U.S. negotiates release of Army deserter--Sec of Defense claims "We did not negotiate with terrorists"

As you probably know, an Army private named Bowe Bergdahl--who vanished in Afghanistan five years ago--was recently released by the Taliban in exchange for the release of five high-ranking terrorist prisoners held by the U.S. at Guantanamo.  It's also been rumored that the U.S. paid the Taliban a significant sum of money, though I doubt any reporter will ask a member of Team Obama that question.

Bergdahl went missing from an Army outpost five years ago and was the only American known to be in the hands of the Taliban.  But from the outset there were a lot of things about the disappearance that didn't make sense--things that were known to American officials.  The guy didn't vanish on a mission but disappeared from a well-guarded outpost after being relieved of guard duty.  There was no indication that the enemy had gotten into the compound.  Moreover, his fellow soldiers at the outpost said he'd been talking about wanting to "leave" and "walk to India." So there was every indication that the guy deserted.

Of course the Army didn't want to admit this, so they ordered Bergdahl's fellow soldiers at the outpost to stay quiet.

Now that he's been freed, a few of them are talking.  But this is all background to the main story:

Chuck Hagel is Obama's Secretary of Defense--the top official over America's armed forces.  As such you'd think he'd have at least some brains.  On the other hand, since Obama picked him for the job, and the most important qualification for Obama picks seems to be loyalty to Obama, we may well question the brains part.

Anyway, Hagel was asked if we negotiated with terrorists.  Here's his response:

First of all, we didn’t negotiate with terrorists. As I said and explained before, Sergeant Bergdahl is [sic] a prisoner of war. That’s a normal process in getting your prisoners back, that’s first. Second, we are dealing with terrorism and hostage taking all the time everywhere. I think America’s record is pretty clear on going after terrorists, especially those who take hostages, and I don’t think what we did in getting our prisoner of war released in any way would somehow encourage terrorists to take our American service men prisoner or hostage.

This is typical Obama bullshit:  We most certainly *did* negotiate with the Taliban who had Bergdahl.  So either Hagel expects you to believe the Taliban aren't terrorists, or possibly that the Taliban simply dictated the terms under which Bergdahl would be released, and thus technically there weren't any formal negotiations.

Most Americans have great sympathy for members of our armed forces held by enemy forces, and that's great.  But much as we'd like them released, the reason for *not* negotiating with terrorists is that it simply encourages more of the same.

But what should concern you is less the fact that Obama did in fact negotiate to exchange 5 top Muslim terrorist prisoners for Bergdahl, but rather that the state of lying by top members of his administration has reached the point that the civilian head of the military was perfectly willing to claim to reporters that we didn't negotiate with terrorists.