America Has History Of Negotiating With Terrorists And Rogue Regimes Says Bush/Romney Adviser

Mitchell Reiss, who worked in George W. Bush’s State Department and was national security adviser to Mitt Romney says the negotiation to release Bowe Bergdahl does not represent a change in U.S. policy: It may be new to certain individuals. Whether it’s new or not is not as important as whether it’s sound policy and promotes national security. That’s the ground where there’s a more legitimate debate.”

The United States has a long history of negotiating prisoner trades in times of war. But does it have a history of negotiating with terrorists, as some might classify the Taliban?…

In his book, Negotiating with Evil, Reiss wrote that America actually has a detailed history of negotiating with terrorists and rogue regimes that support terrorist activity. Reiss mentioned many recent examples. We’ll highlight a few.

During the Iran hostage crisis of 1979 to 1981, President Jimmy Carter agreed to unfreeze $8 billion in frozen Iranian assets after more than a year of negotiations with the Iranian revolutionaries.

Later, President Ronald Reagan agreed to send missiles to Iran after seven Americans were captured in Beirut, Lebanon, in what became known as the Iran-Contra scandal.

President Bill Clinton’s administration sat down with Hamas in attempts to negotiate peace with Israel. His administration also worked directly with the Taliban nearly two decades ago on several occasions to see if the group would hand over Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders.

 

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.