Barack Hussein Obama

13 Proofs That Dept. Of Homeland Security Has Become Obama’s Standing Army

Published

9 years ago

June 18, 2014

Geoffrey Grider

government-of-wolves-american-police-state-john-whitehead-rutherford-institute

NOW THE END BEGINS SHARE:

by NTEB Contributor John W. Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute

“A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty.” – James Madison

“We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” — Barack Obama, October 30, 2008

“We are going to have to change our conversation; we’re going to have to change our traditions, our history; we’re going to have to move into a different place as a nation.” — Michelle Obama, May 14, 2008

If the United States is a police state, then the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is its national police force, with all the brutality, ineptitude and corruption such a role implies. In fact, although the DHS’ governmental bureaucracy may at times appear to be inept and bungling, it is ruthlessly efficient when it comes to building what the Founders feared most—a standing army on American soil.

The third largest federal agency behind the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense, the DHS—with its 240,000 full-time workers, $61 billion budget and sub-agencies that include the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, Secret Service, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)—has been aptly dubbed a “runaway train.”

In the 12 years since it was established to “prevent terrorist attacks within the United States,” the DHS has grown from a post-9/11 knee-jerk reaction to a leviathan with tentacles in every aspect of American life. With good reason, a bipartisan bill to provide greater oversight and accountability into the DHS’ purchasing process has been making its way through Congress.

A better plan would be to abolish the DHS altogether. In making the case for shutting down the de facto national police agency, analyst Charles Kenny offers the following six reasons: one, the agency lacks leadership; two, terrorism is far less of a threat than it is made out to be; three, the FBI has actually stopped more alleged terrorist attacks than DHS; four, the agency wastes exorbitant amounts of money with little to show for it; five, “An overweight DHS gets a free pass to infringe civil liberties without a shred of economic justification”; and six, the agency is just plain bloated.

To Kenny’s list, I will add the following: The menace of a national police force, a.k.a. a standing army, vested with so much power cannot be overstated, nor can its danger be ignored. Indeed, as the following list shows, just about every nefarious deed, tactic or thuggish policy advanced by the government today can be traced back to the DHS, its police state mindset, and the billions of dollars it distributes to police agencies in the form of grants.

1. Militarizing police and SWAT teams. The DHS routinely hands out six-figure grants to enable local municipalities to purchase military-style vehicles, as well as a veritable war chest of weaponry, ranging from tactical vests, bomb-disarming robots, assault weapons and combat uniforms. This rise in military equipment purchases funded by the DHS has, according to analysts Andrew Becker and G.W. Schulz, “paralleled an apparent increase in local SWAT teams.” The end result? An explosive growth in the use of SWAT teams for otherwise routine police matters, an increased tendency on the part of police to shoot first and ask questions later, and an overall mindset within police forces that they are at war—and the citizenry are the enemy combatants.

Obama Calling For Creation Of Civilian Army from Now The End Begins on Vimeo.

2. Spying on activists, dissidents and veterans. In 2009, DHS released three infamous reports on Rightwing and Leftwing “Extremism,” and another entitled Operation Vigilant Eagle, outlining a surveillance program targeting veterans. The reports collectively and broadly define extremists as individuals and groups “that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely.” In 2013, it was revealed that DHS, the FBI, state and local law enforcement agencies, and the private sector were working together to conduct nationwide surveillance on protesters’ First Amendment activities.

3. Stockpiling ammunition. DHS, along with other government agencies, has been stockpiling an alarming amount of ammunition in recent years, which only adds to the discomfort of those already leery of the government. As of 2013, DHS had 260 million rounds of ammo in stock, which averages out to between 1,300 to 1,600 rounds per officer. The US Army, in contrast, has roughly 350 rounds per soldier. DHS has since requisitioned more than 1.6 billion rounds of ammo, “enough,” concludes Forbes magazine, “to sustain a hot war for 20+ years.”

3. Distributing license plate readers. DHS has already distributed more than $50 million in grants to enable local police agencies to acquire license plate readers, which rely on mobile cameras to photograph and identify cars, match them against a national database, and track their movements. Relying on private contractors to maintain a license plate database allows the DHS and its affiliates to access millions of records without much in the way of oversight.

4. Contracting to build detention camps. In 2006, DHS awarded a $385 million contract to a Halliburton subsidiary to build detention centers on American soil. Although the government and Halliburton were not forthcoming about where or when these domestic detention centers would be built, they rationalized the need for them in case of “an emergency influx of immigrants, or to support the rapid development of new programs” in the event of other emergencies such as “natural disasters.” Viewed in conjunction with the NDAA provision allowing the military to arrest and indefinitely detain anyone, including American citizens, it would seem the building blocks are already in place for such an eventuality.

5. Tracking cell-phones with Stingray devices. Distributed to local police agencies as a result of grants from the DHS, these Stingray devices enable police to track individuals’ cell phones—and their owners—without a court warrant or court order. The amount of information conveyed by these devices about one’s activities, whereabouts and interactions is considerable. As one attorney explained: “Because we carry our cellphones with us virtually everywhere we go, stingrays can paint a precise picture of where we are and who we spend time with, including our location in a lover’s house, in a psychologist’s office or at a political protest.”

Cruz: Obama To Repeal The First Amendment from Now The End Begins on Vimeo.

6. Carrying out military drills and lockdowns in American cities. Each year, DHS funds military-style training drills in cities across the country. These Urban Shield exercises, elaborately staged with their own set of professionally trained Crisis Actors playing the parts of shooters, bystanders and victims, fool law enforcement officials, students, teachers, bystanders and the media into thinking it’s a real crisis.

6. Using the TSA as an advance guard. The TSA now searches a variety of government and private databases, including things like car registrations and employment information, in order to track travelers’ before they ever get near an airport. Other information collected includes “tax identification number, past travel itineraries, property records, physical characteristics, and law enforcement or intelligence information.”

7. Conducting virtual strip searches with full-body scanners. Under the direction of the TSA, American travelers have been subjected to all manner of searches ranging from whole-body scanners and enhanced patdowns at airports to bag searches in train stations. In response to public outrage over what amounted to a virtual strip search, the TSA has begun replacing the scanners with equally costly yet less detailed models. The old scanners will be used by prisons for now.

8. Carrying out soft target checkpoints. VIPR task forces, comprised of federal air marshals, surface transportation security inspectors, transportation security officers, behavior detection officers and explosive detection canine teams have laid the groundwork for the government’s effort to secure so-called “soft” targets such as malls, stadiums, bridges, etc. Some security experts predict that checkpoints and screening stations will eventually be established at all soft targets, such as department stores, restaurants, and schools. DHS’ Operation Shield, a program which seeks to check up on security protocols around the country with unannounced visits, conducted a surprise security exercise at the Social Security Administration building in Leesburg, Fla., when they subjected people who went to pick up their checks to random ID checks by federal agents armed with semi-automatic weapons.

9. Directing government workers to spy on Americans. Terrorism Liaison Officers are firefighters, police officers, and even corporate employees who have received training to spy on and report back to government entities on the day-to-day activities of their fellow citizens. These individuals are authorized to report “suspicious activity” which can include such innocuous activities as taking pictures with no apparent aesthetic value, making measurements and drawings, taking notes, conversing in code, espousing radical beliefs, and buying items in bulk.

13-Similarities-Between-Obama-And-Hitler-630

The similarities are terrifying, the conclusion inevitable.

10. Conducting widespread spying networks using fusion centers. Data collecting agencies spread throughout the country, aided by the National Security Agency, fusions centers—of which there are at least 78 scattered around the U.S.— constantly monitor our communications, collecting and cataloguing everything from our internet activity and web searches to text messages, phone calls and emails. This data is then fed to government agencies, which are now interconnected: the CIA to the FBI, the FBI to local police. Despite a budget estimated to be somewhere between $289 million and $1.4 billion, these fusion centers have proven to be exercises in incompetence, often producing irrelevant, useless or inappropriate intelligence, while spending millions of dollars on “flat-screen televisions, sport utility vehicles, hidden cameras and other gadgets.”

11. Carrying out Constitution-free border control searches. On orders from the DHS, the government’s efforts along the border have become little more than an exercise in police state power, ranging from aggressive checkpoints to the widespread use of drone technology, often used against American citizens traveling within the country. Border patrol operations occur within 100 miles of an international crossing, putting some 200 million Americans within the bounds of aggressive border patrol searches and seizures, as well as increasingly expansive drone surveillance. With 71 checkpoints found along the southwest border of the United States alone, suspicionless search and seizures on the border are rampant. Border patrol agents also search the personal electronic devices of people crossing the border without a warrant.

12. Funding city-wide surveillance cameras. As Charlie Savage reports for the Boston Globe, the DHS has funneled “millions of dollars to local governments nationwide for purchasing high-tech video camera networks, accelerating the rise of a ‘surveillance society’ in which the sense of freedom that stems from being anonymous in public will be lost.” These camera systems, installed on city streets, in parks and transit systems, operating in conjunction with sophisticated computer systems that boast intelligent video analytics, digital biometric identification, military-pedigree software for analyzing and predicting crime and facial recognition software, create a vast surveillance network that can target millions of innocent individuals.

13. Utilizing drones and other spybots. The DHS has been at the forefront of funding and deploying surveillance robots and drones for land, sea and air, including robots that resemble fish and tunnel-bots that can travel underground. Despite repeated concerns over the danger surveillance drones used domestically pose to Americans’ privacy rights, the DHS has continued to expand its fleet of Predator drones, which come equipped with video cameras, infrared cameras, heat sensors, and radar. DHS also loans its drones out to local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies for a variety of tasks, although the agency refuses to divulge any details as to how, why and in what capacity these drones are being used by police. Incredibly, the DHS has also been handing out millions of dollars in grants to local police agencies to “accelerate the adoption” of drones in their localities.

It’s not difficult to see why the DHS has been described as a “wasteful, growing, fear-mongering beast.” If it is a beast, however, it is a beast that is accelerating our nation’s transformation into a police state through its establishment of a standing army, a.k.a. national police force.

This, too, is nothing new. Historically, as I show in my book A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, the establishment of a national police force has served as a fundamental and final building block for every totalitarian regime that has ever wreaked havoc on humanity, from Hitler’s all-too-real Nazi Germany to George Orwell’s fictional Oceania. Whether fictional or historical, however, the calling cards of these national police agencies remain the same: brutality, inhumanity, corruption, intolerance, rigidity, and bureaucracy—in other words, evil.

Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His latest book A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State (SelectBooks) is available online at www.amazon.com. He can be contacted at johnw@rutherford.org.

Comments

Barack Hussein Obama

As Biden’s Approval Rate Continues To Sink With Even Democrats, Barack Obama Makes Appearance At White House To Check On His Third Term

Their reunion, Democrats say, will be a full-circle moment of sorts, invoking nostalgia and a longing for the Obama era while marking one of the most significant legislative accomplishments in years. “From the historical perspective it does make a nice narrative arc from Obama and Biden passing the law to Obama returning to celebrate how it’s grown and been protected under now-President Biden,” said Democratic strategist Eddie Vale. “And it will be a good event and a good speech as one always gets from Obama.” But Vale cautioned that “no one should be anticipating Obama magically solving all of our problems.”

Published

12 months ago

April 5, 2022

Geoffrey Grider

NOW THE END BEGINS SHARE:

When former President Obama appears at the White House on Tuesday, Democrats say it will provide a much-needed boost to President Biden, who has been lagging in the polls.

At this point, no one either in the Republican or Democratic party has any illusions that Joe Biden is anything more than a cypher placed there by the New World Order to facilitate the complete destruction of America. Kind of like what 8 years of the Barack Obama presidency was designed to accomplish. Now Obama is at the White House today to check on the progress of how his third term is going, and to see what he can do to spruce it up a little as we edge closer to the 2022 Midterms.

“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.” Proverbs 29:2 (KJB)

Whatever “star power” the Democrats may think that Obama still possesses pales in the light of $6.00 per gallon gas and rapidly rising inflation. When you add to that the mess in Afghanistan, the mess with COVID, and the soon-coming mess at the border when Title 42 is removed in May, you have yourself a mess that not even Obama can make look pretty. Of course, reminding people of just how bad things were under the Obama-Biden regime is not going to help their cause, either.

taliban-soldiers-released-by-barack-obama-joe-biden-from-gitmo-guantanamo-bay-now-running-new-government-kabul-afghanistan-september-11th-911

Taliban Soldiers Released By Obama And Biden In 2014 Are Key Members In New Government Slated To Celebrate Inauguration On September 11th

Democrats hope Obama will give Biden a jolt

FROM THE HILL: Obama remains extremely popular with the Democratic base, and his return to the White House comes as Biden has struggled to boost his poll numbers in the face of a flurry of challenges, most notably soaring inflation.

“I think this comes at the right moment,” said one Democratic strategist. “We need a jolt of energy right now, and no one brings that more than Obama.”

Biden and Obama will promote the Affordable Care Act, the former president’s signature piece of legislation during his time in office. Obama has remained out of the spotlight since leaving the White House in 2017, only reemerging in key moments during the Trump and Biden administrations. At those times, he has voiced his support for Biden on issues including the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, Biden’s Build Back Better framework and voting rights.

The former president has not visited the White House since Biden took office, including privately, two sources said.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday the two speak on the phone regularly and are “real friends, not just Washington friends.” The presidents will also have lunch together on Tuesday, she said, carrying on their tradition of weekly lunches during the Obama White House. Their reunion, Democrats say, will be a full-circle moment of sorts, invoking nostalgia and a longing for the Obama era while marking one of the most significant legislative accomplishments in years.

“From the historical perspective it does make a nice narrative arc from Obama and Biden passing the law to Obama returning to celebrate how it’s grown and been protected under now-President Biden,” said Democratic strategist Eddie Vale. “And it will be a good event and a good speech as one always gets from Obama.”

But Vale cautioned that “no one should be anticipating Obama magically solving all of our problems.”

“If Democrats want to have wins to run on in 2022 and 2024, they need to buckle down and get more bills on Biden’s desk,” he said.

Matt Bennett, a former Clinton White House staffer and co-founder of centrist think tank Third Way, called it smart for the Biden White House to get Obama involved given the newfound popularity of his signature health care law. Bennett noted the potential added benefit that “popular and talented former presidents can really help the incumbent craft and carry a message.” One White House official downplayed any political aspects of bringing Obama into the White House, saying the former president has championed the law informally bearing his name for years and it made sense for him to be there to promote new efforts to strengthen the legislation.

Biden and Obama both attended a funeral service for former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in August and appeared together at the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York in the fall fall. The two also recorded a Zoom conversation last summer to promote sign-ups for the Affordable Care Act. Obama is expected to return to the White House again in the coming months at the unveiling of presidential portraits of himself and former first lady Michelle Obama.

Even though they live within miles of each other, Obama and Biden have rarely seen each other since Biden took office, sources say, including privately. While Biden campaigned on being the popular president’s vice president, he has kept a distance as president.

“I’m not sure it would be helpful to him to have Barack Obama looming in the shadows of his presidency,” said one source with knowledge of their relationship.

While the two presidents share a close bond over their mutual history in the Senate and later in the White House, a quiet tension has also existed. During the 2016 presidential race, Biden and his team were frustrated by Obama’s push for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to be his successor. And later in the 2020 presidential race, Obama remained neutral, refusing to back anyone in the Democratic primary, including his former vice president. Biden has recounted that he told his former partner not to endorse him in the race, but sources close to the former president say that never happened.

Last year during a CNN town hall, Biden acknowledged that while he had been in the Oval Office many times as vice president, “I had never been up in the residence” while Obama was president. READ MORE

Watch live: Obama to return to Biden White House to promote Affordable Care Act

Former President Barack Obama is returning to the White House Tuesday for the first time since he left office to promote his signature health care legislation that President Joe Biden wants to build on. This video will be live starting at 1:30 PM EST this afternoon.

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. Even all the way to South Africa. We even restarted our weekly radio Bible study on Sunday nights again, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

CLICK IMAGE TO ORDER YOUR BOX OF NTEB GOSPEL TRACTS

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. If every one of the 15,860+ people on our daily mailing list gave $4.50, we would reach our goal immediately. If every one of our 150,000+ followers on Facebook gave $1.00 each, we would reach 300% of our goal. The same goes for our 15,900 followers on Twitter. But sadly, many will not give, so we need the ones who can and who will give to be generous. As generous as possible.

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJV)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

Barack Hussein Obama

Barack Obama To Be Keynote Speaker For Gaia Celebration ‘Dear Earth’ From YouTube Proclaiming Our Planet As The ‘One Who Birthed Us All’

Pagan Barack Obama is teaming up with celebrities for YouTube Originals Gaia worship ‘Dear Earth’ special meant to ‘celebrate Mother Earth’.

Published

1 year ago

October 20, 2021

Geoffrey Grider

dear-earth-youtube-originals-gaia-barack-obama-climate-change

NOW THE END BEGINS SHARE:

Former President Barack Obama is teaming up with celebrities for YouTube Originals’ Gaia worship Dear Earth special meant to ‘celebrate Mother Earth’.

Remember way back when Barack Obama was trying to convince people to vote for him, how he would always talk about his ‘white mother’ and his ‘Christian faith’? Apparently, these were two things that were highly meaningful for him, and we were constantly seeing photos of him going to church and talking about his ‘walk with the Lord’. In 2021, Barack Obama who never mentions his ‘Christian faith’ not one in a hundred times is now the keynote speaker for a Gaia celebration of the ‘one who gave birth to us’, the one and only…(drumroll please!!)…Mother Earth!

“But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.” Galatians 4:26 (KJB)

The first chapter of Romans in the Book that Obama has never read tells us that people who worship the creation more than the Creator are ‘fools’ who are given over to a ‘reprobate mind’, while all the while professing themselves to be wise. 2 Peter 3 shows us that day when God will blow Earth to smithereens after setting it on fire, how’s that for global warming? But don’t be too hard on Kenyan Barack Obama as he engages in his real religion, Gaia, he’s only following the Roman Catholic pope who preaches and teaches the same damnable gospel.

pope-francis-gaia-worship-new-age-paganism-climate-change-creation-is-groaning

GREAT GAIA: Pope Francis Commands Catholics To ‘Listen To The Voice Of Creation’, Undoes Genesis 1 Saying Man Does Not Have Authority Over Earth

Barack Obama Teams with Celebrities for YouTube Climate Special to ‘Celebrate Mother Earth’

FROM BREITBART NEWS: Obama is expected to deliver a keynote address as part of Dear Earth, which will include 100 minutes highlighting “how we should be solving climate problems,” and will be “sprinkled with musical performances,” according to YouTube Originals. The special will also feature left-wing pop star Billie Eilish, South Korean K-pop group Blackpink, Jaden Smith, the Muppets, and SpongeBob SquarePants, among others.

“You can imagine something different,” Obama is heard saying in a promotional clip for the 100-minute special, which will premier on Saturday.

“Celebrate Mother Earth — the only known entity to actually birth the human race — with this special YouTube Original that highlights how we should be solving climate problems,” YouTube Originals said. “Dear Earth shows us the latest in innovation, technology, and the sustainable revolution that’s about to take place.”

We’ve all had to adapt to cope with a pandemic. Climate change will force far harsher changes on our kids. All of us should follow the young people who’ve led the efforts to protect our planet for generations, and demand more of our leaders at every level. https://t.co/uNueQl5bNX

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 22, 2020

Others expected to participate in the program include Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Brazilian singer Anitta, Tinashe, and rapper-actor Lil Dicky.

Kermit the Frog will reportedly be giving the opening address.

Last year, Obama claimed that climate change will be worse than the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.

“We’ve all had to adapt to cope with a pandemic,” the ex-president wrote on Twitter. “Climate change will force far harsher changes on our kids.” READ MORE

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

CLICK IMAGE TO ORDER YOUR BOX OF NTEB GOSPEL TRACTS

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJV)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

Barack Hussein Obama

Taliban Soldiers Released By Obama And Biden In 2014 Are Key Members In New Government Slated To Celebrate Inauguration On September 11th

Four of the five Taliban members released from Guantanamo Bay by Obama Biden administration now running new government in Afghanistan 9/11.

Published

2 years ago

September 8, 2021

Geoffrey Grider

NOW THE END BEGINS SHARE:

Four of the five Taliban members released from Guantanamo Bay by the Obama administration in 2014 in exchange for admitted US Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl are part of the Islamic fundamentalist group’s new hardline government in Afghanistan, according to local media reports.

Is anyone surprised by this? Back in 2014, then-president Barack Obama and his vice president Joe Biden agreed to set free 5 Taliban terrorists and pay billions of dollars in ransom to get back US Army deserter Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Wanna take a hard guess at who is now members in good standing of the brand-new government in Afghanistan? Yep, as it turns out, Walkaway Joe Biden truly is completing the work started by the Obama administration.

“Let his days be few; and let another take his office.” Psalm 109:8 (KJB)

So now you have a country, Afghanistan, that Biden agreed to desert, stocked with billions of dollars in American weapons, left there on purpose by Biden, and Taliban soldiers who were released by Obama and Biden now running that new government. Could it come more full-circle than that? Actually, yes, care to take a guess when this new Taliban terror government funded and created by Obama and Biden is going to be inaugurated? September 11th, how ya like them apples?

taliban-5-freed-by-obama-for-bowe-bergdahl-rejoin-afghanistan-islamic-terrorists

2018: THE 5 ISLAMIC TERRORISTS FREED BY OBAMA IN EXCHANGE FOR US ARMY DESERTER BOWE BERGDAHL HAVE REJOINED TALIBAN IN AFGHANISTAN

Four Taliban members swapped for Bowe Bergdahl by Obama and Biden are now in Afghan government

FROM THE NY POST: The four members of the so-called “Taliban Five” who have joined the new government are Acting Director of Intelligence Abdul Haq Wasiq, Acting Minister of Borders and Tribal Affairs Norullah Noori, Deputy Defense Minister Mohammad Fazl, and Acting Minister of Information and Culture Khairullah Khairkhah. The fifth member of the Taliban Five, Mohammad Nabi Omari, was appointed governor of eastern Khost province last month.

Afghan outlet TOLOnews published a list Tuesday of members of the new “caretaker” government, which features several familiar faces who helped run the war-torn country between 1996 and 2001 — when the Taliban were forced from power by US-led NATO forces following the 9/11 attacks. Wasiq, Fazl and Khairkhah all held positions in the former Taliban government — Wasiq as a deputy intelligence chief, Fazl as army chief of staff and Khairkhah as interior minister.

Biden Secretary of State Antony Blinken: “The Taliban are not permitting the charter flights to depart.”

These flights include American citizens. pic.twitter.com/HbJVMAsFHt

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 8, 2021

According to assessments written in 2008 by leadership at Guantanamo Bay and later made public by WikiLeaks, Wasiq “utilized his office to support [al Qaeda] and to assist Taliban personnel elude capture” and “was central to the Taliban’s efforts to form alliances with other Islamic fundamentalist groups to fight alongside the Taliban against U.S. and Coalition forces” in the early days of the Afghanistan war. The same assessments said Fazl was alleged to have had “operational associations with significant al Qaeda and other extremist personnel.”

Fazl and Noori, who was governor of two northern Afghan provinces during the earlier Taliban regime, are also accused of ordering the massacres of ethnic Hazara, Tajik and Uzbek communities in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998.

Khairkhah, who helped found the Taliban in 1994, allegedly took part in “meetings with Iranian officials seeking to support hostilities against U.S. and Coalition Forces” following the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, according to the 2008 assessments. He also was the governor of western Herat province between 1999 and 2001 and was known as “one of the major opium drug lords in western Afghanistan,” US military leadership found.

Despite the assessments recommending “continued detention” for the five, President Barack Obama signed off on an agreement that sprang the men from Gitmo in exchange for the release of Bergdahl, who had been taken captive by the Taliban after walking away from an observation post in Paktika province in June 2009.

“The United States of America does not ever leave our men and women in uniform behind,” Obama said at a Rose Garden ceremony announcing Bergdahl’s release on May 31, 2014.

As Bergdhal returned to the United States, the Taliban Five were flown to Qatar, where much of the Taliban’s political leadership resided at the time. Among those aghast at the price paid for Bergdahl’s return was Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the Taliban Five were “the hardest of the hard-core” and “the highest high-risk people.” In 2015, Bergdahl was charged by the military with desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty and one count of misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of his fellow soldiers. In 2017, he pleaded guilty to both charges and was sentenced to a dishonorable discharge, a reduction in rank and a fine. Bergdahl has since appealed to a federal court in a bid to get his conviction overturned. READ MORE