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Obama’s ransom payment (2)


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obamas-ransom-payment-2.phpPower Line:

Scott Johnson

August 3, 2016

 

In the adjacent post Paul Mirengoff extracts the key points from the page-one Wall Street Journal story by Jay Solomon and Carol Lee reporting the Obama administration’s covert cash payment of $400 million to our enemies in Iran as they released four Americans they had detained. Omri Ceren has also emailed a useful summary of key points. Despite the repetition, I thought readers might find it of interest. Omri writes:

 

(1) It was indeed a ransom payment – negotiators originally established a formula of people for people: American nationals held by Iran for Iranian nationals held by America. But then the Iranians started demanding billions of dollars as well. Iranian officials later bragged they coerced the ransom out of U.S. diplomates

 

(Snip)

 

(2) The administration hid the details from Congress – Lawmakers have been pressing the administration for six months to provide more details about how and where the money went, among other things because Iran has been transferring money for military purposes. They’ve made little progress —

 

(Snip)

 

(3) The administration used cash to dodge the effects of sanctions against Iran – banks don’t want to touch Iran’s financial system because of years of sanctions for terrorism, money laundering, etc. The State Department and Treasury Department enlisted the Swiss and Dutch governments to route hard cash to Iran to circumvent those problems —

 

(4) Iran has taken more hostages since the deal and now is looking for another ransom – Tehran went back to arresting American hostages after releasing the last round, and are now seeking another billion dollar deal in the last six months of the administration —

 

(Snip)


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When Not Spouting About Presidential Qualifications, Obama Piles $400M Cash in Crates and Ships It to Tehran as Ransom
Andrew C. McCarthy
August 3, 2016

(Snip)

Obama has long taken the view that the federal law making it a felony to provide material support to terrorism does not apply to the enormous aid and comfort he has provided to our Iranian enemy, the world’s leading state sponsor of anti-American jihadist terror. He evidently had qualms, however, about laws denying Iran access to the U.S. financial system, which bar transactions with Iran in U.S. dollars. To skirt these, the State Department recruited the Swiss and Dutch governments into Obama’s conspiracy. The equivalent of 400 million in U.S. dollars was transferred to their central banks in exchange for hard currency. The piles of euros and francs were then boxed up and flown to Tehran.

 

Before Obama came to power, it was longstanding American policy neither to negotiate with nor pay ransoms to terrorists because it only encourages them to seize more hostages and press for more ransoms and concessions. As I pointed out back in 2009, Obama departed from this policy shortly after taking office – for the benefit of Iran, naturally. And this was long before he traded five Taliban commanders for Bowe Bergdahl, a deserter currently facing court-martial.

 

(Snip)

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Obama’s ransom payment (3)
Paul Mirengoff
August 3, 2016

The Obama administration’s denial that the $400 million cash payment to Iran — a payment that coincided to the day with the release of hostages — was a ransom would be hilarious, but for the fact that the money went to a regime whose motto is “death to America.”

 

To my knowledge, the administration does not dispute the fact that without the payment, the hostages wouldn’t have been released. That’s what the Iranians say, and they would know.

 

Nor is it possible to believe that without the release of the hostages, the Obama administration would have forked over such a large amount of money in cash and in such a bizarre manner, over the objections of the Department of Justice. Even Barack Obama is not that craven.

 

(Snip)

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Obama’s ransom payment (4)
Scott Johnson
8/4/16

The United States purchased $400 million of cash in European currencies from European central banks; the cash was purchased with American dollars. The United States then delivered the $400 million in cash to the Iranian regime in an unmarked cargo plane on the day that four Americans held by the Iranian regime were released. The transaction was kept secret from the American people. Among other things, the Obama administration sought to conceal the the obvious.

 

Jay Solomon and Carol Lee reported the transaction in a page-one Wall Street Journal story earlier this week. The Journal’s Devlin Barrett has now followed up with a story on the Department of Justice’s objections to the transaction.

 

Solomon and Lee explain the indirection in the cash payment: “The $400 million was paid in foreign currency because any transaction with Iran in U.S. dollars is illegal under U.S. law.” This is the kind of workaround that would land lesser mortals in prison.

 

Solomon and Lee somewhat cruelly note: “Since the cash shipment, the intelligence arm of the Revolutionary Guard has arrested two more Iranian-Americans. Tehran has also detained dual-nationals from France, Canada and the U.K. in recent months.”

 

(Snip)

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Obama’s ransom payment (5)
Paul Mirengoff
August 4, 2016

Team Obama keeps denying that it paid a ransom to Iran, so we’ll keep demonstrating that it did. Hey, it’s easy blogging.

The latest evidence comes from one of the hostages, who discloses that he and the others were kept in the airport overnight until the Iranians confirmed that the plane with Obama’s payment had arrived. Omri Ceren has emailed the details. He writes:

 

To resolve the [dispute over whether Obama paid a ransom], reporters have been trying to nail down the timing of two relevant flights: the plane with the hostages leaving Iran and the plane with the money arriving in Iran. If the hostages were held until the money arrived, it would strongly suggest the administration has been misleading reporters about the transfer being unrelated to the hostages.


(Snip)

But now we have it:

 

[O]n today’s FBN “Intelligence Report with Trish Regan,” Trish Regan interviewed Pastor Saeed Abedini, one of the hostages freed in the deal last January.

He locked down the sequence: the hostages’ plane was indeed held up until the Iranians confirmed that a second plane had arrived.

Originally the hostages were supposed to be taken from prison to their plane with minimal delays, but instead they were held in the airport overnight – despite the plane, pilot, and hostages being ready – and Abedini was told they’d never be allowed to leave if that second plane didn’t show up.

 

(Snip)

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Bowe Bergdahl’s last ditch push for a pardon from Obama
Jazz Shaw
December 3, 2016

Most of the pardon talk surrounding the White House of late centered on Hillary Clinton, but this one may turn out to be an even bigger turd in the proverbial punch bowl for Barack Obama. Accused deserter Bowe Bergdahl, who spent quite some time as a “guest” of the Taliban, would like the President to clear his record before leaving office. This comes as Bergdahl’s lawyers prepare for a court-martial hearing in April. (The Hill)

 

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was held captive for five years and freed in an exchange for five Taliban prisoners, has asked President Obama to pardon him before leaving the White House.

A source told Fox News that Bergdahl wrote a letter to Obama thanking him for rescuing him in 2014 and trading him for the Guantanamo Bay detainees.

White House and Justice Department officials also told the New York Times that Bergdahl submitted several copies of a clemency application that were sent to the Pentagon, the Justice Department and the White House immediately after the election.

 

(Snip)

 

I’m guessing that Obama would like to come off as the compassionate one here and shut this trial down before it gets started. And frankly, I don’t think the military would be all that upset about it either. Charging a guy who draws that many headlines as a deserter and locking him up will be a PR nightmare. Besides, the Obama team is great at the art of the spin if nothing else, so I’m guessing he’ll be leaning toward granting the request.

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