In the aftermath of the prisoner exchange of five top Taliban commanders for US Army Stg. Bowe Bergdahl campaign calling for the impeachment of the US President Barack Obama gains momentum.
American leader has recently been severely criticized for the swap by a legal analyst and television personality Jeanine Pirro, former US Attorney General Michael Mukasey and journalist Michael Goodwin.
Jeanine Pirro, a former prosecutor and judge, who is currently the host of Fox News Channel's political commentary TV show Justice with Judge Jeanine, has called for the impeachment of the US President in the latest episode aired on June 8.
Pirro, Obama's fierce critic, declares that "our very existence is at jeopardy" because US president violated the "sacred trust" of the people for negotiating with terrorists and trading a soldier for "five of the worst Taliban terrorists in Gitmo." She describes them as monsters who kill thousands, including children, and "hate America and everything we stand for."
Bowe Bergdahl, 28, is a United States Army soldier who was held captive by the Taliban-aligned Haqqani network in Afghanistan. He was released on May 31 in exchange for five Taliban commanders from the Guantanamo Bay prison after spending five years in captivity and suffering harsh treatment at the hands of his captors.
The swap sparked a national controversy over whether US President Barack Obama paid too high a price for his freedom and if the exchange was against the law. That was fueled by allegations by some in Bergdahl's battalion that he was a deserter, and that soldiers died because they were looking for him after his disappearance in the early hours of June 30, 2009.
Bergdahl is currently undergoing treatment in an army hospital in Germany.
The swap sparked a national controversy over whether US President Barack Obama paid too high a price for his freedom and if the exchange was against the law. That was fueled by allegations by some in Bergdahl's battalion that he was a deserter, and that soldiers died because they were looking for him after his disappearance in the early hours of June 30, 2009.
Bergdahl is currently undergoing treatment in an army hospital in Germany.
She argues the White House knew Bergdahl's location "for months" and could save him differently, for instance, by sending special forces or drones. "It would have made another great photo op," she observes. However, he chose an illegal option. Pirro believes that US president can and should be impeached for negotiating with terrorists because that is against the law that Obama himself signed.
The National Defense Authorization Act, signed by Obama into law last year, requires the president to consult Congress 30 days in advance of freeing any Guantanamo detainees. Among the many who think that the transfer was illegal everyone points to the 30 days' notice. Irrespective of whether Obama could provide a legal justification for what he did, he "clearly broke the law", claims CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, because he failed to provide the 30-day notification.
Keep in mind, that despite what the lawmakers thought about the exchange, according to the same law, they could not block the swap even if they wanted to.
In Pirro's opinion the situation is aggravated by the fact that the Berghdal deal has "shown terrorists that they can win concessions by kidnapping Americans." The judge concludes by saying that it is the first time that the US exchanged "mass murderers for a deserter."
She also warns that the consequences of the swap may be grave for Americans. "Mr. President, you didn't just release them, you unleashed them, and you and you alone will be responsible for the hell that will be unleashed on us. You have teed us up for death and destruction."
Jeanine Pirro is a staunch advocate of Obama's impeachment. Earlier, in May, she provided another argument why US president has to be removed from power – the Benghazi scandal, that Pirro brands "the biggest cover-up since Watergate."
Pirro is not the only one accusing Obama of destroying the US and diminishing its role in the world arena.
Fox News contributor and New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin in his opinion piece "Obama is driving the country to ruin," published on June 7 in the New York Post, argues that the 44th US president has made the US impotent and this was done on purpose. Among the many things that are going wrong in the country he names quite a few chronic ailments like unconstrained illegal immigration across US border with Mexico or the prolonged negotiations with Iran regarding its controversial nuclear program that as of yet have not produced a lasting comprehensive agreement that would ensure that Tehran is not trying to create nuclear weapons and wipe Israel, US or any other enemy it might have off the face of the Earth.
The new ills include the Veteran Affairs scandal and new environmental regulations seen by some as groundbreaking, branded by others as job killers at coal mines and manufacturing plants. Critics also claim that new limits on carbon emissions announced recently by the EPA will only raise household electricity costs, prompt power brown-outs during heat waves and cold snaps.
In his article Goodwin especially emphasizes the recent exchange of a US soldier for five Guantanamo Bay prisoners describing it as "trading away five murderous terrorists for a likely Army deserter." That mirrors sentiments expressed a day later by Jeanine Pirro almost word-to-word. Goodwin also contends that in an unsurprising turn of events Republican Senator Lindsey Graham spoke of impeachment if Obama continues to make important decision without lawmakers' approval.
Michael B. Mukasey, former US attorney general, questions whether Obama should have exchanged Bergdahl for the Taliban fighters in an opinion piece "The ghastly transaction that freed Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl" published in the Washington Post on June 5.
Like Pirro, he shares concern that Taliban prisoners are people who "trained with and coordinated fighting with al-Qaeda before 9/11." He rightly points out that: "At precisely the time when his administration is trying to withdraw troops from Afghanistan in a way that at least will not threaten the safety of those who remain behind until the end of 2016, if not beyond, the president has provided skilled strategic planners to the Taliban." Is it reasonable to free people who have a history of close ties with al-Qaeda? Or could it be that Obama didn't know about that?
Mukasey suggests that impeachment is one of the options to deal with the "executive misuse of its actual authority." He adds, though, that it is highly unlikely it would come to this since there is no public consensus on the issue.
According to Huffington Post, on Sunday he defended Obama's decision, however, reiterated that he should be impeached for the swap without giving Congress the 30 days' notice.
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