DOD Uses Michael Durant Example to Justify Bergdhal Trade for Terrorists?!
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Really?!
The DoD counsel in the hearing was also the DoD counsel under the Clinton administration. His stunning admission:
...At the Bergdahl/Hagel hearing going on in the House today, Democrat Rep. Adam Smith asked DoD General Counsel Stephen Preston for a specific example from the past where the United States “dealt with non-state actors who are holding a service member in order to achieve their recovery.” Preston cited the release of Michael Durant, the Army helicopter pilot of Blackhawk Down fame, who was held prisoner for eleven days by Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid after his helicopter was shot down in 1993. Preston suggested Durant was released in exchange for a number of Adid’s fighters who were captured during the same battle...
Of course, non-state actors could mean any third party negotiators or go-betweens...Read the whole piece at the National Review.
I also think it's pretty damn safe to say the Sergeant Bergdahl was no Chief Durant.