A few weeks ago I showed that the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal had rejected, in July 2011, reconsideration of the 1981 claim by Iran for compensation from aircraft not delivered ($2.2 billion was the total stated then). I have been unable to find any record of it being considered again. Yet Secretary Kerry found that it was necessary to pay the terrorist-sponsoring regime in Iran $1.7 billion for that specific claim.
While not looking into the validity of the $1.7 billion claim by Iran for compensation, the Financial Services Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives did hold a hearing entitled "Fueling Terror: The Dangers of Ransom Payments to Iran" on Thursday, September 8, 2016.
The first panel of the hearing had Obama administration officials answering questions from Republican members of the committee, while, in a typical Washington, D.C. partisan fashion, the Democrat members of the Committee each took their apportioned time to attack Republican members of the committee and decry the hearing as being simply a political attack on President Obama.
The second panel of the hearing had four people critiquing the cash payment to Iran of $1.7 billion that coincided with the release of five hostages under the cover of the nuclear agreement made with Iran. All Democrat members of the committee chose to not attend the second panel of the hearing.
One of the panelists, Mark Dubowitz, Executive Director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, had a document published to accompany his presentation at the hearing.
Dubowitz emphasized that "illicit financial consequences of cash transfers to Iran warrant further congressional investigation beyond whether such a payment was a ransom....The transfer of this cash, which is untraceable, easy to hide, and valuable to a regime like Iran's with billions of dollars in illicit activities" will have "severe consequences for American national security and that of our regional allies."
Mr. Dubowitz and two of the other panelists, Dr. Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute, and Mr. Eric Lorber of the Financial Integrity Network, asserted that the $1.7 billion cash given to Iran was indeed a ransom and would most certainly find its way to terrorist organizations who are sponsored by the Iranian regime. Dubowitz wrote:
"In an interview with Fars News on July 7, an Iranian parliamentarian claimed that the money from the settlement must be 'allocated to the armed forces.' The final budget passed weeks later ended up containing this allocation. This could mean that the funds will be used to pay for Iran's conventional armed forces, procure advanced weaponry in contravention of the arms embargo, support the activities of the IRGC [Islamic Republican Guard Corps] and Quds Force in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere, and/or provide direct support to Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other Iranian-assisted terrorist organizations." (p. 11-12)
Dubowitz also explained that "in 2000, Congress passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act which allowed the U.S. government to compensate Iran's terrorism victims out of frozen or seized Iranian assets....the U.S. government compensated victims in amounts approximating $400 million but never deducted, as promised to Congress and these victims, the funds from Iran's assets back in 2000. With the return of the $400 million to Iran, U.S. taxpayers, rather than the Iranian regime, compensated the victims."
The Obama administration once again has shown that they are more interested in appeasing our adversaries abroad than strengthening American interests in the world. In this case, Iran is freed from any financial responsibility to Americans who were wronged by them.
Representative French Hill of Arkansas, ended the hearing by quoting from a September 8 article in the Wall Street Journal by former Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, now chairman of United Against Nuclear Iran. In his opinion article Lieberman stated:
"As recently as July 20, 2016, the U.S. blacklisted three members of al Qaeda who were living in Iran, saying these al Qaeda facilitators in Iran had helped the jihadist group on the battlefield, with finance and logistics, and in liaising with Iranian authorities. Newly declassified letters captured in the May 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden reveal how crucial Iran has been to al Qaeda. In a 2007 letter, bin Laden directed al Qaeda not to target Iran because 'Iran is our main artery for funds, personnel, and communication.'
"On the 15th anniversary of 9/11, the U.S. should not be rewarding Iran for its deadly actions with gifts of sanctions relief, and the easing of arms embargoes and ballistic-missile restrictions. It is time to hold the regime accountable for its reckless aggression and support of terrorism."
If we hope to turn this nation from the misdeeds, which I would describe as treasonous, of Barack Obama and his current and former Secretaries of State, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, we first will need to elect Donald Trump, the only candidate who can stop a Clinton presidency and restore our federal government to a government that serves the American people instead of its enemies.
Rolf Yungclas is a recently retired newspaper editor from southwest Kansas who has been speaking out on the issues of the day in newspapers and online for over 15 years
