we will speak with colonel morris davis and sean smith. he spent time with bergdahl in afghanistan and recently produced a video focused on his father bob bergdahl in idaho. >> i don't think anybody can relate to the prisoners at guantÁnamo more, i don't think, then our family -- and our family because it is the same thing. , andn is a prisoner of war and end with reconciliation negotiations with the enemy. and prisoners of war should be part of that dialogue. and i insist that it will be. >> then, in a major press freedom case, the supreme court has denied the appeal of new york times reporter james risen who faces a possible prison term for refusing to reveal a confidential source. all of that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president obama has called on congress to support a $1 billion plan to ramp up u.s. military presence across europe amidst tensions between russia and ukraine. obama made the announcement in warsaw, poland on the first leg of a four-day europe

officials -- joining me now, retired air force colonel morris davis. and colonel davis, do you think it's a good idea to send him to guantanamo? >> it's a terrible idea. the worst thing we could do, i think the president made a wise decision here bringing him to the u.s., trying him in federal court, and let's close this chapter at guantanamo and put it behind us. >> if we were to bring him to guantanamo as opposed to trying him in federal court. my understanding is giving him the legal ambiguity about the legal detainees, what you wan the to see is this man pay the price, civilian trial is much more likely to assure that in a speedy fashion than the morass that is guantanamo. >> back in september of 2006, there were 14 men transferred from the cia to guantanamo, of those 14 men, there's one that's been convicted and sentenced, and that was ahmed gallani. the other 13 men that got off the plane with limb that day are still in legal limbo at guantanamo. khalid sheikh mohammed is in hearings this week, there's still no trial date. i believe if it goes to

. >> i want to go to colonel morris davis who spoke to on democracy now! would you call these men prisoners of war as well? disappointing hearing not just senator cruz, there been many like john mccain and others, that have tried to use this as political capital to make president obama look weak and i think that is a false narrative and unfortunately, too many of the public eye into it. >> that was colonel morris davis, the former chief military prosecutor at guantÁnamo bay. i want to bring in andy worthington to comment on this, the british-based analyst who wrote the piece that is headlined, "missing the point on the guantanamo taliban prisoner swap and the release of bowe bergdahl." your response? >> the main thing i think about it isrisoner release is what jack goldsmith said, who was the legal advisor to the bush administration who said all that president obama has done with his prisoner swap is to deal a few months in advance with something that is coming very soon. the drawdown of u.s. troops is going to make it untenable, legally untenable to carr

officials -- joining me now, retired air force colonel morris davis. and colonel davis, do you think it's a good idea to send him to guantanamo? >> it's a terrible idea. the worst thing we could do, i think the president made a wise decision here bringing him to the u.s., trying him in federal court, and let's close this chapter at guantanamo and put it behind us. >> if we were to bring him to guantanamo as opposed to trying him in federal court, my understanding is given the legal ambiguity about the legal detainees, what you want to see is this man pay the price, civilian trial is much more likely to assure that in a speedy fashion than is the ro morass that is guantanamo. >> back in september of 2006, there were 14 men transferred from the cia to guantanamo, of those 14 men, there's one that's been convicted and sentenced, and that was ahmed gallani. the other 13 men that got off the plane with him that day are still in legal limbo at guantanamo. khalid sheikh mohammed is in hearings this week, there's still no trial date. i believe if it goes to gu

morris. andrea was working at the outer limits club in des moines. one night around closing time, mars picked up andrea after work and she said she'd promised to give a bar patron a private dance at his house. >> it wasn't entirely out of the ordinary, but it wasn't exactly something that happened all the time, but yeah. and money was pretty tight, so i was -- and she didn't ask me, you know? she just said, this is what's happening. and i said okay. and how do we get there? >> davis said he dropped andrea off and then went to get his truck washed. >> mars tells her i'll be back in one hour. so he leaves. he actually goes and cleans the bronco while he's waiting for her to do this private dance. >> when he picked her up, he couldn't help but notice she was literally covered in blood. >> you going to tell me what the hell happened? >> she told me she got hit in the nose or something. and i was like no, that did not come out your nose. you know? because it was in her hair. it was everywhere. you

morris davis was on my radio show last night. he said we have to release these prisoners at the end of the year because of the end of the war. the fact that we got something for five of them is actually a good thing. >> she knew politically when she wrote the book how difficult this would be for americans to stomach. but in denver she doubled down and defended it. so the fact is democrats are playing right into the narrative that this is going to be a really, really tough issue for them to overcome in november. congratulations, susan rice, you now by doubling down have given every republican candidate a campaign talking point. and if democrats don't run from this, they're going to pay the price. >> but it's president obama who overseas has continued to double down on this as well and has said, no apologies. speaking of susan rice, listen to something else she said earlier today about her terminology that she used originally about bowe bergdahl. listen to this. the. >> i realize there's been a lot of discussion and controversy aro

air officer colonel morris davis. senior correspondent daily beast and co-author josh rogan. gentleman, thank you for joining me. josh, i'm going to begin with you because you also say in this article, quote, for years senior defense and intelligence officials disagreed. they were poised to block a potential trade for the taliban five and american hostage bowe bergdahl. what changed, josh? >> well, between 2011 when this deal was first proposed and 2014 when it was finally struck everything changed, right? first of all, we're getting out of the war in afghanistan. the belief was, if there's no more war, how can we hold them as enemy combatants. the people inside the administration changed. people that were opposed, leon panetta, hillary clinton was skeptical, they left. people who were for it was left. because of all of these other factors, the impetus was on the administration to push this deal through. so, these five guys were very bad guys, everyone admits. there were some inside the administration that thought they were bad guys who wanted to kill other afghans, not neces

. >> all right, colonel morris davis, thank you so much. michael crowley and goldie taylor, thank you. >>> developing this morning, investigators are on the scene of a jet crash in a neighborhood there. it exploded in a massive fireball destroying several homes. thankfully no one was injured and we get more from nbc's mike taibbi. >> hello, tamron. marines are working alongside first responders in a cleanup operation and there is still no early hint on why this crash happened barely a month after a hairier from the same air base. >> get out! get out of the way! >> it was just after 4:20 wednesday afternoon when the calls came in to police dispatch about the fireball rising from a neighborhood in imperial, california. >> it looks like a house is on fire between cabo and cross. >> it was a hairier out of marine station yuma some 70 miles away and although three houses were destroyed, no one on the ground was injured, just badly shaken. >> i thought it was an earthquake and my dad thought a car hit our house. >> anybody with blankets? >> the p

. >> actually, one other former guantanamo bay prosecutor, colonel morris davis, on "weekends with alex witt" yesterday, listen to this. >> when i saw the names of the five individuals, when they were reported last weekend, my first reaction was, who are they. i never saw the names before. which meant there was not enough information to even make it onto our list of potential prosecutions. when you hear people talk about these guys being the hardest of the hard core and how dangerous they are, we prosecuted osama bin laden's driver, and we couldn't even bring charges against these guys. >> does he have a point, and does secretary kerry, the point being, hey, we can take them out if we need to later, we're not worried about them necessarily, but then the other sound byte there essentially saying, clearly, they weren't that big -- it's hard to put this in relative terms, they're all a big deal and a threat at some point, but essentially saying we couldn't prosecute them, so maybe they're not as big of a threat as people may have thought. >> well, i go back to what tom said when he opened

. >> vernon davis still showing up to voluntary workouts. today, he told jay morris sports show. >> why aren't you at otas, brother? what's going on? >> every decision i make is in the best interest of my brand. sometimes, we have to make a business decision. and my decision was to work out on my own and focus on doing my brand as well as dollars being everything else. at the end of the day, you have to have that complete balance. >> well, vernon is missing from the actual field. the virtual field is looking complete. he'll be the first player in the game to rock his own ink. the sharks get a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2015 4k1ccft. it would become a fourth if he signs with new york. team tiel told boyle last month he would not be resigned. >> giants beat the reds today. >> oh, my gosh, do i take notes? after people find a dentist through us, they often say, "i wish i'd done this sooner." don't let that be you. you know your teeth are important. so don't put it off any longer. call 1-800-dentist today. ♪ ♪ [ barks ] whoo! mmm!

i'm back with lanny davis and brad chase. earlier this evening i spoke to pam morris, the publisher of bowe bergdahl's local paper. i asked her about the local controversy swirling about the circumstances of his release. here's what she told me. >> we've been aware at the newspaper for a long, long time that there was a subterrainian dpz drumbeat about the manner in which he was captured and the manner in which he left his base. we have no evidence. we are reporters. we are reporters like every other good journalist in this country and we wait until the facts are in. we do not believe that people should be tried by sound bite nor in the social media in which there is no accountability. this is a military matter. this is a matter for serious consideration and we believe all the facts should be gathered before we indulge in character assassination, very frankly. >> brad chase, you care to respond to that? >> and what do you propose as an alternative? the soldiers remain silent? >> you'd have to ask her that question. >> i'm ask

i'm back with lanny davis and brad chase. i want you guys to listen to this. earlier this evening i spoke to pam morris, the publisher of bowe bergdahl's local paper. i asked her about the local reaction to the controversy swirling about the circumstances of his release. here's what she told me. >> we've been aware at the newspaper for a long, long time that there was a subterranean drumbeat about the manner in which he was captured and the manner in which he left his base. we have no evidence. we are reporters. we are reporters like every other good journalist in this country and we wait until the facts are in. we do not believe that people should be tried by sound bite nor in the social media in which there is no accountability. this is a military matter. this is a matter for serious consideration and we believe all the facts should be gathered before we indulge in character assassination, very frankly. >> brad chase, you care to respond to that? >> and what do you propose as an alternative? the soldiers remain silent? >> you'd have to ask her that question.