Deal with the devil—17gh, b12-2
Jay Solomon of the Wall Street Journal told Andrea Mitchell that Iran in 2013 had threatened to pull out of nuclear talks if the United States hit Bashar al-Assad’s forces over the Syrian dictator’s use of chemical weapons. The Obama administration c[quickly denied this. “Not true,” tweeted White House aide Ned Price.
Of course it’s true. And if it weren’t, Barack Obama would have a lot of explaining to do. Why else did he allow Assad to violate Obama’s own “red line” with impunity? Why did he jeopardize American interests and endanger allies throughout the Middle East? Why else did he allow a refugee crisis to destabilize Europe? Why has he done nothing to stop the slaughter of nearly half a million Syrians?
Obama himself publicly acknowledged that he won’t interfere with Iranian interests in Syria. The president spoke of respecting Iranian “equities” in the Levant. That means preservation of the Assad regime, a vital Iranian interest since it serves as a supply line for Iranian weapons earmarked for Hezbollah in Lebanon. The White House was so serious about respecting this particular “equity” that it repeatedly leaked details of Israeli strikes on Iranian arms ir convoys. Obama wanted to show the Iranians his bona fides as a negotiating partner.
Downgrading traditional American allies like Israel ha and Saudi Arabia and upgrading Iran—and thus allow the United States to minimize its footprint in the region. With SO much at stake, including his hunger for a personal legacy. Obama didn’t dare risk alienating Iran by targeting Assad.
The real deal that Obama made with the mullahs has been clear for some time now: They got to keep their client in Syria, and Obama got his “historic” achievement. “The easiest way for all the White House to shape the news,” Price explained. is from the briefing podiums, each of which has its own dedicated press corps. “But then there are sort of these force multipliers,” he said, adding, “We have our compadres, I will reach out to a couple people, and you know I wouldn’t want to name them—” … “And the next thing I know, lots of these guys are in the dot-com publishing space, and have huge Twitter followings, and they’ll be putting this message out on their own.
Reports last week, however, showed that Russia has killed more civilians than ISIS, which doesn’t use planes to kill. Either the Assad regime or its Russian allies are dropping bombs that kill babies so as to prop up Iran’s ally, the one Obama left alone to seal his deal with Tehran. The regime Obama accommodated is party to the slaughter of infants. The only technique the White House has at its disposal in this case is to lie and deny the facts.
Obama’s national security staff s advised, almost unanimously, backing the anti-Assad rebels. Obama rejected their counsel. And he did so not out of a judicious desire to keep America out of another Middle East conflict. It forced Syrian rebel groups that the United States had trained and armed to sign documents promising they wouldn’t attack Assad, the despot ordering the torture and murder of their families and friends. In this way, Obama protected the man who bombs 5-year-olds.
‘Obama gave Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief. The policy could have been to not return the money until Iran withdrew all forces from Syria and support for Assad. Obama could have said, I don’t care if only one American penny from these billions is used to save Assad’s scalp, we won’t be complicit in the murder of innocents. Iran gets no sanctions relief until they are out of Syria. But he didn’t. No, the White House talking points hold that the tens of billions in sanctions relief, as well as the $1.7 billion in ransom money paid in exchange for American hostages, was all Iran’s money to begin with. Money to do with as it wishes.
source-weekly std, lee smith,ned price, new yorker, robin wright
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