Da Fox News

Senior military officials had advised President Obama not to make the Taliban-for-Bergdahl trade, a senior Defense official told Fox News, likening it to "handing over five four-star generals of the Taliban."

The claim adds to the picture that is emerging about the tense internal debate over whether to proceed with freeing five hardened Taliban leaders from Guantanamo in exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's release.

Sources told Fox News earlier this week that the Obama administration largely bypassed the intelligence community to green-light the swap, after such an exchange was first floated several years ago. 

 

The Defense official, in explaining internal military opposition to the exchange, said many in the military considered Bergdahl to be a traitor -- a reference to allegations that he deliberately abandoned his post in 2009. 

 

Yet on the other end of the trade were five high-value, sought-after Taliban leaders. The U.S. government's own records show some of them had ties to top terror figures including Mullah Omar and Usama bin Laden. Many Republican lawmakers have raised concerns that their freedom poses a major national security risk