Obama looking to trade Gitmo Prisoners for American POW?

Now, I checked ATS for the story. I ran his last name, being rather different like it is, and few came up. I saw nothing recent, and this just came out.

DoD: U.S. doing all it can to find POW Bergdahl

Bergdahl’s parents went public this week with secret U.S. attempts to trade their son for Taliban prisoners in U.S. hands. They say they are frustrated by what they believe are stalled efforts to free him.

He is the subject of a proposed prisoner swap in which the Obama administration would allow the transfer of five Taliban prisoners long held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

But the proposal has been in limbo for months and faces serious opposition in Congress. The Taliban walked away from talks in March, saying the U.S. had reneged on several promises.

Source

Now this isn't some delusional blog or fringe news site reporting this. This is the Army Times. I'd thought about whether to share this find for a variety of reasons, but the family is who just made the new public push and that sounds good to me. Much of this lately hasn't been making much sense for actions and decisions in Afghanistan. Could this have been a game played in the background to those events we're seeing without that context?

The way Obama just tried to play the Bin Laden raid for votes, it's hard to attribute the best of motives to such a shady set of deals.

Obama is like a young College kid who suddenly decides to start cramming for the finals after goofing off for three and a half years.

"Obama looking to trade Gitmo Prisoners for American POW?"
This can't possibly be true. Obama shut down GITMO shortly after taking office. I know he did this because he said he would do it.

I honestly think this is a good idea, but at the same time don’t think it’s going to happen now that this has been made public by his parents. A negotiated prisoner exchange would suit both parties but now that it’s been made public it would make future negotiations difficult for the Americans in particular.

reply to post by OtherSideOfTheCoin

If it could ever be seen as a one-off thing, I agree with the idea of there being some room to say it's a good idea. The problem as I see it is, this will never be a one-off thing. Not with these guys and there is no guessing here. Kidnap and Ransom is a booming worldwide business. They just merged war and big business in an entirely new way.

If one U.S POW gets x number of Gitmo prisoners, then they'll note the cost for their purchase at Uncle Sam's Hostage market. I'm sure they will bring the appropriate amount of currency next time, when they come looking to buy back KSM and others. What do you think the rate will be on him? A Major? Maybe a Light Colonel? I know... a half dozen U.S. POW Captains...well, naww.. not high enough.

^^^^ Not wishful thinking, but a matter of time I believe. The Italians and others PAID for their people in Iraq and guess what? Nothing stopped...the price just went up WHEN they next one was grabbed. Even Somali Pirates learned that lesson well. Some flagged ships they seem to hunt for, others they've learned to avoid.

Some pay for a hostage, some shoot the hostage takers in the head, on a moving ship, with a sniper rifle. Such are the things that determine who they kidnap, IMO. Trading POW's for POW's while the war is still in full swing is insane.

(I wish I'd had the energy to add more on this last night...This week has been hell. Forgive me all. Finals and term stuff is allllmost over. So close... )