The Obama administration broke the law and misled Congress in the swap last year of five Taliban leaders for a captured U.S. soldier because President Obama wanted to further his pledge to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the House Armed Services Committee said Thursday in a report.
The 108-page report also said key Defense Department officials who might have raised red flags on the swap for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl were left out of the decision-making process.
“Our report finds that the administration clearly broke the law in not notifying Congress of the transfer,” said House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas.
“Leading up to the transfer, DOD officials misled Congress as to the status of negotiations. Pentagon officials best positioned to assess the national security risks were left out of the process, which increases the chances of dangerous consequences from the transfer.
“It is irresponsible to put these terrorists that much closer to the battlefield to settle a campaign promise and unconscionable to mislead Congress in the process,” he added.
Obama announced May 31, 2014, that Bergdahl, who walked away from his base and was captured in 2009, had been traded for the five Taliban leaders and was coming home. The Army has charged him with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, and officials are deciding whether he should stand trial by court-martial.
The five Taliban leaders were sent to Qatar, where they lived under travel restrictions for one year. Administration officials later negotiated new controls after that period expired.
In August 2014, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office determined that administration officials broke the law in the swap because they did not notify Congress at least 30 days in advance and used appropriated public funds for a different purpose. But administration officials have insisted that the swap was an extraordinary situation and that Bergdahl was in imminent danger.
