'Most transparent administration evah' stonewalls Congress on Iran
Adam Kredo reports on the Obama administration's efforts to stonewall Congressional investigations into Obama's
$1.7 billion cash payment to Iran.
As leading members of Congress petition the Obama administration for
answers about what many describe as a $1.7 billion “ransom” payment to
Iran, Obama administration officials are doubling down on their refusal
to answer questions about the secret negotiations with Iran that led to
this payment.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), a vocal opponent of last year’s nuclear
deal with Iran, has been seeking answers from senior Obama
administration officials since at least late September. However,
officials continue to stonewall the senator’s inquiries, according to
senior congressional sources and formal communications between Rubio and
the State Department obtained by the Free Beacon.
Rubio and several other lawmakers have petitioned the Obama
administration for documents and information about the secret
negotiations that resulted in Tehran receiving $1.7 billion in cash and a
promise from the United States to further roll back sanctions on an
Iranian financial institution that helped finance the country’s illicit
ballistic missile program.
...
Rubio submitted a list of questions about the deal to Deputy
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sept. 29 during a hearing aimed at
examining these payments to Iran.
Blinken finally provided answers to these questions last week, but
declined to address all specific questions Rubio posed about the secret
negotiations over the $1.7 billion payment.
While the Obama administration has maintained for months that the payment was not part of a ransom package, the Free Beacon
and other publications have disclosed in recent weeks that the United
States did engage in secret diplomacy with Iran on a range of issues,
including the release of American hostages and the $1.7 billion payment.
These issues were addressed in three separate agreements that were
only finalized once the United States agreed to provide Tehran with the
$1.7 billion payment. Secret documents stored on Capitol Hill and
treated in a classified manner show that each of the agreements hinged
on the cash payment, the Free Beacon first disclosed in October.
Rubio and other lawmakers have also sought answers from Attorney
General Loretta Lynch, who would have played a role in signing off on
the agreements. Lynch has declined to answer questions, prompting Rubio
and Rep. Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.), the incoming CIA director, to accuse
her of “pleading the fifth” before Congress.
The White House has not responded to similar questions submitted by Rubio on Sept. 10,
and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has not answered a series of queries
posed on Oct. 25, according to sources who accused the administration of
intentionally dodging congressional oversight.
Rubio asked Blinken to provide information on any U.S. official who
signed off on the secret deals, and to specify if the agreements were
part of the formal nuclear agreement or were inked separately. He also
asked whether the deals were tied to the release of U.S. hostages.
Rubio hopes to obtain the name of the Iranian official or officials
who signed these documents. Sources familiar with the deals and secret
documents stored on Capitol Hill told the Free Beacon it is likely the United States inked these deals with a representative of Iran’s intelligence apparatus.
Blinken did not provide firm answers to any of these questions, according to a copy of his formal communication to Rubio viewed by the Free Beacon.
He maintained that the cash payment was part of a decades-old legal
dispute with Tehran before the international claims tribunal at the
Hague.
The saddest part of all this is that most of the damage Obama has caused to American interests cannot be undone, and Obama, Kerry, Wendy Sherman Valerie Jarrett, Loretta Lynch and all the rest of this treasonous crew are unlikely to ever face prosecution for it.
A Presidency that will live in infamy. #ObamaLegacy
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Iran Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran sanctions regime, Iranian nuclear threat, John Kerry, Loretta Lynch, ransom, Valerie Jarrett, Wendy Sherman
Obama on San Bernadino: “This is just as much an Israel problem as it is a gun problem! Nobody wants to say it, but it’s true!”
President Hussein Obama didn't want to give that prime time address from the oval office on Sunday night. Valerie Jarrett made him do it. And he has as much
visceral hate for the Jewish state of Israel as did terrorist Syed Farook, who was said to be "negatively obsessed with Israel."
[W]hen the L.A. FBI office went public with calling San Bernardino a
terrorist attack, both Barack Obama and Valerie Jarrett went into
“warpath mode.”
Jarrett’s displeasure was apparently first to make itself known. She
was outraged the FBI had done so without first getting prior approval
from her. Jarrett was said to be particularly concerned with the
proximity of the FBI’s terror designation and the president’s quick
words on calling for more gun control measures soon after the actual San
Bernardino terror attack.
...
The focus of the White House’s ire soon became FBI Director, James Comey.
...
At one point, the president is said to have flung several papers onto
the floor of the Oval Office as he sat behind his desk stewing over
Director’s Comey’s now-infamous terrorist attack remarks.
“This was supposed to be a gun issue for us, not some anti-Islamic bullsh*t!”
Jarrett then dispatched an order for Director Comey to meet in person
with the President. It was at that meeting the already existing
fracture between Comey and the White House on such issues as the Black
Lives Matter/anti-law enforcement movement, which Director Comey already
spoke out against, was said to have worsened considerably following the
San Bernardino attacks. Comey is alleged to have refused to fully
capitulate with the White House’s demands he lessen the “terrorist
attack” rhetoric.
When Director Comey went ahead with a planned press conference on the
issue, Jarrett sent Attorney General Loretta Lynch there to oversee the
Director’s statements on the San Bernardino attack. Included in that
press conference was a moment the Mainstream Media then attempted to
hide as Jarrett operatives terminated the Director’s public comments
when he moved away from his Jarrett-approved script via an attempt to
open the press conference to questions from the media.
...
Ultimately it was Valerie Jarrett who apparently informed the
President he would be giving a primetime address on Sunday evening. This
decision was based almost exclusively on fears the White House was
quickly losing control of the narrative, and was in fact suggested by a
handful of trusted Mainstream Media figures devoted to the Obama White
House’s well-being.
A small battle was waged by several White House advisers and
consultants regarding both the tone and content of the President’s
Sunday evening commentary. In the end, as usual, Jarrett’s opinion is
said to have won out. There would be brief mention of terrorism, ISIL,
and the President’s ongoing efforts to keep Americans safe. Then the
speech would focus almost entirely on the need for gun control and a
caution to Americans not to engage in anti-Muslim rhetoric or action. (a
warning that had been outlined earlier by Attorney General Lynch who
called anti-Muslim sentiment her “greatest fear”)
Mr. Obama was willing to swallow the bitter pill of admitting a
terrorist attack had taken place inside of the United States, but only
after Valerie Jarret had the call for gun control and pro-Islamic
rhetoric be made the more dominant part of the relatively brief
primetime address.
During the intense back and forth among speech writers and Jarrett,
was a moment where Barack Obama is said to have pointed defiantly at
Jarrett and declared, “This is just as much an Israel problem as it is a gun problem! Nobody wants to say it, but it’s true!”
Obama made the Israel comment before the interview with Farook's father - in which he said that his son was
negatively obsessed with Israel - was published in the Italian newspaper
La Stampa. Obama apparently knew about it already.
Obama too is negatively obsessed with Israel. Anyone who does not believe that Obama is a Jew hater is fooling himself.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: anti-Israel obsession, Barack Hussein Obama, Islamic terrorism, Muslim Jew hatred, Valerie Jarrett
The greatest political poker game ever
Here's a guest post from
Akiva M.
In
July of 1978 my family wandered the Arab market of the old city of
Jerusalem. Anyone who recalls the ‘shuk’ in those years will remember a
bustling market with the welcoming gestures from every store, the
rainbow of colors of the dresses and clothes, the smell of spices and
fresh baked rolls, along with the occasional mule carrying a cart of
merchandise along the paths. It was here that I got my first lesson in
negotiation. My father asked a store owner about a Turkish coffee set.
I’m not sure that he really wanted to buy it, but, he had unknowingly
started a negotiation. The price was 200 Lira ( ~33$ USD) .. My mother
pulled on his shirt, “ come on let’s go." She didn’t really want a
Turkish coffee set, and she was more interested in going on to our next
stop. As she pulled his sleeve and nudged him away, the price started
dropping; 150 Lira, 100 Lira, She kept on pulling, “let’s go." The
harder she pulled, the lower the price, 80 Lira, 65 Lira.. Much to my
mother’s dismay, my father eventually bought the coffee set. To the best
of my recollection it survived for over 20 years and never had a drop
of coffee in it. But he spent only 30 Lira on it. The lesson I learned
from this is if you want to successfully negotiate, you need a strong
person on your side pulling you away.
While dozens of
world leaders fully comprehend the implications of Weapons of Mass
destruction in the hands of a radical Islamic regime, almost none are
willing to say so out loud. Anyone paying attention to Saudi Arabia and
Egypt’s reaction during Operation Protective Edge last July can get a
clear picture of where they stand on Iranian and radical Islamic
influence. No sane world leader wants a nuclear Iran. Which brings us to
the current negotiations between Iran and the US led committee on
lifting of sanctions on Iran in return for dismantling their nuclear
program. Obama clearly wants to have the political ‘win’ of an
agreement with Iran, and the Iranians clearly want to have the sanctions
lifted; the question is what agreement can they reach which really
serves the interest of the world. Will it be an agreement with little
substance that wins in the headlines “bringing peace in our time” or
will it truly set Iran’s clock back five years and ensure a mechanism to
track their program going forward.
As the leader of the
free world Obama wants an agreement of substance, but unfortunately the
Iranian’s offers don’t provide this depth. They know he needs a ‘win’ in
foreign policy and that he will most likely accept their offer, even if
it’s not substantial enough. And then comes Benjamin Netanyahu, openly
criticizing the agreement taking shape. The same Netanyahu who, contrary
to every other world leader who stayed silent on this issue, has used
every possible international stage to raise the awareness of a the
dangers of a nuclear Iran. Netanyahu is openly criticizing the US
President, telling him “Come on, let’s go”. And every time the issue is
raised again, I can picture the disappointed looks of the American
negotiators who tell their Iranian counterparts, “We'd love to make this
deal, but it just won’t wash with our congress – so you’re just going
to have to try harder." They can honestly say, the President has done
everything he can to silence the Israeli Prime Minister, but now it’s
the Iranian’s turn to add some concessions. While outwardly appearing
disappointed, in secret Obama and his team, along with many other world
leaders are most likely thanking Netanyahu for sticking his neck out and
having their backs as they trudge through these negotiations.
I happen to know Akiva's parents. That story is completely believable.
But is it the case that Obama and his team are thanking Netanyahu in private for sticking his neck out? My guess is that the sane people on Obama's team are thankful that Netanyahu has courage that Obama is lacking, but that Obama himself and a few true believers (like Valerie Jarrett) really wish Netanyahu would stay home.
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Iran sanctions regime, Iranian nuclear threat, joint session of Congress, Valerie Jarrett
Why Netanyahu didn't go to South Africa
Prime Minister Netanyahu is being criticized here in Israel for saying it was
too expensive for him to fly to South Africa for Nelson Mandela's funeral. The number I heard bandied about was $7 million, and that iss a lot of money.
On Israel Radio this morning, they interviewed a former Israeli ambassador to South Africa, who said that while protocol would call for Netanyahu to go, the reality is that support for the 'Palestinians' is a domestic - rather than foreign - policy issue in South Africa, that there is no hope of it changing, and that if Netanyahu showed up, he would be be treated to all the proper protocol by a country that is just going through the motions.
Compare that with
King Hussein. Obama that is.
President Barack Obama’s expected 10-minute speech at Nelson
Mandela’s memorial will cost taxpayers at least $500,000 per minute.
That’s not counting any cakes and coffee he and his inner circle
consume aboard Air Force One during the 18,000-mile round trip to
Johannesburg, via Dakar, in Senegal.
The 28-hour two-way flight will cost $5 million because the
four-engined Boeing 747 costs roughly $180,000 an hour to operate,
according to a May 2012 report by the Congressional Research Service.
The cost includes jet fuel and subsequent maintenance of the aircraft’s engines, electronics and hotel-class facilities.
Obama has been accompanied by the First Lady, Attorney General Eric
Holder, national security advisor Susan Rice and confidante Valerie
Jarrett.
However, Obama will get numerous free mementoes of his trip ,
including photographs of him telling the world’s dignitaries his
personal feelings Mandela’s legacy and how it affected his own
world-historic life.
Read the whole thing. I'm happy Netanyahu didn't go. Can't wait to see how much of Obama's 'eulogy' is about himself.
By the way, are there no whites in the Obama administration who would have been interested in going? Joe Biden was otherwise engaged?
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Eric Holder, Michelle Obama, South Africa, Valerie Jarrett
It's Lonely at the Top: Trusted Advisor Takes Charge of White House During Obama Absence
Heh (Hat Tip:
Suckers on Parade via
Jack W).
You weren't expecting Valerie Jarrett, were you?
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, humor, Valerie Jarrett
Obama to meet Muslim Brotherhood at White House
President Obama has apparently not given up on restoring the Muslim Brotherhood to power in Egypt. Toward that end, he will be
meeting with them at the White House later this month (Hat Tip:
MFS - The Other News).
Obama would reportedly meet with Brotherhood officials to "hear their
opinion" on developments in Egypt, in the presence of Turkish
diplomats.
Egypt Independent heard from sources inside the Muslim Brotherhood
that Islamist-linked billionaire Hassen Malek requested a meeting
through Obama's office manager.
The meeting with Turkish officials is expected to take place this month.
Turkish diplomats are expected to push for Mohamed Morsy's
reinstatement as Egyptian president, sources said, if not that the
Muslim Brotherhood would be assured of political survival following a
month-long violent stand-off with the armed forces in the wake of
Morsy's overthrow.
...
The U.S. has repeatedly supported the Muslim Brotherhood's ascendancy in Egypt, researcher Mohamed Hasanein Heikahl said.
Obama's 'office manager'? Valerie Jarrett?
In any event, Obama's biggest problem with reinstating the Muslim Brotherhood is that Congress is not playing along (except for
RINO McCain). I doubt that will change.
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood, Turkey, Valerie Jarrett
Rejoicing in Tehran
Before I go on to the meat of this post, I just want to point out that author and columnist Melanie Phillips
agrees with my assessment of the American mainstream media.
The greatest satisfaction today over the re-election of
Obama is not being felt in the Democratic Party. It is not being felt among the
media, who are no longer objective observers but have turned instead into corrupt
partisans who ruthlessly censored the truth about Obama and helped peddle his
demonising propaganda about his opponent. It is not being felt among the gloating,
drooling decadents of the western left who now scent a great blood-letting of
all who dare defy their secular inquisition. No, the greatest satisfaction is surely
being felt in Iran.
And why Iran?
A report
last month that Obama was secretly negotiating with the Iranian regime took
on an even more incendiary aspect a few days ago with a claim
that these negotiations were being led by his close friend and adviser, Valerie
Jarrett.
If Jarrett was indeed involved, that should strike a deep
chill into anyone who has not joined the lemming-like leap over the edge of the
western cliff. For Iranian-born Jarrett – who Obama has admitted he consults
before he takes any decision and who has been said
to act as his ‘spine’ -- is a far-leftist with roots deep in the corrupt Chicago
Democratic machine. Indeed, Jarrett has been credited
with originally smoothing Obama’s entry into Chicago’s political elite, and is
now said to be – despite her background of incompetence and corruption -- the
most influential person in his circle.
There have also been claims
that she advised Obama against killing Osama bin Laden, which although
unsubstantiated are all too credible. If this wholly ill-equipped and sinister
individual really has been leading secret negotiations with Iran – raising the
fear that far from preventing Iranian nuclear terrorism Obama intends to allow the
regime a face saving compromise under cover of which it will finish building
its nuclear weapon – then Obama’s perfidy against the west really is as bad as
some of us feared from the start.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Iran sanctions regime, Iranian nuclear threat, liberal media bias, mainstream media, P 5+1, Valerie Jarrett
Obama's intentions on Iran
In addition to proving outright that President Obama lied about Iran in the Presidential debates (is anyone really surprised?), Jonathan Tobin argues that the disclosure on Monday of
negotiations over Iran's nuclear program being headed up by neophyte Valerie Jarrett
calls into question Obama's intentions or Iran.
Jarrett was born in Shiraz, Iran (her father ran a hospital there)
but left when she was 5, though she is said to have spoken Persian as a
child. But that’s the extent of her expertise on the country. Her main
qualification is that she is a close confidante of both the president
and his wife. She is also widely given credit for helping to jump-start
the president’s career by introducing him into the corrupt world of
Chicago politics, where she was a significant player. That gives her
credibility with the Iranians since she has a direct line to the White
House. But if a re-elected Obama is rightly suspected of wanting to show
more “flexibility” with America’s foes, then the Jarrett caper seems to
be evidence that he is more interested in making this sore issue go
away rather than pushing Iran hard to give up the possibility of
attaining a weapon.
Though Jarrett and Obama may think their Chicago background makes
them tough, the Iranians have made fools of every Western negotiator
they’ve dealt with in the past decade, because of their tenacity and
willingness to use the charade of talks as a way to run out the clock
while their scientists get closer to achieving the country’s nuclear
ambition. While the sanctions that the administration reluctantly put in
place against Iran have caused the country economic pain, the American
conviction that this gives them leverage over the ayatollahs may be
mistaken. So long as the Iranian regime believes they can outlast and
out-talk the West on this issue, it’s doubtful they can be compelled to
sign a deal that would eliminate the nuclear threat–or to observe it
even if they did.
While the president has been talking tough about Iran during the
election year, it remains to be seen how tough his envoy has been with
the Iranians in their secret talks. If Ms. Jarrett emerges with a deal
sometime after the election, the suspicion is that her goal is more to
get the president off the hook for his promises than to actually stop
the Iranians.
I'll go further. I'll predict that sometime after the elections - regardless of their outcome - Obama will announce an agreement with Iran that will leave the Mullahcracy with a nuclear enrichment capability, but that will weakly commit the Iranians not to develop nuclear weapons. If he is still in power, Obama will then seek to blackmail Israel with pariah status if it attacks Iran on its own. In Obama's perfect world, he would be able to cut Israel loose outright unless the 'Palestinians' get their reichlet.
By the way, it was Jarrett who
three times got Obama to call off the Osama Bin Laden liquidation.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Iranian nuclear threat, Valerie Jarrett
The country is in the very best of hands: Obama's woman in Tehran
Yes, it's true. The United States is negotiating with Tehran. Valerie Jarrett, President Obama's Iranian-born domestic adviser, who has zero foreign policy experience, has initiated and is
leading negotiations with Iran over its nuclear weapons capability. Alex Fishman reports on YNet in a story that was originally only in the Hebrew print edition of Yedioth this morning.
Last month, The New
York Times reported that the US government is engaged in secret talks
with Iran aimed at establishing a direct line of communication once the
US presidential elections are over.
The National Security Council's spokesperson denied there is any
agreement between the US and Iran regarding direct talks, but the
following day senior government officials confirmed that talks took
place though no future meeting was scheduled.
The US has tried to keep the secret contacts under wraps since
some of the countries involved in the public negotiations, such as
Russia, were excluded from them.
Israel was originally surprised to learn of the talks, but state officials now
reveal that they were going on for several months. The talks, they
claim, were initiated and led by Jarret, and took place in Bahrain.
The US State Department estimated the economic pressure on Iran will peek in February or March, immidiately after the president-elect takes office, rendering the talks over Iran's nuclear program – in case they materialize – with potentially positive results.
Valerie Jarrett has zero foreign policy experience, but is a close friend of Michelle Obama. I guess it will be
payback time for Israel after the elections too. What could go wrong?
UPDATE 3:49 PM
From a friend who used to work in the Israeli foreign ministry:
Jarrett’s office was the liaison to J Street and the Arab American
Institute, according to the White House logs. I would guess that her
office was also liaison with Trita Parsi and NIAC.
Oh, and by the way, in case your have forgotten, the reason Jarrett was born in Tehran is that her parents were missionaries there, so you can bet she's a hell of a lot more sympathetic to Iranians than to Israelis.
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Iranian nuclear threat, Valerie Jarrett
