Chuck Hagel Admits He Felt Pressure from Obama White House to Release Gitmo Terrorists

Gateway Pundit

Former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel admitted today on CNN that the White House pressured him to increase the pace of release of terrorists from Guantanamo Bay.

CNN reported:

White House officials pressured Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel to increase the pace of detainee transfers from the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, the outgoing secretary acknowledged to CNN’s Barbara Starr in an interview Friday.

Those comments come just one day after reports surfaced that a Guantanamo detainee released as part of the deal that freed American POW Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl may have sought to return to militant activity.

“Not everyone at the White House has agreed with me,” said Hagel of his methodology for deciding on detainee releases.

Disagreements between Hagel and officials in the President’s inner circle have been widely reported during his short tenure as secretary of defense. But in his interview with CNN, Hagel spoke with uncharacteristic candor about that friction.

“We’ve had a lot of conversations,” Hagel said.

“With the White House?” Starr pushed back.

“Yes,” said Hagel.

Earlier this week, one of the “Taliban 5 Dream Team” that Hillary Clinton once said was “not a threat to the United States” returned to the battlefield, according to CNN.

WIth each passing day, the Obama-Clinton foreign policy continues to unravel.

Hillary Clinton said The Taliban Five Are “Not A Threat To The United States.”

CLINTON: “These five guys are not a threat to the United States. They are a threat to the safety and security of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It’s up to those two countries to make the decision once and for all that these are threats to them. So I think we may be kind of missing the bigger picture here. We want to get an American home, whether they fell off the ship because they were drunk or they were pushed or they jumped, we try to rescue everybody.”

The Gitmo terrorists celebrated their release with a few “Allahu Akbars” when they arrived in Qatar last year in a sway for deserter Bowe Bergdahl.

Obama’s National Security Wonderland

Family Security Matters

America is headed for a national security train wreck because President Obama–for reasons of ideology and wishful thinking–believes in some dangerous fantasies:

Fantasy #1

The war on terrorism is against violent extremists, not radical Islam

President Obama argues that ISIS and Al Qaeda are not truly Islamic, and does not want to offend moderate Muslims by implying the U.S. is at war with their religion.

But ISIS, Al Qaeda, and other Jihadists do, in fact, represent a violent faction of Islam that is written into the Koran and is part of the Muslim worldview historically since the birth of Islam with the conquests of Mohammed in the 7th century.

“Violent extremists” is a meaningless phrase in the struggle for the hearts and minds of the Muslim world.  It is also dangerous for Obama’s Department of Defense and FBI to abolish scrutiny of the ideologies of radical Islam to “know thy enemy” and better prosecute the war on terrorism.

It may be even more dangerous for liberty when Obama’s focus on “violent extremists”, instead of radical Islam, results in members of the NRA and other domestic critics of the president finding themselves on the Department of Homeland Security’s terrorism watch list!

US Officials Say Obama May Replace Kerry

Arutz Sheva

Senators and White House officials reveal Obama may get rid of Kerry and Hagel; Kerry ‘untethered from the White House’ like an astronaut.

Barack Obama, John Kerry, Susan Rice

Reuters

 

US President Barack Obama’s administration is coping with underwhelming performance on various fronts according to officials cited in the New York Times on Friday, who suggested he may replace some senior administration officials – including US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Hagel Admits Obama Ignored Law in Taliban Release

Washington Free Beacon

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel admitted that “the trust has been broken” between the White House and Congress following the Obama administration’s decision to skirt U.S. law and release five top Taliban leaders without first consulting with lawmakers.

Hagel admitted to lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday that the administration unilaterally inked a deal with the Taliban to release five top prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp without first notifying Congress, as is legally mandated.

The deal was signed “without providing 30 days notice to Congress,” as is required by law, Hagel told lawmakers before attempting to justify the administration’s decision to ignore this law.

The White House’s decision to skirt this law has prompted the House Armed Services Committee to launch a full investigation into the matter, lawmakers revealed on Wednesday.

Hagel Admits Obama Ignored Law in Taliban Release

The Washington Free Beacon

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel admitted that “the trust has been broken” between the White House and Congress following the Obama administration’s decision to skirt U.S. law and release five top Taliban leaders without first consulting with lawmakers.

Hagel admitted to lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday that the administration unilaterally inked a deal with the Taliban to release five top prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp without first notifying Congress, as is legally mandated.

The deal was signed “without providing 30 days notice to Congress,” as is required by law, Hagel told lawmakers before attempting to justify the administration’s decision to ignore this law.

The White House’s decision to skirt this law has prompted the House Armed Services Committee to launch a full investigation into the matter, lawmakers revealed on Wednesday.

A Nation with No Options

Family Security Matters

by LTC ALLEN  WEST (US ARMY RET)

 

As we watch the events unfolding in Ukraine there is one theme I continue to hear presented by the pundits in the news media – the United States has no options. It is unconscionable that we find ourselves in a foreign policy situation where there are no viable courses of action to be implemented. What is even more disturbing is that Russian President Vladimir Putin was fully aware of this going into his standoff.

America, the erstwhile superpower, finds itself outmaneuvered in a resurging Cold War-type showdown. It seems former GOP presidential candidate Governor Mitt Romney was right after all. I just wish he had defended his assertion with a tad more vigor.

Thanks to the announcement by US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, I do not see us committing any military forces in support of Ukraine. And Pentagon officials confirm they are not working on any contingency plans in that regard. Hagel’s force reduction announcement was made the beginning of last week – it didn’t take the Russian president long to see a gap to exploit.