On Tuesday, the closed-door congressional hearing on the release of Bowe Bergdahl that was meant to address concerns by the GOP over the matter has not managed to do its job, Reuters said. Senior Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee reportedly emerged from the exclusive hearing unperturbed by the attempts of the Obama administration to justify the deal they have made with the Taliban for the release of the prisoner of war.
Bergdahl, an Army sergeant whom one senior lawmaker said was kept in a cage while being held prisoner by the Taliban in Afghanistan, has been released in exchange for five Taliban leaders held at Guantanamo.
The top Republican on the panel, Senator Jim Inhofe, had said that the briefing by the deputy US defense secretary and the No. 2 uniformed military officer had not eased his concerns about the move to send the incarcerated Taliban leaders back to Qatar. Reuters said that the five will remain there for one year under travel restrictions.
"I have every reason to believe that if they want to go back to the fight, they will," Inhofe have said.
Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, said that the risk the administration took of releasing the five leaders of the terrorist group was wholly inadequate.
A committee in the GOP-dominated House of Representatives has moved to bar detainee transfers from Guantanamo.
On the other hand, a group of US soldiers had called out the lawmakers who have come forward and expressed their dislike in the circumstances leading to Bergdahl's release. According to the group, the lawmakers had been using Bergdahl's case for political reasons as the midterm congressional elections this year approaches.
Retired Army colonel Ann Wright, who is a former State Department employee who resigned over the Iraq war, said, "Some of the harshest, most brutal attacks have been coming from our own senators, senior senators. It really is a very sad statement ... when our congressional people are doing this for their own political careers.
