Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Donald Sterling Sues NBA For $1 Billion; Suicide Bomber Identified As American; Why Do Some Privileged Young Men Kill?; California Killings One Week Later; U.S. Army Sergeant Released By Taliban

Aired May 31, 2014 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I am Dana Bash in for Fredricka Whitfield. Here are the top stories we are following in the CNN NEWSROOM.

A new bombshell surrounding the sale of the NBA's L.A. Clippers. The team's co-owner Donald Sterling is suing the NBA for $1 billion. Sterling's lawsuit claims the NBA has no right to force sale of the Clippers, and terminating his ownership is unconstitutional and in breach of contract. This comes just as the debate over his mental state intensifies. His wife, Shelly, agreeing to sell the team for $2 billion to former Microsoft CEO Steven Ballmer.

I want to bring in our Alexandra Field in New York who has been following this story. Alexandra, $2 billion, wow.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, wow. It is a lot more than a lot of people thought that this team was going to go for. You have to look at the context here, Dana. Just a month ago, the Milwaukee Bucks were sold for $550 million and that was a record for the NBA. Now you have Steve Ballmer offering three and a half times what "Forbes" magazine thought the value of the Clippers were, about $575 million. Bid at $2 billion. What we know now is that a lot of other NBA owners will be looking at the value of their teams and probably re-evaluating.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD (voice-over): A $2 billion bid for a basketball team smashes records, but what's Steve Ballmer, the former Microsoft mogul getting for all of that money?

RICK HORROW, HORROW SPORTS VENTURES: The team better on the court today than the Los Angeles Lakers with a great lease at the Staples Center and new upside television deal that he is about to negotiate in Los Angeles.

FIELD: Future TV deals, both local and national, could bring in close to another 100 million a year by some estimates, which is a lot, but not the big picture.

MIKE OZANIAN, "FORBES" MAGAZINE: In the first few years, profits are going to be very minimal. This isn't something he's buying principally because he wants to make money. This is someone who is going to take 10 percent of their net worth and they're going to buy a sports team in L.A., which is going to give them a lot of prestige.

FIELD: For $2 billion, there's plenty of prestige, a way for the wealthy to diversify investments, and with a salary cap in place, NBA owners can be protected from dipping into their own pockets.

OZANIAN: Steve Ballmer knows if he runs the team somewhat prudently, he won't have to put capital into the team.

FIELD: In January, "Forbes'" list of NBA team values ranked the Clippers 13th, with an estimated worth of $575 million. Their potential sale price was estimated around $1 billion once Donald Sterling's racist rant was revealed.

HORROW: The NBA should trip over itself, get the documents done, approve this transaction, and move on to other business just as fast as humanly possible.

FIELD: The $2 billion price tag could help send the values of some of the league's most valuable franchises soaring.

OZAMIAN: I don't think you'll be able to buy a big market NBA team for less than $3 billion.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: For right now, $2 billion is a blockbuster number for the NBA. Yet it isn't a record in U.S. sports history. The L.A. Dodgers sold in 2012 for $2.1 billion. For this sale to go through with the Clippers, other NBA owners still need to vote to approve the sale, but you can bet they'll see some incentive in that number as it can only help raise the value of their teams.

BASH: Cha-ching comes to mind. Thank you so much, Alexandra Field.

Now moving on to a war torn country and a terrifying new development. We've learned that a suicide bomber in Syria has been identified as a U.S. citizen, the first American suicide bomber in Syria. Mohammed Jamjoom is following the story in Washington. Mohammad, what have we learned about this man?

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dana, State Department officials believe that his name is Moner Mohammad Abusalha. That he grew up in Florida, but he went to school there. They're not divulging when he may have returned to Syria. His pseudonym is Abu Horara "The American." While U.S. officials are really worried about this disturbing development, what they're more worried about are the American fighters that may be in Syria now that could possibly return to the U.S. and plot attacks thereafter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMJOOM (voice-over): This deadly explosion, thousands of miles away is now being blamed on this man, an American citizen. State Department officials believed his name is Moner Mohammad Abusalha. CNN has learned the man known by the pseudonym, Abu Horara, grew up and went to school in Florida. Officials won't say when he went to Syria or why.

But they believe he is responsible for packing 17 tons of explosives into a vehicle and blowing it up, becoming the first American suicide bomber in Syria. Experts say he may not be the only American training for such a deadly attack.

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: You go there, you meet a lot of very hard core al Qaeda types if you're associated with these groups, they indoctrinate you further. Based on previous examples, particularly the Afghan war against the soviets, and bombing the World Trade Center in 1993 and other veterans planned 9/11 attacks, people are very concerned. They have reason to be.

JAMJOOM: Analysts say at least 100 Americans have flooded to Syria since the start of the civil war. U.S. officials fear many more may be joining a bloody battle, getting expert training on how to plot attacks once back in the U.S.

ANDREW MCCABE, FBI: Syria remains a significant destination for our home grown violent extremist population.

JAMJOOM: Even more frightening, sources say, it is a group that's becoming increasingly difficult to track.

MCCABE: There isn't a single easily identifiable community from which are Syria travelers all spring from. They are a very diverse group. They are of both genders. When you put them all together, they look like America.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JAMJOOM: Dana, another reason U.S. officials are so concerned, they're saying that there are networks of recruiters that are trying to ensure that Americans get to Syria, fight alongside al Qaeda. They want to try to shut those networks down. They're very concerned about this because if there are American Jihadis that are there, they're learning from seasoned terrorist al Qaeda types, and they worry about them coming back to the U.S. and plotting attacks on the homeland from here -- Dana.

BASH: Mohammed Jamjoom, very frightening, thank you very much for that report.

And the search is on for a leader to replace Eric Shinseki at the VA. His final speech as secretary of Veteran's Affairs on Friday, he said that he was shocked at the widespread, quote, "lack of integrity inside his department."

The department has been accused of secret or doctored waiting lists, harassment and bullying to cover up long waiting times and simply ignoring hundreds and hundreds of veterans whose names never got into the appointment systems. So who is going to fix it all? Let's talk to Erin McPike who is following this story. Erin, I know it is early, and I know it's very hard to crack the code inside that building behind you. What are you hearing at this point about who is going to replace Eric Shinseki at the VA?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dana, a White House official told us just yesterday that there is no short list, and that of course is part of why the transition moving away from Shinseki took so long. The question is, is a veteran a good idea who understands the plight of other veterans or maybe a health care executive because health care is such an important part of the VA.

We did get a statement yesterday from the group, The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and they, of course, would like to see a veteran of one of those wars put in place. Of courses, there's such an influx of those veterans in the system now so that's what they would like to see.

But any names that we're hearing right now are mere speculation. We want to underscore that point because I saw one list this morning naming General Stanley McChrystal, but I think it is doubtful that we would see one ousted four star general replace another ousted four star general, that by the way, President Obama himself got rid of.

The other point I would make though is in the president's remarks yesterday. He was clearly pointing to wanting a managerial fix it type to come in and fix the problems that there now are in the VA and have been going on for so long.

And one last point I would make, Dana, over the last couple weeks we have been hearing from a number of people about this idea that generals are used to taking orders and having people follow orders, carrying out missions, and it might not be necessarily a good fit for bureaucracy.

BASH: Erin, thank you very much. Appreciate it. This is not an easy task. There's no question about that.

Now you're going to want to be with us tomorrow morning because on CNN "STATE OF THE UNION" with Candy Crowley, national security adviser, Susan Rice, will return to the show. She was heavily criticized in 2012, then she was U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and she said that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was due to an anti-Muslim video.

That's the issue that sparked all of the controversy, the political divide over what exactly happened inside the White House, who knew what, when. So Susan Rice on CNN "STATE OF THE UNION" tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m., noon Eastern.

And a decorated and retired four star general is exiting the VA as we just talked about. His temporary replacement is now in charge, but will that help? Wounded warriors needing care at America's VA hospitals. We will talk to a disabled veteran. That's up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BASH: How to fix the VA system will be job number one for the interim secretary of Veteran's Affairs. Retired four star Army General Eric Shinseki resigned as secretary after pressure kept building over scathing allegations that hundreds of veterans in Phoenix and elsewhere were receiving proper care. Some having to wait more than 100 days to see a doctor. At least 100 members of Congress had called for his resignation and several veterans groups as well, but not all of them.

Joining me now is Joe Violante. He is a retired Marine Corps sergeant, national legislative director for Disabled American Veterans. Now thank you for joining us. Appreciate it. He resigned. You obviously did not think that's the problem to begin with. Why is that?

SGT. JOE VIOLANTE (RETIRED), LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR, DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS: Well, Secretary Shinseki has done quite a bit during his time at VA. He's made some drastic changes that were necessary. He's improved the claims processing, reduced the backlog. He is reducing the number of homeless veterans on the street. He's made it easier access for women veterans to get into the VA. There are many things that he has done and we felt confident in his ability to turn this situation around.

BASH: As you well know, because you're legislative director, you know how Washington works. Sometimes you just cannot fight a tsunami against you politically, but this is an issue where problems date back very far, back to 2003, even earlier than that. You don't think he should be forced out. Do you think he was a scapegoat?

VIOLANTE: You know, it is unfortunate. I think it became a political issue, and he was the lightning rod that was attracting all of this attention. I'm not sure if he had any other choice or the president had a choice. Unfortunately, I think we need to move forward. We need to find someone to fill that gap quickly and someone who has unfettered access to the president, who is able to avoid the encounters at Office of Management and Budget so that we can get a realistic VA budget.

BASH: Is that the problem, is it the budget or is it the fact that as you said, it is not necessarily the top, it is everybody in the middle who have been given financial incentives to cook the books, have really just done a disservice to veterans because of the pressures that are on them about the way that the system works.

VIOLANTE: The budget is part of it. I think as you said, it goes back to, you know, 2003 when the presidential commission at that time found a mismatch between the demand and the budget. They also found a waitlist, 236,000 veterans waiting six months or more. There are other problems that need to be addressed and Congress needs to provide oversight to ensure that the money is being properly spent.

BASH: Well, that certainly not going to be an easy task to say the least. Joe Violante in Washington. Thank you very much for coming in and giving us that perspective.

VIOLANTE: Thank you.

BASH: They're still trying to make sense out of last week's killing spree in California, but it is also part of a growing trend of privileged men becoming killers or is it? Some people are talking about it. That's up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: It has been one week since the shooting and stabbing spree killed six people in California. There are so many questions about the killer and growing pattern of mass shootings. Angry white males at the trigger. Ted Rowlands has the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELLIOT RODGER: I will destroy you.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The 22-year-old Santa Barbara shooter, Elliot Rodger, joins a disturbing group of young male rampage killers that have a lot in common. Sandy Hook killer Adam Lanza, James Holmes, the Aurora movie shooter, the Columbine killers, and Jared Laufner from the Tucson massacre who were all in their late teens to mid-20s at the time of the shootings, all of them grew up in relatively stable environments, except the Columbine shooters all attended at least some college and all of them had mental health issues.

JAMES GARBARINO, AUTHOR, "LOST BOYS, WHY OUR SONS TURN VIOLENT": They come from a world where they're cared for, nurtured. They have resources. They're protected.

ROWLANDS: Ph.D. Psychologist James Garbarino has spent more than 20 years studying and writing about murderers. He's written several books including "Lost Boys, Why Our Sons Turn Violent." While Rodgers, half Asian, Garbarino believes one of the reasons the vast majority of rampage killers in the U.S. are young white men is because their mental illness is mixed with an inflated ego.

GARBARINO: The environment that they're in and the narcissism that they experience, all of that predisposes them to take on these vendettas against their perceived enemies.

RODGER: I don't know what you don't see in me. I'm the perfect guy.

GARBARINO: The same condition in a kid that's living in a poor neighborhood, living with gangs, living with abuse, living with poverty and deprivation, they will do some crazy things, but aimed as an individual, not abstractly at society in general.

ROWLANDS: Garbarino also believes that young white men suffering from mental illness are kept afloat longer because of a more supportive environment, which allows their delusional anger and frustration to grow, which seems to be true with Elliot Rodger, according to a family friend, Simon Astaire.

SIMON ASTAIRE, RODGERS FAMILY FRIEND: He had been fooling them for many years. The shame is in the end, no one could rescue what happened on Friday night and what these boys who go out to kill don't understand is that when they murder one, they murder many because they don't just kill the people that lie dead on the streets or in apartments or galleries or in cinemas, they kill thousands and thousands of others who are connected to those.

ROWLAND: Sadly, Garbarino believes there are more of these young men out there, and until something is done to prevent people struggling with mental illness from obtaining guns, we should all expect that these rampages will continue. Ted Rowlands, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: Just ahead, our legal guys will look at Donald Sterling and his case against the NBA. Can he keep his team? And CNN's special summer series, "The Sixties," continues this week. We will look at the beginning of the cold war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Early on in the '60s, you have this backdrop of tension, you have capitalism versus communism, and there was palpable fear in the United States and in the Soviet Union that the two sides were going to get into a nuclear war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The temper of the world is crisis. Architect of the crisis, Cruise Chef.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was very ideological. He believed the future belonged to communism. He said America needs to be contained and the only way to do it is to create crises all around the American empire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: You can watch that entire episode, "The World On The Brink," Thursday night at 9:00 here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: There may be many unanswered questions about last week's killing spree in California, but the pictures of the events that day are becoming clear. Stephanie Elam shows us what she's learned.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a holiday weekend in Isla Vista and Katherine Cooper and Veronica Weiss are about to leave the sorority to walk uptown.

RODGER: I can't have you girls, I will destroy you.

ELAM: Some ten blocks away, at 9:17 p.m., 22-year-old, Elliot Rodger, is posting this 7-minute video on YouTube. It is the final warning of a sinister plan to get revenge on women for a lifetime of rejection.

RODGER: I am going to enter the hottest sorority house of UCSB and I will slaughter every single spoiled stuck up blonde -- I see inside there.

ELAM: This is the chosen sorority, Alpha Phi, as Rodger bangs on the front door, his parents are headed to Isla Vista in a frantic search to stop the bloodshed. By now, they've seen the YouTube and 137-page diatribe, e-mailed by their son. At the sorority, no one opens the door for him. At 9:27, he turns to a group of women including Katherine Cooper and Veronica Weiss, by now walking toward town. Rodger opens fire, killing them both. A third woman is critically injured.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a young girl laying right here and I could tell immediately she was gone.

ELAM: Kyle Sullivan rushes to the girls' side and flags down a nearby officer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then I asked the police officer if we were safe staying here, just because of, you know, that there was a person driving around shooting people, and he said yes, that we were OK, but then literally 20 seconds after that, we heard the next shots.

ELAM: Just blocks away, Rodger is opening fire on the Ivy Delimart from his car. Surveillance video captures the chaos as customers dive for safety. The 20-year-old Christopher Martinez is hit becoming the third known victim of the rampage. And it is still not over. Rodger is firing randomly at people all over Isla Vista and turns his black BMW into a weapon, swerving to hit pedestrians like Nick Pasichov (ph), one of 13 people injured in the mayhem.

A gun battle with police ends here with a bullet in Rodger's head. After an eight minute rampage, Rodger's final shot takes his own life. At 10:11 p.m., Rodger's therapist alerts police to the e-mail diatribe for the first time.

When they arrive at Rodger's apartment, they find the bodies of roommates, George Chen and Chen Yuan Hong and a visitor, Weihan Wang. All three were stabbed to death. Within hours, the community starts to pull together, and within days, the victims' families begin to speak out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Try to be nice to everybody. I don't understand why this happened to me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She would have tried to help him and she would have tried to be friends to him.

ELAM: But as the father of Christopher Martinez who takes aim as gun control.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My kid died because nobody responded to what occurred at Sandy Hook.

ELAM: One of three stores where Rodger made legal gun buys goes on the defensive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about the guy that sold knives or swords, what about the guy that sold him the car he was in driving around, hitting people. Do they feel that?

ELAM: For their part, Rodger's family speaks out through a family friend.

ASTAIRE: The feeling of knowing it is our son's actions that caused the tragedy can only be described as hell upon earth.

ELAM: But in Isla Vista, one week later, the focus remains on the victims. Six innocent lives lost, 13 changed forever. As one parent said, quote, "Let hatred be gone with the wind." Stephanie Elam, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: L.A. Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, putting up a $1 billion fight against the NBA. He claims the league has no right to force sale of the Clippers. Are his claims baseless? Our legal guys weigh in

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Breaking news. We learned U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl who has been in captivity in Afghanistan for about five years, almost five years, was released by the Taliban. The president in an official statement just sent it out from the White House. Some good news for the president certainly to get out there on an issue that has been absolutely horrifying.

Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, joins me now on the phone. Barbara, I'm reading through the statement that the president put out. I notice that he said that he was recovered. What does that tell you about how this actually took place?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Dana, we are awaiting at this hour the details from the Pentagon, from the White House, but I have spoken to a senior administration official who says at this point what this official can tell us is it was a transfer. That is his word. He cannot say at this point whether the U.S. returned or Afghanistan returned any Taliban prisoners, any detainees perhaps at Guantanamo Bay back to the Taliban.

No one is saying that at this point to be clear, but this official telling me Bowe Bergdahl is out, his family has now been notified that this young man is in U.S. hands and that the operation is being called a transfer. In the statement from the White House we see the president acknowledging his, quote, "deepest appreciation to the emir of Qatar."

The emir and the Qatari government have long been involved behind the scenes negotiating with the Taliban, talking to them, seeing if there is any way they can facilitate some transfer. I just got an additional information as I am talking to you. His family was informed a few hours ago by President Obama that Sgt. Bergdahl is out and under the care of the U.S. military, after being handed over by his captors we are told in Afghanistan. Of course, we have long believed he was held in Pakistan so this is an indication somehow he was transferred from Pakistan into Afghanistan, and then turned over to the U.S. military. The official information we are getting as I am talking to you is that Sgt. Bergdahl will, quote, "be given all the support he needs to help him recover."

In addition, as I am reading to be very clear with everyone, we are getting additional information right now. A statement will be coming from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel shortly that five detainees from Guantanamo Bay have been transferred to Qatar. Of course, the president publicly acknowledging Qatar's involvement in this, a small Persian Gulf nation that's been working this issue for some time.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel will say that this transfer has happened and that the United States will be closely coordinating with Qatar to ensure that the detainees from Guantanamo Bay are held in secure conditions and overseen by the government of Qatar. So this has been in the works for some time. This was the general construct that everybody had been looking for to send the five detainees back and to get Bergdahl out. It now looks like that's exactly what has happened -- Dana.

BASH: Well, Barbara, first of all, I know what it's like to get news as you are talking on air and that was pretty masterful giving us that information that effectively this was a prisoner swap.

STARR: That's what it looks like, as I am reading my Blackberry on the air with all of you, a very senior official is telling me this statement about this transfer of Guantanamo detainees is about to come from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel very, very soon.

BASH: Just to remind our viewers what we are talking about, Bowe Bergdahl was -- has been held for almost five years since 2009, believed held captive by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Barbara, I want to ask about the timing here. You know these issues better than anybody, given the fact that last week the president made a big announcement with regard to Afghanistan and U.S. presence there. Do you think there may be any connection knowing the way things work behind the scenes in the Pentagon walls and the White House walls?

STARR: Sure, Dana. I think what's happening is as it becoming clear to the world that the U.S. presence is winding down in Afghanistan very rapidly now, the fate of Bowe Bergdahl was on the mind of the military that now reaching crisis stages. If they were going to leave Afghanistan in the coming months, they certainly didn't want to leave him behind.

With no U.S. troops there, there was very little way to get him out. I think they resolved that. The pressure the military felt to get this resolved certainly had been growing. I think one of the interesting things now is what will happen to him. The military has to decide how to process him. What do they want to do with him now?

We talked to a number of officials about this over the months. They behind the scenes, it is a very delicate matter. The accounts are that five years ago almost he basically walked out of his base in Eastern Afghanistan, was kidnapped, but he walked away. We do not know his exact side of the story, of course.

The question is if this young soldier for some reason left his base unauthorized, walked away from his duty station, would he face discipline after everything he has been through. I have to tell you behind the scenes, a number of senior military officials have said for the last several months they don't want to put this young man through it.

Their view is get him back to his family, get him help, get him recovery, discharge him from the army, and let him try and reconstruct his life. This will be an issue perhaps that President Obama may have to decide for himself as commander in chief, what happens to Bowe Bergdahl now. The word we are getting is right now he is in U.S. hands. They're trying to get him all the medical help he could possibly need, and that of course is exactly the right thing.

BASH: Of course, the first priority. No question. Barbara, stand by for a second. We have Erin McPike at the White House where this formal, official statement came out in the name of the president. Erin, what are you hearing beyond the statement about what White House officials say about how this happened?

MCPIKE: Dana, we're not getting much beyond the statement at this point. There was some talk there would be a briefing. At this point there doesn't look like there might be. That could obviously change. You were talking to Barbara that the president expressed his appreciation for Qatar. He also did the same for Afghanistan, as you know. President Obama went to Afghanistan, made a surprise visit for Memorial Day weekend.

He sort of eludes to that in the statement. He also says the United States remains committed to supporting an Afghan led reconciliation process as the surest way to achieve a stable, secure, sovereign, unified Afghanistan. While we are mindful of the challenges, it is our hope Sergeant Bergdahl's recovery could potentially open the door for broader discussion about the future of their country by building confidence that it is possible for all sides to find common ground. Once we get more from the white house, we will obviously bring that to you.

BASH: Absolutely, Erin, thank you so much. Want to go back to Barbara, still on the phone with us. Barbara, you know, we certainly think about and heard a lot about the fact that this man was in captivity almost five years, but people might not know how common this is, how uncommon this is in today's day and age, in today's war zones --

STARR: This for five years has been an extraordinary event, Dana. It doesn't happen and that's I think why the military is going to be so anxious when he is able to talk about what happened to him, to hear right from Bowe Bergdahl what happened. Military people in war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, frankly they're never really on their own. They're always with a battle buddy, in a convoy, with other vehicles, with other troops.

They don't go outside the wire in places like Eastern Afghanistan, which are full of Taliban. There's been a lot of stories over the years, and they are at this point just stories about why and how Bowe Bergdahl came to leave his camp that day, and how he got taken.

And until we now almost five years later hear from him, none of us really know. There has been just heart breaking videos, a couple in the last couple years, where the Taliban have, you know, allowed him to speak to cameras, somewhat as proof of life for the United States, and for his parents, of course, and we'll get some of that videotape out to our viewers, I'm sure, so they can be reminded of the circumstances he was in, and he was -- it would just break your heart.

He would look into the camera, and beg people basically to help him, to come get him. His father, the family is from Idaho, his parents live there to this day, his father just reminding people in social media, public appearances, any way and shape he could to please not forget his son, even this Memorial Day a couple days ago, there were people out and about reminding people that Bowe Bergdahl was out there.

Whatever circumstances led this young man to leave his camp, whatever circumstances happened that night back five years ago in Eastern Afghanistan, this young soldier, you know, truly has been through hell in the captivity of the Taliban. Now he is free. We are trying to determine where they will take him next, will he be brought back to the United States directly, are his parents on the way to meet him, we don't know that.

One of the places that of course we have seen so many troops go over the years is to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. This is a military medical center that has treated thousands of wounded coming out of the war zone, but they also have a highly specialized expertise there in essentially hostage trauma, helping people who have been taken hostage over the years for political and military reasons, reintegrating them into society.

I suspect, I do not know, but I suspect he will be -- his first stop will be Landstuhl for a complete medical check, to debrief him when he is able to talk. We see families join their young troops there.

BASH: And the human aspect of this is something you can't even wrap your mind around. I want to go back to something you reported to underscore for our viewers about how we believe this happened based on what you're hearing from your sources, which is that you said that five detainees are being transferred out of Guantanamo, and about sort of the politics of that, and reading between the lines and what that might mean for how this whole thing went down.

STARR: Well, the president is going to have his hands full and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, discussing all of this with Congress, because this transfer of five detainees had been an idea on the table for some time. It had gone back and forth, the talks had broken down. Sources were denying there were even talks to begin with.

But make no mistake, the mission of releasing five detainees from Guantanamo Bay has been very much on the table. It was going to require the Taliban making promises that the U.S. was not sure the Taliban really meant. But there's been a lot of -- you're right, Dana, there's been a lot of opposition to the whole idea from Congress, there are many in Congress that thought this is a dangerous line to cross.

That you can't release in their view detainees at Guantanamo Bay, that you're entering into negotiation with the Taliban. It's a proposal, an idea that's been under a lot, lot of criticism.

BASH: No question. It is a slippery slope, they argue.

STARR: The president has his hands full with Democrats and Republicans, but clearly the White House made a calculation with the war winding down, with U.S. troops coming out of Afghanistan, with no other way to get him that this was their best option to get the young American soldier back home.

BASH: Absolutely. As we say, there's going to be a lot of debate whether this is a slippery slope, negotiating with terrorists, about terrorists for release of hostages. Stand by for a minute, if you will, Barbara.

I want to bring in our national security analyst, Peter Bergen who understands the Taliban, has been there, met and interviewed Osama Bin Laden. Peter, what is your perspective on what this means that this army sergeant was released from captivity, after almost five years, and the circumstances around it.

BERGEN (via telephone): Dana, it has been a long time coming, and good news for the Bergdahl family and the U.S. Army to have the only American POW get finally released. On the issue of negotiating with terrorists, the fact is the Israelis will release several hundred Palestinian militants or terrorists in exchange for one Israeli soldier.

It is not like the United States is alone making some exceptions for people who are serving in the military. There are other Americans who are not soldiers, there's a guy called Weinstein taken by al Qaeda in Pakistan a few years back, and he is now in his early 70s. We have seen a video from him.

It is hard to think the U.S. would engage in some kind of negotiation, unfortunately, to get him out of captivity, but this negotiation has been on the table as Barbara pointed out for a long time, the kind of terms of the negotiation have been well known. Basically relatively senior Taliban leaders in Guantanamo to be released for Bowe Bergdahl and that has happened.

The negotiations had its ups and downs, but finally it has happened and it has been done through the Qatari government. There's a Taliban presence in Qatar. There was a formal Taliban office there for some period of time, which was closed down because of pressure from the Afghan government, but they continue to have a Taliban kind of presence in Qatar for these kinds of negotiations. And finally this has happened. BASH: And again, knowing the region, knowing these issues, knowing the relationship or lack thereof, what do you make of the fact he was held for nearly five years and he was the only one who was held, and what the goal was beyond the obvious?

BERGEN: Well, the goal, what happened which made it more complicated for all concerned, Dana, not only was he captured by the Taliban, he was captured and held by a network, which isn't based in Afghanistan, it is based on the border in Pakistan, has a presence in Eastern Afghanistan, and this is by far the most militant and arguably successful part of the Taliban.

It's launched major terror attacks in Kabul on restaurants, Indian embassy. It has been by far the most effective fighting force fighting the U.S. military, and of course this is why, you know, this deal is particularly controversial potentially in U.S. military circles because the Hakani network is not just the Taliban, but the most virulent Taliban network.

This was not easy negotiation. My guess is, informed guess, not just a guess, the five leaders released from Guantanamo, there will be some condition about where they're released and how they're released to. I'm fairly certain perhaps going to Qatar, an oil rich state in the gulf, where they will be under some form of surveillance by the Qatari authorities. I would find it hard to believe they can go back to Pakistan or Afghanistan. There will certainly be conditionality I would think.

BASH: Certainly I would think so as well. Peter, thank you very much for your insight. We are covering breaking news of the remarkable news of the release of a soldier held captive by the Taliban for nearly five years in announcement made by the president himself from the White House about this release. More after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)