Senator Lankford Statement on Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl

WASHINGTON, DC— Senator James Lankford (R-OK) released the following statement on the Army charging Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl with desertion and “misbehavior in the face of the enemy” for leaving his post in Afghanistan in 2009:

“The Bergdahl trade for five Taliban militants at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba last year sent the wrong message to the world that America will negotiate with terrorists. Just returning from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, I remain firm that the thug detainees should not be used as a bargaining chip and we should keep open our facility in Guantanamo.”

On March 19, Lankford and Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) introduced the Guantanamo Bay Recidivism Prevention Act of 2015, legislation that would improve the monitoring of former Guantanamo Bay detainees transferred to foreign countries to prevent them from returning to terrorism. The Senators introduced the bill days after returning from a trip to the detention facility.

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