I notice that none of Obama's staff are pushing back on the specifics of the story. Just making personal attacks.
The Justice Department declined requests by Project Cassandra and other authorities to file criminal charges against major players such as Hezbollahโs high-profile envoy to Iran, a Lebanese bank that allegedly laundered billions in alleged drug profits, and a central player in a U.S.-based cell of the Iranian paramilitary Quds force. And the State Department rejected requests to lure high-value targets to countries where they could be arrested.
http://www.nationalreview.com/artic...nistration-ignored-terrorist-drug-trafficking
It's not a big story because it's already been taken apart, just read Adam Khan's tweets from Dec 18
https://twitter.com/Khanoisseur
And all the articles you're posting, like the National Review one, is just repeating the Politico article, which was basically lifted from a Free Beacon article:
Why don't you mention this piece was lifted from right wing rag, Free Beacon, where it was planted last June (see http://freebeacon.com/national-security/obama-admin-systematically-disbanded-units-investigating-irans-terrorism-networks/ โฆ) by anti-Obama neocon think tank, FDD (whose employee is articles' source), which is funded by Paul Singer, who also fundsโฆFree Beacon!
Adam Khanโ @Khanoisseur 3h3 hours ago
1. This Politico piece (dramatically titled "The Secret Backstory of How Obama Let Hezbollah off the Hook") takes way too long to note (several paragraphs in) that there is actually no evidence that Obama undermined any efforts in order to not rock the Iran nuclear deal.
2. The piece goes on to cite ex-Obama treasury official, Katherine Bauer, as proof that Obama went easy on Hezbollah, omitting the fact that Bauer now serves at a think tank that was founded by members of AIPAC, the influential Israeli lobby, which is, surprise, against Iran deal
3. In February 2016, Obama's DEA announced enforcement action against Hezbollah's drug and money laundering scheme, noting help from 7 countries in disrupting the drug money flow. Separately, the Treasury announced sanctions on Hizbollah financial network
. I posted link in my last post. Once again - http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/01/politics/hezbollah-cocaine-drug-money-arrest-dea/index.html
4. Politico charges that Obama admin didn't pressure Czech authorities into extraditing alleged Hezbollah operative (alleged to report directly to Putin and a conduit for Russian arms transfer to Syria) but a Google search turns up U.S. condemnation of Czech refusal to extradite
I found the link to that:
U.S. Embassy Condemns Czechs For Refusing To Extradite Suspects
https://www.rferl.org/a/prague-lebanese-ali-fayad-released-extradition-us/27532663.html
5. Putin had lobbied against this alleged Hezbollah operative's (Ali Fayed) extradition, who was indicted in the U.S. by none other than
@PreetBharara in 2014 https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4325666-Ali-Fayad-Farouzi-Indictment.html โฆ Despite this, several arrests were made, including in Europe in February 2016, after Iran deal.
6. You have to go three-fourths into the article to understand why some quoted in the article felt Obama was going easy on Hezbollah - they were speculating. That and they don't get how operations that involve multiple intelligence + governmental agencies + countries work.
7. The Politico hit piece on Obama bases its case on two sources: Katherine Bauer, from a think tank started by Israeli lobby AIPAC alums, which wants a war with Iran, and David Asher, from an anti-Iran, pro-Israel, neocon think tank, "Foundation for Defense of Democracies" (FDD)
8. Asher's think tank, FDD, was started by a Republican operative Clifford May and is funded by GOP mega donor/hedge fund billionaire, Paul Singer (who is also a major funder of right wing rag, "Washington Free Beacon"). FDD testified 17 times before Congress against Iran deal
9. The Politico piece disguised as a scoop simply rehashes a Free Beacon (funded by Paul Singer, who funds Netanyahu-aligned mouthpiece ['think tank'] FDD, where Asher works - get how this cozy echo chamber works?) article from June! FDD website proudly links to the Beacon piece.
10. For Politico to skip mentioning where people it cited in the article work, who funds their work, and their allegiances and biases, is as straight up an example of journalistic malpractice as it gets
11. Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which employs Asher was formed as a tax-exempt entity by pro-Israel mega donors (incl Adelson) seeking to burnish Israel's image, until NYT journalist turned GOP operative/RNC comms director Clifford May reinvented it as a "think tank"
12. None of this is mentioned in the Politico piece: The second in command at FDD was Nir Boms, who worked at Israeli embassy in Washington, and Israeli lobby AIPAC's long-time comms director Toby Dershowitz (his PR group uses the same address as FDD) also handled comms for FDD
etc.
https://twitter.com/Khanoisseur for more, links, graphics
Sorry, nothing there.
