What do we, the American people, get out of this deal?

Jim Geraghty on the swap of five terrorists for a deserter:

Obama himself admitted that in the case of these released detainees, there's "absolutely" a chance that these guys will go back to trying to help their allies kill Americans again. So, to sum up: If these guys stay in Gitmo, there's no chance they'll kill an American in the future. If they get released, there is, in the president's own words, "absolutely" a chance they kill again in the future. Where is the upside for us? What do we, the American people, get out of this deal?

Ignoring the Legislative Branch is pretty bad, although it's not clear the public will get up in arms about members of Congress being irked they weren't kept in the loop. But the public can, should, and I suspect will be mad when the administration lies to them. Certainly, members of our military could not abide the administration's claim that Bergdahl was a hero or Susan Rice's claim that Bergdahl "served with honor and distinction."

National Review has the testimonies of ten soldiers who served with Bergdahl and were with him up until he left the base, as well as soldiers who were sent to look for him following his disappearance and accounts of the families of soldiers who died searching for Bergdahl. For example:

Former Army sergeant Evan Buetow was Bergdahl’s team leader at the time. Buetow told CNN intelligence from the search for Bergdahl indicates that Bergdahl deserted his platoon to seek out the Taliban. Buetow noted that following Bergdahl’s apparent desertion, the Taliban attacks on American forces got more effective.

“Following his disappearance, IEDs started going off directly under the trucks,” Buetow said. “They were getting perfect hits every time. Their ambushes were very calculated, very methodical, like they knew what we were going to do.”

Please go here to read what the other soldiers and families of deceased soldiers have to say.