[DubaiSis]

Having lived and traveled away from the US, there is a clear understanding among my friends and family that you don't pay a ransom. Period. But that's me.

If what little I've read is accurate it is a far more interesting discussion. If he really did walk away from camp (disgruntled is the word I read) and got caught and proceeded to have lots of time and money spent on said recovery, that's a big ole problem. Sometimes you really have to live or die with your stupid mistakes. This might be the ultimate flouncing off in a huff. On the other hand, there was likely some severe PTSD and other war-related mental illness going on which means he should have been getting care instead of being allowed to just walk out of the camp.

Frankly, the trade solves another big problem in the US military - what to do with these eternal detainees. Sending them to Qatar to continue to be incarcerated for any length of time sounds a lot like we are allowing Qatar to "take care of the problem." The peaceful countries in the Middle East don't want a bunch of terrorists walking around free any more (and maybe more so) than we do. But they aren't restrained by due process or pesky dignity laws. My guess is these 5 guys suddenly get ill in jail in Qatar and die. What's that flu going around Saudi Arabia? That sounds like as good a method as any.

I also bet the Republicans will try to spin this as the worst thing the president could POSSIBLY do and undoubtedly will cause the downfall of America, and the Democrats will spin it as the ultimate in protecting our soldiers. I don't think either is going to succeed since this onion is so large and unwieldy. And I will make sure to not have the news on for the next couple days since it's going to be all about mud slinging and no actual resolution. MAYBE PBS, but it sounds like a good day to catch up on The Disney Channel.