Yes, we paid a terrorist state 400 million in untraceable cash in return for hostages.
Iran is classified by our own government which Obama presides over as follows:
In 2015, Iran’s state sponsorship of terrorism worldwide remained undiminished through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), its Ministry of Intelligence and Security, and Tehran’s ally Hizballah, which remained a significant threat to the stability of Lebanon and the broader region. [See Chapter 3, State Sponsors on Terrorism, for more information about Iranian activities.]
Refusing to talk and improve diplomatic relations with nations that have competing interests with our own, or until such time as they start acting the way we want, will only make those differences worse, not better.
We “completed a business deal” with Iran. Not that it matters much, but what’s so untraceable about cash? Isn’t cash the ultimate traceable monetary transaction? Ever read the little numbers printed on the bills?
Where did you think we’d trace it to? You think a government can’t move money around its own coffers? Through its own state-controlled banks? Or convert it to cash itself? Do you think that, if we send $400m to some other country we can just track it forever?
The “cash” bit is just an emotional hook for people who think life is like the movies.
Magiver - you seem to believe that the fact that the payment was in cash is an aggravating circumstance. If the payment simply had to be made - which I understand you disagree with - how should it have been made, in your opinion? Gold? EFT? Bitcoin?
I know you oppose the payment. But you keep mentioning cash as though that’s the worst way to pay such a debt. I’m not interested in you repeating again that you oppose the payment, I’m asking that if cash was the worst way to make a payment, what is the best way to make such a payment under the circumstances?
It’s a government. Governments aren’t terrorist, by definition. Governments might sometimes support terrorists, as Iran sometimes does, but it is different. Plus, it was their money. We actually leveraged that money into getting the hostages back - otherwise, we would have had to give it back to them for nothing.
I thought Iran was fighting the terrorists, in Syria.
Terrorists suplied by Qatar, the Saudi’s and by the US.
There were even cash drops (gasp!) to these so called “moderate rebels”.
Yeah, there’s one: it isn’t true. The U.S. Government gave money to the Iranian government (which was their own property anyway.) If the Iranian government gives that money to terrorists, that isn’t Obama’s doing.
(Otherwise, if you eat at a certain restaurant, “You’re giving money to the Ku Klux Klan.” Should you be arrested and charged with supporting terrorists?)
A lot of things should happen that don’t because of real world complications. China’s government should respect the rights of their people. But they don’t, and we can’t make them.