Charles Krauthammer Supports Obama’s Bergdahl Deal
The Obama Administration found support coming from one of the most unlikely places on Wednesday – Fox News columnist Charles Krauthammer.
As The Inquisitr has previously reported, the Obama administration has been the subject of criticism following the exchange of Five detainees for Army Sargent Bowe Bergdahl, a prisoner of war. While Fox News has led the criticism, Charles Krauthammer has voiced his dissent.
Politico reports that Krauthammer, appearing on Special Report on Wednesday night, told host Bret Baier that “Had the choice been mine I would have made the same choice.” Calling the decision “difficult,” Krauthammer went on to claim that he “would not attack those who have done otherwise.” Admitting that the prisoners freed in exchange for Bergdahl were “dangerous militants,” Krauthammer argued that western countries have a history of engaging in prisoner swaps in which they come out on the “short end.” Krauthammer cited an example in which Israel exchanged “1,000 terrorists” for one of their own citizens. Krauthammer also contended that the West puts “a value on the individual human life the way that the barbarians at the other end of the table don’t.”
The comments echo those made on Tuesday(June 3rd) by Krauthammer, appearing on several shows. According to Fox News Insider, while on Special Report on Tuesday, Krauthammer defended the Obama administration’s legal authority to make the swap, which some members of congress have called into question. Krauthammer called a prisoner exchange “the province of the presidency,” saying “The one area where the president holds the upper hand in those disputes is in matters of war and peace, he’s commander in chief.”
The same day, on The O’Reilly Factor, Krauthammer voiced his opinion once more, saying that the problem was “an intrinsic one with hostage swaps.” According to Newshounds, Krauthammer was vocal in his disagreement:
I think a country has two obligations: absolutely ironclad obligations. Number one, if there’s a soldier being held, you get him back. But number two is, if you desert, your unit, you are subject to military discipline. I would say you free him and then you try him. That is the only way that you can deal with this.
Krauthammer went on to state that placing value on individual life is “the difference between a civilized society and a barbarous society. And we pay a high price for being civilized.” Accusing the President of “arrogance and perhaps also ignorance,” he went on to say that the best way to handle a prisoner swap, at least in Charles Krauthammer’s view, is “with regret and with sorrow.”
[Image via The Daily Caller]
