If Obama had left the guy to rot, those very same people bitching about the swap would be bitching about him leaving Americans behind.
Besides, was congress consulted every time Bush, Clinton, Reagan (was congress consulted before Reagan gave 1500 missiles to Iran?).... FDR.... Lincoln used swaps?
The mere fact that people are complaining about this and acting as if it has "never been done before" screams volumes about the partisanship of our media and congress, not Obama.
Contrary to what am radio and foxnews says, Obama isn't a rogue president by any stretch of the imagination. Hell, he's barely even a democrat. He's a moderate repub.
I agree with you that Obama is "barely even a democrat", but he's a "Moderae repub" if and only if "moderate repubs" are people who are ashamed to be ordinary, principled Americans who follow the law, and take their oath of office, to uphold our Constitution. Obama not only sneers at such a notion, he is damn proud to be doing everything our "progressive"/ "marxist" CFR, UN one-worlders, and international banking elites want.
That's the kind of "moderate repub" George Bush was, but even Bill Clinton seemed to be more of a real democrat, even if he did sell out the Democratic Party to the bankers. Most liberals loved the movie about how a Texas democrat engineered our assistance to Afghanistanis, hell, Hollywood even made a movie about it. And they did the whole movie without showing Ronald Reagan in the decision loop. If you don't believe me, watch it yourself. . . . It's the movie called "Charlie's War".
Obama might be just too stupid to be a rogue anything, but he certainly is too stupid to be our President.
PS. I didn't get it at first. I do remember the Iran-Iraq war. I do know we were a stakeholder in the Iraq buildup, and I do remember we sold 1500 missiles, as well, to Iran. The Iraqis used chemical weapons, we had to do something to "restore balance". This is a perfect example of how our CIA works to set up and manipulate international conflict, building the customer base for our military hardware retailers.
Fact is, we did the same thing to set up WWII.
When our cartelists were set back by Anti-Trust legislation and had to sell off parts of their empires to restore competition on American soil, they found fertile soil in the fascist nations especially Germany and Italy. They took their money and invested there, where cartelism was welcomed and even given a seat at the table of government. That is the meaning of "fascism". Henry Ford loved Hitler and held him up as a fine example. The school rag at Yale extolled Hitler as the cutting edge of progress. The Rockefellers invested in German Pharmaceuticals and chemicals. BBH errand boy Prescott Bush carried money in a brown suitcase just to bankroll Hitler's Reichstag fire and subsequent dismantlement of the legislative branch of German government. Not a whole lot different from Obama today getting up and saying if congress won't do what needs doing, he will.
At the highest levels of our government, we betrayed our own soldiers all the way through WWII. Good generals like Stillwell and Patton who had the practical loyalty to American blood we sidelined while cartelist patsies like Eisenhower were allowed to muddle up the campaigns of the war. Only MacArthur was able to hold his position through to the reconstruction phase, administering Japan's government, and masterfully doing so. But even he was sidelined during the Korean War for his loyalty to American blood over fascist triangulation. . . . .
So here's another "dot", apparently unconnected, unless I make this intolerably long. My brother-in-law, fighting in the Korean War, tells of how US soldiers on the front were betrayed by US Army brass, who were required under the UN war rules, to tell the communists, the Russian generals, of our plans. On one secret and critical battle, our boys marched behind enemy lines to take a position. When they got there, the enemy turned on floodlights all around them and broadcast in English that it was a useless fight, because they had expected them to show up at that exact spot. A lot of American blood was lost that night because American "leaders" betrayed American soldiers.