Investor’s Business Daily has put together the facts to demonstrate that the release of Bowe Bergdahl from Taliban captivity was just a ruse to provide cover for President Obama to release the Taliban commanders, a goal he had long pursued.

Here is the timeline they provide:

January 2009: Obama signs executive order calling for Gitmo to be shuttered within a year, while his national security team considers if the five Taliban leaders are safe for release.

2011: White House and State Department officials open secret talks with the Taliban in Germany and the Persian Gulf to discuss their release from Gitmo as part of "peace talks."

Jan. 3, 2012: The Taliban announce they are prepared to open a political office in Qatar to conduct peace negotiations in exchange for the release of the Taliban commanders. ("The releases would be to reciprocate for Tuesday's announcement," according to "The Guardian.")

April 2012: Working with the White House, Karzai sends delegation of Afghan government officials to Gitmo to interview the Taliban prisoners and secure their oath to cut ties with al-Qaida.

("On the issue of the release of the Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo, we are fully in support of that," Karzai says during a July 9, 2012, visit to Japan. "If they wish to go to Qatar, we want them rejoined with their families.")

Those oaths are worthless, of course, and all this took place before Bergdahl was on the agenda.  As IBD writes, Obama faced resistance to his plan:

The original Taliban Five deal fell apart as Obama met stiff resistance from the U.S. intelligence community. And it proved too politically radioactive to sell to Congress. It was only after U.S. intelligence shot down his amnesty plan as too risky that Obama conjured up the Bergdahl swap.

Truth is, Obama used Bergdahl as a pretext for doing what he always sought to do — empty out Gitmo, national security be damned. The freed Taliban leaders were among the nearly 40 prisoners at Gitmo classified as "indefinite detainees" — too dangerous to release. To shutter the Cuban prison, Obama first had to whittle down that list, starting with the Taliban Five.

Cue the Rose Garden ceremony with creepy Papa Bergdahl and foxy Mama Bergdahl – great visuals to make the release of the dangerous captives look like a good thing, the return of a hero.

This makes Bowe Bergdahl into just another Styrofoam column, part of the illusions Obama has always depended on to sell himself and his policies.