The secret backstory of how Obama let Hezbollah off the hook

[UglyCasanova]

https://www.politico.com/interactives/2017/obama-hezbollah-drug-trafficking-investigation/

Well researched story from Politico that is almost totally absent from the news for some reason. Imagine if Trump was caught derailing US law enforcement from shutting down a billion dollar drug funneling operation linked to terrorism in order to secure a deal with Russia.


In its determination to secure a nuclear deal with Iran, the Obama administration derailed an ambitious law enforcement campaign targeting drug trafficking by the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah, even as it was funneling cocaine into the United States, according to a POLITICO investigation.

 

[jana519]

Yeah it would be much better to isolate and impose economic sanctions against Iran that will definitely only hurt the regime and totally prevent them from developing nuclear weapons. Rather than trying to engage them strategically for a diplomatic solution.

That approach worked very well with North Korea, right? Reason it's absent is because no one but right wing nuts gives a shit.

 

[UglyCasanova]

So we allow a terrorist group to make billions funneling drugs into the US and Europe and undermine our law enforcement from doing its job because it might be politically sensitive to its sponsor country? No matter how you feel about the Iran deal this should be all over the news and more people than "right wing nuts" should give a shit.

 

[jana519]

Why should it be all over the news? Are you a gung ho advocate of America's war on drugs? Or is it because Obama did it and therefore, it is evil?

 

[UglyCasanova]

Am I gung ho about the war on drugs? No.

We are locking our citizens up for possessing a substance our government knowingly allowed to enter the country though, and the profits of which went to fund a known militant organization. Why? Politics. So yes it should be all over the news.

 

[jana519]

Am I gung ho about the war on drugs? No.

We are locking our citizens up for possessing a substance our government knowingly allowed to enter the country though, and the profits of which went to fund a known militant organization. Why? Politics. So yes it should be all over the news.

It's not a big deal. Mexican cartels funnel many more billions of dollars of drugs into the country, yet I don't see you crying about not going after them for politics.

Want to know what should be covered by the media? The fact that the Trump administration is inching our country ever closer into a military confrontation with NORTH KOREA. Which is completely and utterly insane. I'll take the nuclear deal with Iran and letting some drug funnelers slide mkay, thanks.

 

[UglyCasanova]

I don't see you

Saying this tends to be a big indicator the one saying it lacks any sort of an arguement.


Yes North Korea is a huge issue and should be holding a lot more of our attention than it currently does. That doesn’t excuse the Obama administration from turning a blind eye toward terrorism financing narco trafficking in order to secure a political deal.

 

[UberNeuman]

Why should it be all over the news? Are you a gung ho advocate of America's war on drugs? Or is it because Obama did it and therefore, it is evil?

OP is an idiot. Nothing will change that.

 

[jana519]

Imagine if Trump was caught derailing US law enforcement from shutting down a billion dollar drug funneling operation linked to terrorism in order to secure a deal with Russia.

My reaction would essentially be the same. It's irrelevant. Basically, I could care less about the government war on drugs. If Trump did the same to reach a diplomatic and strategic agreement benefiting both countries, I would applaud him.

 

[Jaskalas]

So the only "honest" reply is whataboutism.

Any terrorist operators in the Americas should be dealt with harshly. And those who aid and abet them investigated for crimes.

 

[jana519]

No it's more like fuck the government war on drugs and war mongering, and who could care less about Hamas's cocaine trafficking. If Trump made a deal with Russia to reach a peaceful solution with Ukraine and overlooked a Russian crime syndicate the US has no business policing in the first place then I would applaud him for that.

 

[Meghan54]

So the only "honest" reply is whataboutism.

Any terrorist operators in the Americas should be dealt with harshly. And those who aid and abet them investigated for crimes.

Unfortunately, the govt's position on dealing with drugs/drug cartels and the governments that sponsor them has been less than stellar over the decades. One only has to look at the Iran Contra crap....and that included selling millions of $$ in arms to a state that "sponsors" terrorism and selling arms to a group financed by cocaine trafficking.

So, how far back do we go? Not saying ignore, but is Obama the cutoff point for caring? GWB? Reagan? Nixon?

 

[ch33zw1z]

So politico is ok now, right?

 

[urvile]

Fake news.

 

[cytg111]

cause atomic bombs and extra long nuclear winter holidays... BENGHAZIEMAILSGAYNEGRO... botisbrokenagain.

 

[pauldun170]

From the article

A former senior national security official of the Obama administration, who played a role in the Iran nuclear negotiations, suggested that Project Cassandra members were merely speculating that their cases were being blocked for political reasons. Other factors, including a lack of evidence or concerns about interfering with intelligence operations could have been in play.

“What if the CIA or the Mossad had an intelligence operation ongoing inside Hezbollah and they were trying to pursue someone . . . against whom we had impeccable [intelligence] collection and the DEA is not going to know that?” the official said. “I get the feeling people who don’t know what’s going on in the broader universe are grasping at straws.”

The official added: “The world is a lot more complicated than viewed through the narrow lens of drug trafficking. So you’re not going to let CIA rule the roost, but you’re also certainly not going to let DEA do it either. Your approach to anything as complicated as Hezbollah is going to have to involve the interagency [process], because the State Department has a piece of the pie, the intelligence community does, Treasury does, DOD does.”

 

[UglyCasanova]

The next paragraph from the article

Nonetheless, other sources independent of Project Cassandra confirmed many of the allegations in interviews with POLITICO, and in some cases, in public comments.

One Obama-era Treasury official, Katherine Bauer, in little-noticed written testimony presented last February to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, acknowledged that “under the Obama administration … these [Hezbollah-related] investigations were tamped down for fear of rocking the boat with Iran and jeopardizing the nuclear deal.”

 

[Jhhnn]

So, what's the priority? Dissuading Iran from nuclear proliferation or playing whack a mole with one of the world's numerous drug smuggling organizations?

 

[K1052]

So, what's the priority? Dissuading Iran from nuclear proliferation or playing whack a mole with one of the world's numerous drug smuggling organizations?

this

 

[UglyCasanova]

Drug smuggling operation that funds terrorism. What is the priority? Both. If locking your citizens up for something you knowingly allowed into the country and shutting down the narco trafficking apperatus that’s used to finance terrorism could derail the talks, what kind of deal is even being made?

Project Cassandra members say administration officials also blocked or undermined their efforts to go after other top Hezbollah operatives including one nicknamed the Ghost allowing them to remain active despite being under sealed U.S. indictment for years. People familiar with his case say the Ghost has been one of the world’s biggest cocaine traffickers, including to the U.S., as well as a major supplier of conventional and chemical weapons for use by Syrian President Bashar Assad against his people

 

[cytg111]

this

this

And it is so damn obvious that pretending that anything else is the REAL story is plain trolling in broad daylight.

 

[cytg111]

Drug smuggling operation that funds terrorism. What is the priority? Both. If locking your citizens up for something you knowingly allowed into the country and shutting down the narco trafficking apperatus that’s used to finance terrorism could derail the talks, what kind of deal is even being made?

No. Just dont.

 

[hardhat]

This seems like a time when the US went for a practical solution instead of walking away from the table.

 

[UglyCasanova]

No. Just dont.

Just don’t? Can you refute it?

 

[K1052]

Drug smuggling operation that funds terrorism. What is the priority? Both. If locking your citizens up for something you knowingly allowed into the country and shutting down the narco trafficking apperatus that’s used to finance terrorism could derail the talks, what kind of deal is even being made?

The US has long played politics with the international drug trade squeezing or not squeezing in places for other ends. I don't particularly view this as different. The only way to actually "win" the drug war is not to play.