Obama’s Folly

Former President Barack Obama (Jerusalem Post)

When the left criticizes a leftist hero, it gets my attention. This is precisely what has happened with an expose in Politico - a progressive left wing media outlet. It appears that former President Barack Obama was so intent on making a nuclear deal with Iran, that he blew off all caution with respect to worldwide terrorism. From the Jerusalem Post: 

Politico alleged that his administration had blocked a major investigation into Hezbollah’s global drug trafficking activities so that Iran would sign the 2015 deal to curb its nuclear activities. 

How far did the Obama administration go in that pursuit? Keep reading: 

The Politico piece details the efforts of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, which launched Project Cassandra in 2008. The group tracked Hezbollah’s global criminal-syndicate operation, backed by Iran, including drug and weapons trafficking worth $1 billion annually.

But while DEA gathered evidence, including of Iran-backed activities in Latin America and the US, Politico charged that the Justice Department and other US authorities refused to file charges against major players.

This included, according to Politico, “Hezbollah’s high-profile envoy to Iran, a Lebanese bank that allegedly laundered billions in alleged drug profits, and a central player in a US-based cell of the Iranian paramilitary Quds force.”

Among those against whom no US action was taken, was Ali Fayad, a suspected Hezbollah operative held from 2014 to 2015 by the Czech Republic. 

“The administration also rejected repeated efforts by Project Cassandra members to charge Hezbollah’s military wing as an ongoing criminal enterprise under a federal Mafia-style racketeering statute, task force members say,” according to the Politico article. 

It further charged that the administration blocked other initiatives to give the Cassandra Project legal tools to halt Hezbollah’s activities.

Even as far back as 2007, the article claimed, planes flew from Caracas to Syria and then on to Tehran with drugs and cash, returning with arms and agents…

According to  former US Defense Department financial analyst, David Asher, who worked for the Cassandra Project:

(The administration) serially ripped apart this entire effort that was very well supported and resourced, and it was done from the top down.

Those of us that were opposed to the nuclear deal with Iran believed it was a bad deal for a variety of reasons. Which is why most of congress applauded Prime Minister Netanyahu’s declaration to that effect when he was invited by then House Speaker John Boehner to address a joint session of congress. 

Left leaning Democrats enamored of the deal with Iran were at the time beside themselves at the perceived hubris of a foreign leader addressing congress without a formal invitation by the White House - for purposes of criticizing the administration. Especially one that had been more generous to Israel than all past administrations.

My own congresswoman, Jan Schakowsky (who is Jewish) boycotted that speech! They all believed that this deal was the best we could get out of an Iran poised to become nuclear in no time. They decried right leaning Republicans and Netanyahu for trying to destroy the world's last best hope for salvation from a nuclear Armageddon. They believed that this deal prevented that from happening.

Well it didn’t prevent it. All it did was delay it at most for 10 years. (7 years left on that deal!) But that wasn’t even the worst part of the deal. Which was that Iran was free to keep developing their missile technology so that 7 years from now when they are free to pursue nuclear weapons they will have the delivery system to launch those weapons at whomever they choose. And we all know who they will choose: The Great Satan (America) and Israel. Not necessarily in that order.

There is not a doubt by anyone – including the former Obama administration, that Iran was the world’s biggest sponsor of terror. The deal did not cover that at all. And as Politico has discovered, we now see that the Obama administration has actually facilitated it! Add to that the opioid crisis the world now faces. The drug money accruing to Iran’s surrogate in Lebanon, Hezbollah comes from distributing those drugs all over the world. One of the largest purchasers of those drugs being America. Which contributes to who knows how many drug related deaths!

I have no words. Obama probably thought this deal was worth the price. I wonder though, if congress would have agreed with him had they known the details revealed by Politico. 

The Jerusalem Post reports the reaction of centrist Israeli MK Yair Lapid saying that Obama ought to give back his Nobel Peace Prize away if this is at all true. That is an understatement for many reasons. But in my view that is the least of Obama’s problems. His legacy may very well be tarnished beyond repair as the biggest facilitator of terrorism of his time allowing it to be funded unimpeded to the tune of billions of dollars. He may also be seen as one of the biggest facilitators of the drug crisis.

I don’t think Obama is an evil man. I believe he was sincere in choosing this path as the best means of keeping the world safe from nuclear weapons. He thought it was worth the price of allowing terror to continue being funded via drug trafficking and money laundering. But Politico’s revelation makes it pretty clear to me that he used very poor judgment. Poor to the point of possible disaster.Which will surely completely destroy his legacy.