Obama on Bergdahl Swap: We Had to ‘Act Fast’ with ‘No Publicity’
President Barack Obama capped off the 70th anniversary of D-Day by sitting down for an interview with NBC Nightly News host Brian Williams. While the president did touch on the historic moment, what Williams and everyone else really wanted to know about was the decision to release five Taliban detainees in exchange for U.S. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.
“When somebody wears our country’s uniform and they’re in a war theater and they’re captured,” the president said, “we’re gonna do everything we can to bring them home.” Echoing statements he made the day before, Obama said, “We saw an opportunity and we took it. And I make no apologies for it.”
On the question of why Congress was not informed in advance as they are required to by law, Obama added, “We had to act fast in a delicate situation that required no publicity.” On Thursday, U.S. officials said the Taliban had threatened to kill Bergdahl if word of the deal leaked out.
“By definition, you don’t do prisoner exchanges with your friends, you do them with your enemies,” Obama said, noting that the end of the War in Afghanistan will likely bring more prisoner releases. “It’s also important for us to recognize that the transition process of ending a war is gonna involve, on occasion, releasing folks who we may not trust but we can’t convict.”
Watch video below, via NBC:
[Photo via screengrab]
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