So... it WAS ransom all along.

[46Tbird]

DUH.

Today, August 18:

The State Department says a $400 million cash payment to Iran was contingent on the release of American prisoners.

Spokesman John Kirby says negotiations over the United States’ returning Iranian money from a decades-old account was conducted separately from the prisoner talks. But he says the U.S. withheld delivery of the cash as leverage until the U.S. citizens had left Iran.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/state-department-says-400m-payment-was-contingent-on-prisoners-release/

Compare and contrast that to what Obama said two weeks ago, August 4:

“We do not pay ransom for hostages,” Mr. Obama said during a news conference at the Pentagon. In a forceful rebuttal to accusations from critics who said that the payment could put more Americans in danger of being held, he called “the notion that we would start now, in this high profile way,” one that “defies logic.”

“It’s been interesting to watch this story surface,” Mr. Obama said. “Some of you may recall, we announced these payments in January. Many months ago. It was no secret.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/05/world/middleeast/400-million-to-iran-was-not-a-ransom-obama-says.html?_r=0

[helosailor]

[Scott Mc]

Wait, I don't recall us ever doing this before. Is this the first?

[Forever_frost]

Yes. It's also the largest ransom payment in American history

[svauto-erotic855]

How is this not embezzlement? No one in government has the authority to give that money away.

[LS1Goat]

Obama just put a price on the head of every American.

What a nightmare this Administration has been.

[svauto-erotic855]

Obama just put a price on the head of every American.

What a nightmare this Administration has been.

I suspect that he views it as a way to give money to groups that he supports.

[Darren M]

I suspect that he views it as a way to give money to groups that he supports.

Or coordinated it as a money laundering activity just saying....

[Forever_frost]

How is this not embezzlement? No one in government has the authority to give that money away.

The head of the DOJ agrees with him and the majority of the Republicans are spineless.

[BP]

I'm just glad he didn't do a 1:5 trade with Al Qaeda prisoners.

[GhostTX]

How is this not embezzlement? No one in government has the authority to give that money away.

I thought it was violation of law to give public money to ransoms?!?!


Geez, the lies upon lies upon lies with Democrats. And people are voting for more of this!!!!

[Big Dad]

Bullshit

did you guys flunk history or what

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Contra_affair

he scandal began as an operation to free the seven American hostages being held in Lebanon by Hezbollah, a paramilitary group with Iranian ties connected to the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution. It was planned that Israel would ship weapons to Iran, and then the United States would resupply Israel and receive the Israeli payment. The Iranian recipients promised to do everything in their power to achieve the release of the U.S. hostages.[4][5] Large modifications to the plan were devised by Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North of the National Security Council in late 1985, in which a portion of the proceeds from the weapon sales was diverted to fund anti-Sandinista and anti-communist rebels, or Contras, in Nicaragua.[4]

[Craizie]

Bullshit

did you guys flunk history or what

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Contra_affair

he scandal began as an operation to free the seven American hostages being held in Lebanon by Hezbollah, a paramilitary group with Iranian ties connected to the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution. It was planned that Israel would ship weapons to Iran, and then the United States would resupply Israel and receive the Israeli payment. The Iranian recipients promised to do everything in their power to achieve the release of the U.S. hostages.[4][5] Large modifications to the plan were devised by Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North of the National Security Council in late 1985, in which a portion of the proceeds from the weapon sales was diverted to fund anti-Sandinista and anti-communist rebels, or Contras, in Nicaragua.[4]

Lol, you think they teach this in history class?

[svauto-erotic855]

I'm just glad he didn't do a 1:5 trade with Al Qaeda prisoners.

You forgot to mention that he gave Yemen 5 billion dollars as part of that swap.

[Jimbo]

In relation to the ransom, this is unnerving.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3433151/Heart-broken-family-Kayla-Mueller-reveal-Government-thwarted-attempts-pay-ransom-ISIS-save-daughter-tortured-killed.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bNDmFmKLew