http://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-live/?hp=Rogers: 'We have now set a price' for U.S. soldiers
By ERIC BRADNER |
6/1/14 9:38 AM EDT
The trade of five terrorism suspects for an American soldier who was being held by the Taliban in Afghanistan is a “break with U.S. policy,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said Sunday.
“The No. 1 way that Al Qaeda raises money is by ransom – kidnapping and ransom. We have now set a price,” Rogers said on CNN’s “State of the Union” of the deal struck through the government of Qatar to obtain Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.
“If you negotiate here, you’ve sent a message to every Al Qaeda group in the world – by the way, some who are holding U.S. hostages today – that there is some value now in that hostage in a way that they didn’t have before,” Rogers said. “That is dangerous.”
Jim Jones, Obama’s former National Security Adviser, said on the show that the swap for Bergdahl will drive a debate over “what this means in terms of risk.”
“If [terrorists] think that the value of taking action against Americans and holding Americans is going to somehow help them achieve their goals, then they’re going to do that,” Jones said.
