Officials Say Disclosure of Prisoner Swap Could Have Endangered Bergdahl

BRUSSELS - President Obama, pushing back against criticism from across an ocean, strongly defended on Thursday his decision to trade five Taliban fighters to recover Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl regardless of whether the soldier had deserted his unit, framing the choice in terms of helping anxious parents recover a son.

'I write too many letters to folks who, unfortunately, don't see their children again after fighting a war,' Mr. Obama said at a news conference after an international summit meeting. 'I make absolutely no apologies for making sure we get back a young man to his parents.' He added that the American people should 'understand this is somebody's child and that we don't condition whether or not we make the effort to try to get them back.'

The defense was the second time during his four-day European trip that Mr. Obama had tried to diminish the dispute over the prisoner swap, this time delivered with more passion, which seemed to betray frustration with criticism over what he considered a clear choice. Although aides have said they anticipated attacks over releasing Taliban figures in exchange for Sergeant Bergdahl, they have been surprised by the intensity of the focus on whether the soldier merited the effort given the circumstances of his capture.

In private moments, White House officials have scorned critics of the deal for hypocrisy given that some of the detractors previously supported the concept of a prisoner trade and that questions about Sergeant Bergdahl's own behavior had long been known publicly. But they recognized that the criticism had gained momentum and so the president tried to refocus attention, not on the soldier but on his parents.

'I think it was important for people to understand this was not some abstraction,' Mr. Obama said, defending his Rose Garden statement with Sergeant Bergdahl's parents. 'This was not a political football. You had a couple of parents whose kid volunteered to fight in a distant land who they hadn't seen in five years and they weren't sure they would ever see again. And as commander in chief of the United States armed forces, I am responsible for those kids.'