The United States ( U.s. ) Negotiation

Robert Bowdrie (Bowe) Bergdahl is a United States Army sergeant who left his post in Afghanistan 2009 purposefully and intentionally. The Bowe Bergdahl case is an odd case that sometimes does not make much sense. He will be facing court-martial sometime this year for is desertion and misbehavior. The Uniform Code of Military Justice is very similar to regular law but has some adjustments that pertain to certain military rules and regulations. Bergdahl violated one of the most important rules and the first General Order, these orders are a soldier’s guideline on how to conduct

(Linkugel & Ware, 1973) He does not deny his decision, as the swapping of prisoners came to use in 2011 in an attempt to negotiate an end to the Afghanistan war. President Obama simply states that “Americas Armed Forces has a pretty sacred rule.... We don't leave our men or women in uniform behind.” (Cohen, Acosta, & Carter, 2014) According to the 2014 Defense Authorization Act, the President must give Congress a 30 day notice of his decisions to release, trade, and exchange captives. Several members of the Armed Forces Committee brought to the table the fact that he misused his power as president by failing to follow the outlines of this Act. President uses denial to dissuade the question of any illegal activity, only casually mentioning the fact that Administration representatives said Tuesday that they construed the law to allow a Guantanamo transference without notice if the notice would "endanger the soldier's

A total of 19 men hijacked four planes, using them to attack our military and economic centers and to murder almost 3,000 innocent people including men, women and children (Address on the War in Afghanistan. 1). The perpetrators were a part of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda, an organization that we have been using force against, along with those who harbor them, since 2001, days after the 9/11 attacks (Address on the War in Afghanistan. 1). With the support of our allies, NATO and the United Nations, we sent troops into Afghanistan after the Taliban denied turning Osama bin Laden over, the leader of al-Qaeda, and in the matter of months, al-Qaeda’s members scattered and many were killed (Address on the War in Afghanistan. 1). What’s next? President Obama addressed this in his speech on the War in Afghanistan, saying 30,000 additional troops will be sent to Afghanistan for the next 18 months, and after 18 months, our troops will begin to come home. (Address on the War in Afghanistan. 2) Obama’s strategy is: “We must deny al Qaeda a safe haven. We must reverse the Taliban's momentum and deny it the ability to overthrow the government. And we must strengthen the capacity of Afghanistan's security forces and government so that they can take lead responsibility for Afghanistan's future.” (Address on the War in Afghanistan. 3.) Once the United States military has aided security forces in becoming more powerfully built, many other things would fall into place.

After the May 2, 2011 US Navy SEALS raid on Bin Laden’s Pakistan secret compound, the US government received criticism regarding holes in their report of his killing. No pictures or video were released of the body before its almost immediate disposal, and Michael Morrel, then-Deputy Director of the CIA, conceded that “there are parts of the US account the world may never be told,” (Corbin 20-3). Journalist Seymour Hersh (whose previous scoops include Iraqi prison torture, and whose reporting is matched by New York Times author on the subject Carlotta Gall) published an article in the London Review of Books citing an unnamed retired senior intelligence officer claiming that unlike what the US reported, the assassination was an illegal “extrajudicial execution”, violating “the right to life” (Doebbler 3), as someone can only be killed under these circumstances legally if they “pose an immediate risk to life” (Robertson 3) (Hersh states Bin Laden was unarmed).

Negotiations are complex, involving mixed motives, and the Bergdahl case is no exception. In the end, Bergdahl was released in exchange for the release of five Guantanamo Bay prisoners convicted of terrorism. The outcome reinforces the idea discussed in class that compromise is a win-win and a lose-lose proposition. In this case, Bergdahl was released safely, but it is now known the U.S. will negotiate for American captives held by extremists. Sceptics believe the perception from this case jeopardizes the safety of very American-civilian and military alike (Thor 2014). White House officials refute this claim, pointing out the U.S. negotiated through the government of Qatar rather than with terrorists (Wallbank and Ratnam 2014).

On the other hand, the Democratic majority of the SSCI claims the CIA’s torture program was ineffective and riddled with misconduct. Among their many arguments is their assertion that the program was mismanaged and that it failed to administer proper oversight. Those found responsible of violating “CIA policies or performed poorly were rarely held accountable or removed from positions of responsibility (The Senate Committee, 2014, p. 23).” One such case took place on November 20th, 2002. Gul Rahman, a suspected afghan militant, was chained up, naked from the waist down, and left in an unheated cell overnight (Silverstein, K. 2014). When CIA officers checked on him the next morning he was dead due to hypothermia. The man responsible for this negligence was the junior officer, Matthew Zirbel. Matthew Zirbel was the commanding officer at the CIA blacksite, the Salt Pit where this brutal act took place. Even though he was on his first foreign tour and colleagues had warned of his “lack of judgement, honesty and maturity (The Senate Committee, 2014, p. 50)”, Zirbel held a position of great power. This fault had been identified by the C.I.A but the executive director, Kyle Foggo, decided that no disciplinary action was merited. Furthermore, the CIA never informed Rahman’s family of his death and were holding Rahman without him meeting the standard for detention.

One prominent Taliban leader has said that they consider the Afghan government puppets of the Americans. He said they (the Taliban) will continue to be hostile and will not consider negotiating a peace deal until the US is out of the picture (Kill). The US cites the progress they are making in the fact that over 1000 Taliban foot soldiers have defected and “re-integrated”, joining the government’s fight against the Taliban. However, many of these re-integrated soldiers still do not respect the US soldiers, citing their violence and offense to the Afghan culture. One re-integrated soldier named Abdul Aziz was caught on a microphone saying to a local “...the Taliban are still my brothers. Look, we [Aziz and his group of soldiers] don’t like the Americans. We’ve had bad experiences with them. They’re infidels. They’re the enemies of our religion, our nation, and our honor. If God makes the Taliban successful, then we will be Taliban again.” (Kill). Much more recently, it was reported in February 2015 that, only months after the US terminated major military operations in Afghanistan, the Taliban are ready to significantly challenge the new government (Peter). This demonstrates how the Taliban have persisted and resisted through the violence of the Kill/Capture program, and their anger at the Americans looks poised to be spewed onto

The document by the State Senate Committee on Intelligence goes into greater detail on what happened after the capture of Abu Zubaydah, including how the CIA did not want to turn him in to military custody fearing loss of control another government agency. Instead they moved him to a Black Site, a secret prison or camp run by the CIA located in various other countries. These countries are usually operate outside of U.S jurisdiction. According to the report the decision to put Abu Zubaydah there did not involve input of the

Shortly after his capture the Taliban released a video with the basic message, spoken through Burgdahl that they would like us to get out of Afghanistan, go home, and do not come back into the Taliban’s country. The media at this time is hyped up because the military has a promise to “leave no man behind”, therefor the controversial capture and attempt to get

In the United States, one of the major methods in obtaining crucial information has been through the use of Guantanamo Bay. While many have condemned of the torture that is believed to occur there, not only does Guantanamo Bay comply with national and international standards, but it also complies with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions (Meese 1) which states

Marco Rubio said in a statement "I fear that the administration's decision to negotiate with the Taliban for Sgt. Bergdahl's release could encourage future terrorist kidnappings of Americans."

Politicians constantly disagree and dispute whether or not it is in “America’s” best interest to extricate American citizens who have been taken prisoner in the Middle East: we all know they are truly speaking of their own personal best interests and debating how the American populous would react to such a decision. After reading Race to the Polar Sea, specifically Part III, the reader is able to recognize Dr. Elisha Kane confounded the world with his infamous rescue mission, and the people of this country loved it.

“It is a standoff,” Gen said. “Maybe a permanent one. If they keep us here forever, we’ll manage.” “Are you insane?” Messner said. “You were the brightest one here once, and now you’re as crazy as the rest of them. What do you think, that they’ll just keep the wall up and pretend this is a zoo, bring in your food, charge money for tickets? ‘See defenseless hostages and vicious terrorists live together in peaceful coexistence.’ It doesn’t just go on. Someone puts a stop to it and there needs to be a decision as to who will be in

Then, on October 7th, President Bush announced operations in Afghanistan were underway. In his address to the nation, President Bush enumerated the demands given to Taliban leadership as, “close terrorist training camps; hand over leaders of the Al Qaeda network; and return all foreign nationals, including American citizens, unjustly detained in your country.” It was clear “none of these demands were met,” as President Bush announced military strikes were underway in Afghanistan. This concludes the first element of contemporary evidence.

However, all of which I have said thus far is not my main objection to the deal. The most nefarious element of the deal is the billions of dollars given in sanction relief to the American enemy of Iran, the number one state sponsor of terror. It is hard to fathom the rationale of Obama and his aides when negotiating this monstrosity. According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Iran will receive “hundreds of billions of dollars to fuel their terror and military regime.” And this truth has since been corroborated. Just last August, details emerged of an apparent scheme between Secretary Kerry’s State Department and Iran, with approximately $1.3 billion in sanction reliefs delivered by plane to Tehran at the same time four American hostages were released.