is calling him "the Kenyan" racist?

Heh: everything is racist (if you have the "correct" perspective).