WASHINGTON -- Several senators emerged from a classified briefing on the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl on Tuesday still unconvinced about the wisdom of swapping five high-level Taliban prisoners for the Army soldier after he spent years in captivity.
At the session, senior Defense Department and military officials briefed members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, again presenting a united front in their support of the prisoner exchange, said Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the committee's chairman.
Republicans -- and some Democrats -- have questioned President Barack Obama's judgment on whether the exchange would harm national security.
The terms of the exchange signaled "a lack of understanding of the reality of the conflict we're engaged in," Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said as he emerged from the secure hearing room. "It's got to be demoralizing for our allies. It's got to be demoralizing for our soldiers. It's got to embolden the people we're fighting against.
"We're in a war," he continued. "I think this White House does not understand that."
After the hearing, Levin offered perhaps the strongest defense yet of the prisoner exchange ahead of congressional testimony today by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
"When the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs tell me as chairman of the Armed Services Committee -- and try to tell the public -- that they very much supported this deal despite the fact that they knew Bergdahl had left his unit and despite the fact that they knew these five Taliban were bad guys, that has a big impact on me," he said.
But some fellow Democrats would not join in the defense.
"Was it a good deal or a bad deal?" said Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va. "In my mind it's still a bad deal. I still can't explain it back home to my fellow West Virginians why these five who they've tried repeatedly to get some exchange for over the last 10 years, why these five all of the sudden all were released."
The House Appropriations Committee voted 33-13 on Tuesday to bar the use of federal money to transfer detainees from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Six Democrats voted yes. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has drafted similar legislation.
Those briefing the Senate Armed Services Committee included Robert Work, the deputy defense secretary and Adm. James Winnefeld, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Also included were the Joint Chiefs' Pakistan and Afghanistan coordinator, the Pentagon's general counsel and the assistant defense secretary for special operations.
Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who was a prisoner of war, said after the briefing that the administration's rationale keeps shifting. At one point, the administration used a video from early this year to show that Bergdahl was in ill health, and it later asserted that the Taliban were threatening his life.
"They're not going to kill an American prisoner," McCain said. "That's why they keep him alive. It is of utmost value to them to keep an American prisoner alive. Look what they got for it."
Levin addressed criticism of Bergdahl by those who have accused him of deserting his post.
"I think there's been too much prejudgment," he said. "Before people reach any conclusion about whether he did anything improper, he's an American soldier, and he ought to be given due process. That means we should hear from him before people jump to a conclusion."
Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Armed Services Committee, also cautioned, "There's still an awful lot to be discovered from Bergdahl himself, as well as from other folks involved, and that's still ongoing."
Several lawmakers said little was said in the briefing that had not already been discussed in the news media about Bergdahl's physical and mental state or the conditions of his captivity.
But Manchin appeared to be dismissive about those reports. "All they have is what he's been able to communicate," he said. "They don't have anything else except his communication. That's it."
He said the briefers described the conditions that Bergdahl was kept in as "pretty horrific."
Defense Department officials also were unable to alleviate concerns about the threat posed by the five prisoners released to the government of Qatar, in the Persian Gulf. Sessions said the five had been "taken basically to a resort town" where they and their families were being supported financially for a year, after which they would be free to rejoin the fight.
"It's already clear they're under the most minimal of control," he said.
A Section on 06/11/2014