Every American should be thankful that Seargent Bowe Bergdahl is on his way home after being held for five years by the Taliban. No American should rejoice over the manner in which his homecoming was accomplished.
We will hear from many that we should not negotiate with terrorists, that the administration’s actions actions in swapping five high-level Taliban operatives in exchange for the sergeant’s released were illegal.
But the bigger issue is that negotiations with terrorists generate relatively small gains in the short term and motivate more bad behavior in the longer term. The liberal mind has never fully absorbed this reality. For the Taliban, on this day, the reward was significant as some of the worse of the worse are on their way to Qatar and will, without doubt, join the fight against America once again. For America the future holds more kidnapping. As military forces depart, civilians will become the focus.
According to the president, the negotiations for Bergdahl’s release have gone on for two years. During this period, the Taliban has launched offensive operations against American troops. These negotiations have gone on in the face of green-on-blue violence and the reaffirmation by the Taliban that the slaughter will continue. The Taliban strategy was summed up in a single sentence by one of its senior commanders: “You have the watches, we have the time”:
The president has spoken as well. He said Saturday, “The Qatari government has given us assurances that it will put in place measures to protect our national security.” He is apparently comfortable outsourcing American security concerns to an Arab monarchy that has stood in support of the Muslim Brotherhood and their allied groups, including Hamas.
The president also seems to be unaware of the number of prison breaks in the Middle East. Google the keywords “terrorist, prison breaks” and over 2 million links are returned. In 2013 alone, attacks on prisons in Iraq resulted in the release of 500 terrorists. Interpol has highlighted nine countries in jeopardy of similar activity.
Finally, the president is apparently also unaware of “Tayyiqa.” This is the concept in Islam that holds that the infidel should be lied to when it is in the best interests of Muslims to do so. There is a time limit of ten years for each lie told under this religious doctrine. That time limit was set by Muhammad’s behavior as described in the Hadith. Muhammad’s behaviors are considered to be the behaviors of a perfect life; the lie is enshrined in Islamic theology.
The Qatar government has promised to hold the “Gitmo Five” for a year. What goes unmentioned is that Qatar has their own problems with Islamist insurrections, in some cases resulting in direct military support from Saudi Arabia during the Arab Spring.
