First There Was Nothing Wrong With Taliban Prisoner Transfer, But Now Obama’s All “My Bad.”

As you know, President Obama released five high value Taliban agents from GitMo for the release of one anti-American deserter and possible Taliban collaborator, and he probably broke the law when he did it.  At least, according to the right wing hacks at the Washington Post:

Top Republicans on the Senate and House armed services committees went so far as to accuse President Obama of having broken the law, which requires the administration to notify Congress before any transfers from Guantanamo are carried out.

“Trading five senior Taliban leaders from detention in Guantanamo Bay for Bergdahl’s release may have consequences for the rest of our forces and all Americans. Our terrorist adversaries now have a strong incentive to capture Americans. That incentive will put our forces in Afghanistan and around the world at even greater risk,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. McKeon (R-Calif.) and the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, James M. Inhofe (Okla.), said in a joint statement.

Lawmakers were not notified of the Guantanamo detainees’ transfer until after it occurred.

That’s no big deal, according to Jay Carney:

http://youtu.be/sJz_tkuttFo

He was a prisoner, not a hostage.

Remember, this had to happen so quickly because his health was questionable, or something:

Nearly five years after his capture by insurgents, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s “safety and health were both in jeopardy” and officials had to act quickly to obtain his release, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Sunday.

So if this was all legal, and speed was of the necessity, what’s with the apology?

The White House has apologized to Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) for failing to alert her in advance of a decision to release Taliban commanders from Guantanamo Bay.

Feinstein told reporters that she received a call from Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken on Monday evening apologizing for what the administration is calling an “oversight.”

“I had a call from the White House last night, from Tony Blinken, apologizing for it,” she said.

“He apologized and said it was an oversight,” she added.

An oversight?

No.  It was illegal, and possibly impeachable.

Obama ‘clearly violated laws which require him to notify Congress thirty days before any transfer of terrorists from Guantanamo Bay, and to explain how the threat posed by such terrorists has been substantially mitigated,’ House Armed Services Committee chairman Rep. Buck McKeon of California and Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Sen. JIm Inhofe of Oklahoma said Saturday.

‘Our joy at Sergeant Berghdal’s release is tempered by the fact that President Obama chose to ignore the law, not to mention sound policy, to achieve it.’

…

The law Obama is accused of breaking, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2013, requires Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to ‘notify the appropriate committees of Congress … not later than 30 days before the transfer or release’ of detainees from Guantanamo.

Hagel is required to explain why prisoners are being let go, why it’s ‘in the national security interests of the United States,’ and what the administration has done ‘to mitigate the risks’ that the terror targets will ‘re-engage’ in war against the U.S.

Obama signed the lengthy law in December – it sets budgets and policy for the entire Defense Department – but issued a statement saying that he thought the notification requirement was unfair.

So there it is.  When you fail to pay your taxes, jus tell them sorry for the oversight, but you don’t think taxes are fair.

That should work.

Twitchy has more.