WASHINGTON — Republicans and Democrats who initially praised the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl from five years in captivity quickly scrubbed their welcoming tweets amid questions about whether the soldier was a deserter and an outcry over the exchange of five Taliban officials for his freedom.
On the defensive, Democrats hammered GOP lawmakers with their own words from just a few weeks ago pleading with the Obama administration to do all it could to return Bergdahl to his family.
The swap stands as a political flash point on Capitol Hill that shows no sign of abating, with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel certain to face tough questions on Wednesday at a high-profile House Armed Services Committee hearing. Closed-door sessions pitting lawmakers against Obama administration officials are planned next week.
The Bergdahl case offers none of the clarity of a celebratory homecoming for a freed military captive that rallies Americans of all political persuasions. In its place are the murky circumstances of his June 2009 departure from his outpost and President Obama's move to send five enemy combatants to Qatar after they spent more than a decade in prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The Washington backdrop is highly partisan, with an ongoing investigation into the deadly 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, midterm elections in less than five months and Republicans certain that a roughed-up Obama is critical to their political success.
Caution is clearly the watchword for some politicians in advance of primaries and elections.
Rep. Jim Renacci of Ohio and Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, both Republicans, deleted tweets that had expressed joy over Bergdahl's release, as did Iowa GOP Senate candidate Joni Ernst. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., did the same, according to the website Politwoops of the Sunlight Foundation, which keeps track of deleted tweets.
“People in Idaho are glad that he's been released and home. The other factors surrounding this matter will come out as time goes on, and we'll leave it at that,” said Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho.
Republicans have pounded the administration for exchanging Bergdahl for five Taliban commanders, warning that they will return to the fight against America, something an intelligence official told lawmakers this week is likely to happen.
In an interview on Friday with “NBC Nightly News,” Obama acknowledged that some Guantanamo detainees who have been released have returned to the fight. And he cautioned that as the war in Afghanistan winds down, more detainees may have to be let go.
“It's also important for us to recognize that the transition process of ending a war is going to involve, on occasion, releasing folks who we may not trust but we can't convict,” Obama said. “And I've been very clear about the fact that over time, we're going to have to whittle away at the number of prisoners who were in Guantanamo as part of this transition out of the war in Afghanistan.”
Democrats quickly accused the GOP of doing an about-face on their pleas for Bergdahl's release and made clear the military's support for the swap will be a major element of their pushback.
“You put on the uniform of this country, we're going to do everything to get you,” Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, told reporters this week. “Read the Republican statements. Read the resolutions they introduced about trying to get Bergdahl back. ... What happened to that? I think even (Sen. John) McCain was on television saying that he was open to the possibility of a swap a couple of months ago.”
In a February interview with CNN, McCain said he would support a swap of the five Taliban commanders for Bergdahl contingent on the details. Within hours of word of the exchange, McCain criticized the deal as a mistake that would put Americans in danger.
McCain's office insisted there was no contradiction and faulted the White House, saying that as it struggled to defend the deal, it was discrediting its critics.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., highlighted several other instances of Republicans pressing for Bergdahl's release, and complained that they were trying to score political points.
In April, Pennsylvania's two senators — Republican Pat Toomey and Democrat Bob Casey Jr. — joined with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in introducing a resolution saying, “The United States should leave no member of the Armed Forces unaccounted for during the drawdown of forces in Afghanistan.”
The measure also “supports the United States Soldier's Creed and the Warrior Ethos, which state that ‘I will never leave a fallen comrade.' ” Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., also has backed the resolution.
