[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 94 (Tuesday, June 17, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H5370]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       ISSUES IN THE MIDDLE EAST

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Sherman) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I rise to address issues in the Middle 
East. The President has been criticized for the fact that we do not 
have a large residual force in Iraq and that we do not have a status of 
forces agreement with the Iraqi Government.
  Let us take note that it was President George Bush who installed 
Prime Minister Maliki in May of 2006. President George Bush's decision 
to allow Maliki to take power and to allow him to keep power is 
directly responsible for most of the woes facing Iraq today.
  Maliki was so malevolent that, throughout 2006, 2007, and 2008, he 
refused to enter into a long-term status of forces agreement with the 
United States and with President Bush. He insisted that any troops that 
remained in Iraq after 2011 would be subject to Iraqi kangaroo courts 
and could be executed on trumped-up charges. Obviously, we couldn't 
leave our troops in Iraq under those circumstances.
  It is Maliki that is the source of the problem, and it is President 
Bush that is the source of Maliki. To say that President Obama should 
be able to negotiate a long-term agreement with Maliki when President 
Bush was unable to do so is utterly absurd.
  As to Sergeant Bergdahl, it is important for us to note that, while 
we have just released five prisoners from Guantanamo, President Bush 
released over 500 from Guantanamo, and virtually all of them were 
dangerous.
  Over 100 of them are on the battlefield--and we know where on the 
battlefield they are--waging war against the United States and its 
allies. Most of the other 500 are also waging war against us; it is 
just that our intelligence isn't good enough to say exactly where on 
the battlefield they are located.
  What did President Bush get for the release, not of five, but 500 
dangerous prisoners from Guantanamo? Nothing, except a thank you from 
their native governments.
  Now, on legal issues, we are told that section 1035 of the National 
Defense Authorization Act required President Obama not to release the 
five prisoners until 30 days after he notified Congress.
  Even if he had followed those exact words, instead of releasing the 
five a few hours after Sergeant Bergdahl was in our hands, we would 
have released them a few weeks after Sergeant Bergdahl was back in our 
hands, hardly of great significance.
  More importantly, the President has the constitutional right, as 
Commander in Chief, to engage in prisoner exchanges. In fact, the last 
Republican Attorney General of the United States, Michael Mukasey, said 
that very thing just recently.
  The President was on firm legal ground in deciding he had the 
authority to take this action without a 30-day notification of 
Congress. That being said, it would have been preferable if President 
Obama had, in fact, discussed the matter with key congressional 
leaders.
  America is strongest when the President views Congress as a source of 
counsel, a source of advice, rather than a group of enemies to be 
notified only when such notification is explicitly compelled by 
congressionally valid statutes.
  Whether this deal is a good deal, time will tell. It was a judgment 
call, but the President could have benefited from the counsel of 
Congress. It is particularly insulting for some to say that Congress is 
not a source of counsel, but just a source of leaks.
  Keep in mind that 16 congressional leaders knew that we had 
ascertained the hiding place of Osama bin Laden, and that information 
did not leak from Congress.
  I hope, in the future, President Obama and future Presidents consult 
key Members of Congress when making a difficult decision.
  We are told that we don't negotiate with terrorists. Nothing could be 
further from the truth. President Bush negotiated with each and every 
terrorist regime, each and every identified state sponsor of 
terrorism--Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Syria, North Korea.
  The Bush administration paid a ransom to an al Qaeda affiliate for 
the release of Martin and Gracia Burnham. Secretary Colin Powell 
designated the Afghan Taliban as an organization authorized for legal 
negotiations.
  Now, it is also said that a prisoner exchange alerts our enemies to 
the fact that we value our prisoners, that we will not want to leave 
anyone on the battlefield, as if this is news disclosed to the world in 
June of 2014. The fact is we have always valued those detained by the 
enemy, and the enemy has always known that.

                          ____________________