…For the Taliban, it doesn’t matter. They see the exchange as an unmitigated victory. “Our talks finally proved successful for the prisoners’ swap,” says the commander. “We returned our valued guest to his people and in return, they freed our five heroes held in Guantanamo Bay since 2002.”…
…“I cannot explain how our people are happy and excited over this unbelievable achievement.” (He too has been known to TIME for several years). “This is a historic moment for us. Today our enemy for the first time officially recognized our status.”…
….Asked whether the Taliban would be inspired by the exchange to kidnap others, he laughed. “Definitely,” he says. “It’s better to kidnap one person like Bergdahl than kidnapping hundreds of useless people. It has encouraged our people. Now everybody will work hard to capture such an important bird.”
(Time Magazine, HotAir, andThe Hill)
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: But that’s not a messaging problem, that’s a conceptual problem. They have no idea what they actually did. Even those of us who might grudgingly accept the cost of that swap would understand that this is a defeat for the United States. This is a moment of solemn solemnity and sorrow that we had to make this deal endangering our country as a result but in the name of saving someone. But the president thought of it as a victory lap, shows up in the Rose Garden, he has his acolytes speaking about this being a happy day, Harry Reid, it’s a day we ought to celebrate. This is insane. This is a defeat for the United States, and, if anything, you regretfully announce it solemnly and you move on.
Gay Patriot provides this UPDATE:
As the Bergdahl Narrative Falls Apart, Obama Administration Turns Its Venom on the Troops
One might have been tempted to think the Obama Administration had hit rock-bottom when they called Bowe Bergdahl’s fellow soldiers liars and “swift-boaters*” for disputing the Administration’s official line that Bergdahl served with “honor and distinction.” (Maybe with the Taliban.) That seemed to be as low they could go.
Then, somebody went and tossed them a shovel.
An administration spokesman (for the Department of Housing and Urban Development) took to Teh Twitters and called those soldiers (the ones that didn’t desert and collaborate with the Taliban)… “psychopaths.”