Look, I know I'm just the business guy here at Fox, but for the life of me, this is one deal that makes zero and I mean zero sense.
Freeing five Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for one U.S. soldier.
That's five bad guys, for one supposed good guy.
And now we're discovering maybe not quite so good guy. So maybe I'm missing something.
So I start doing my due diligence on this, like I do financial deals I cover.
And I'm really at a loss especially when I hear the president say, just today, that those released Taliban prisoners could absolutely pose a threat to us.
But that he's taking safeguards and they all hinge on the government of Qatar keeping a close eye on these guys.
No problem there. I mean, it's not as if Qatar raises any eyebrows.
Oh, wait, it does. It has. A lot. Didn't our own State Department call Qatar the worst on countering terrorism?
Didn't it say the oil-rich Gulf nation hasn't only been hesitant to act against known terrorists, it happily harbors them, even funds them?
And isn't Saudi Arabia threatening to blockade Qatar because of its ties to violent extremists within Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood?
And these are the guys we're entrusting to look after these guys?
That should go well. That's like me policing the prime rib counter at a Ponderosa buffet. Good luck on that one. And good luck on this one.
So, why are we doing this, at all? What am I missing in this deal? Where's the upside in this deal?
I'm wondering because the guy who brokered it has me worrying. He's now all but assuring those bad guys he freed will be back to doing bad stuff.
Again, not possibly. Absolutely.
Then count me absolutely stunned. Not about the swap, but what we got from the swap.
Leaving aside what we're learning about the U.S. soldier we freed, and the U.S. soldiers who died trying to free him and the dad who said and wrote some strange stuff over the years we were trying to free him.
This is how we free him?
I know I'm just the business guy, but please tell me how any of this adds up.
Because all I know is a soldier who didn't much like this country is coming home and five guys who clearly hated this country are maybe coming back.
Not on our terms. On theirs.
Shielded in a country that's never been keen on us.
And right about now, I suspect is laughing at us.
Such a deal.
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