{"id":313,"date":"2016-10-04T20:46:50","date_gmt":"2016-10-04T20:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/writeofcenter.net\/?p=313"},"modified":"2016-10-04T20:46:50","modified_gmt":"2016-10-04T20:46:50","slug":"sarcastic-sentry-volume-4-issue-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writeofcenter.net\/?p=313","title":{"rendered":"Sarcastic Sentry Volume 4 Issue 3"},"content":{"rendered":"
I guess we DO negotiate with Terrorists<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
It all comes down as to which timeline or which background you want to believe.\u00a0 <\/span>When the Shah was overthrown in 1979 and the US Embassy taken over with all the hostages, the US froze several billion dollars of assets the Iranians had in US banks.\u00a0 <\/span>Part of this was $400 million that was paid for military equipment (F14 Tomcats and parts) that we never delivered.\u00a0 <\/span>(They probably still have pristine versions of the aircraft that don\u2019t fly because they can\u2019t fix them.)<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
We also agreed to have an arbiter negotiate the amount we would return to Iran these 35 years later.\u00a0 <\/span>The Iranians wanted $10 billion.\u00a0 <\/span>The B. Hussein administration was afraid they\u2019d get it.\u00a0 <\/span>So we went behind everyone\u2019s back and made a secret private deal for $1.7 billion\u2026the $400 million plus interest.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Then there was the nuclear cave-in, er, negotiation that B. Hussein is so proud of.\u00a0 <\/span>We release their economy to flourish if they promise to stop trying to make a bomb.\u00a0 <\/span>We all remember the three weeks they were given to stonewall inspectors from any particular site and how the inspectors cannot enter ANY military site.\u00a0 <\/span>Never mind that now they have the cash to simply buy a bomb (France), and have repeatedly stated their desire to wipe Israel off the map.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Then there were the hostages.\u00a0 <\/span>They held 5 of ours, we held 7 of theirs.\u00a0 <\/span>Prisoner exchange talks went on.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
All these negotiations were happening at about the same time by teams that supposedly did not collaborate with each other.\u00a0 <\/span>Right.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
So the left, the Johnny-Come-Lately to the debate New York Times Editorial Board sends this out:<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cThe truth is that the administration withheld the payment to ensure Iran didn\u2019t renege on its promise to free three detainees \u2014 a Washington Post journalist, a Marine veteran and a Christian pastor. That\u2019s pragmatic diplomacy not capitulation.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>(NYT Editorial Board 8-23-16)\u00a0 <\/span>They state this days after others have made a strong case that the money was ransom.\u00a0 <\/span>Okay, so the prisoner swap was supposed to be a separate thing.\u00a0 <\/span>Anyone speaking prisoners and money exchanges in the same sentence automatically ties them together even if your intent was the opposite.\u00a0 <\/span>If the Iranians are so untrustworthy (and they are) that you want to hold back money to make sure they let them go, maybe we shouldn\u2019t have negotiated all of these things so closely together.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The right, with the Washington Times and the feckless Reince Priebus parrot the other side:<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cU.S. officials wouldn\u2019t let Iranians take control of the money until a Swiss Air Force plane carrying three freed Americans departed from Tehran on Jan. 17, the officials said. Once that happened, an Iranian cargo plane was allowed to bring the cash back from a Geneva airport that day, according to the accounts,\u201d The Journal wrote.\u00a0 <\/span>Victor Morton Washington Times, 8-17-16<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s time for the Obama White House to drop the charade and admit it paid a $400 million ransom to the world\u2019s leading state sponsor of terrorism. President Obama has foolishly put a price on the head of every American abroad and it should be no surprise that Iran<\/span><\/span><\/a> has since detained more U.S. citizens,\u201d RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement that went on to attack Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.<\/span><\/div>\n
Reince has a point since Iran HAS detained more people since.\u00a0 <\/span>Why not?\u00a0 <\/span>We\u2019ve proven a willingness to negotiate\u2014being a straight swap of prisoners, a weak and hole shot nuclear arms treaty, or with pure cash. Robin Shahini, visiting his ailing mother in Iran.\u00a0 <\/span>Shahini is neither a political or human rights activist.\u00a0 <\/span>He was detained on vague charges like \u201cconducting crimes against the Islamic Republic\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span>That could be a simple as rolling your eyes at a cleric.\u00a0 <\/span>His family in Iran was warned to not speak with the media about Robin\u2019s arrest.\u00a0 <\/span>They don\u2019t have $400 million to be sure, but their speech is being held ransom.<\/span><\/div>\n
It is obvious that no special operations team would be able to infiltrate the country and secure our peoples\u2019 release.\u00a0 <\/span>We don\u2019t have the human intelligence (HUMINT) on the ground feeding us data about the hostage whereabouts.\u00a0 <\/span>And we are not going to go on a war footing for a few \u201cnon-elite\u201d citizens.\u00a0 <\/span>That leaves us with few real options.\u00a0 <\/span>We could round up their citizens and detain them and go for another prisoner swap.\u00a0 <\/span>But this president doesn\u2019t have the sack for it.\u00a0 <\/span>That leaves us just sending warnings to people asking them to reconsider their plans to go there.\u00a0 <\/span>Meanwhile the administration will raid the coffers or borrow from China to pay for the next round of releases.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
John Vessey, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs passes away<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\"Inline
\n<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
I met him once as a hard charging Corporal from the 82nd<\/span><\/sup> Airborne.\u00a0 <\/span>I was a \u201cgun-bunny\u201d at the time, a cannon crewman on a M102 howitzer.\u00a0 <\/span>We\u2019d jumped in during exercise Reforger, I think in 1982.\u00a0 <\/span>The General came through asking us how the war games were going.\u00a0 <\/span>Me, being who I was throughout my career, told it like it was.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cIt\u2019s a cluster-fuck.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019ve been here two hours and already died twice.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>The General grinned, and shook my hand.\u00a0 <\/span>The Battery Commander, and the whole staff winced and rolled their eyes.\u00a0 <\/span>The Chief Smoke said he\u2019d speak to me later but never did.<\/span><\/div>\n
Rest in peace, Sir.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
B. Hussein finally visits Louisiana.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
Twelve days after an unnamed storm dumped more than three times as much rain as what fell during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, B. Hussein finally made a photo-op appearance coming to tour a portion of the devastated parishes around the capital for 3 hours before heading back to Washington.\u00a0 <\/span>He waited until his 16-day vacation was completed where he logged his 300th<\/span><\/sup> round of golf during his presidency.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Flashback to 2005:<\/span><\/div>\n
August 29th<\/span><\/sup>, Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans.\u00a0 <\/span>(Part you probably don\u2019t know, but I have a picture to prove it) was that a barge broke free from its mooring and slammed into the levee wall breaching it, allowing the waters to rush into the Lower Ninth Ward.\u00a0 <\/span>Bush was in California commemorating a VJ-Day on Tuesday while still monitoring the reports from New Orleans.\u00a0 <\/span>Bush was criticized for not returning to Washington from a short vacation in Texas until Wednesday\u2014two DAYS after the hurricane struck.\u00a0 <\/span>Two days, versus twelve days.\u00a0 <\/span>Bush overflew the devastated region and then returned on Friday.\u00a0 <\/span>So, okay we\u2019ll say four days versus 12.\u00a0 <\/span>But Bush wasn\u2019t golfing and rubbing elbows with athletes and Hollywood stars, either.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Then there is the golf thing.\u00a0 <\/span>Bush was criticized while in office for golfing while he had Soldiers in harm\u2019s way.\u00a0 <\/span>He logged an incredible 24 round during his 8 years of Presidency.\u00a0 <\/span>I do that many in a year.\u00a0 <\/span>B. Hussein played his 300th<\/span><\/sup> round on July 16th<\/span><\/sup>.\u00a0 <\/span>I guess we don\u2019t have troops in harm\u2019s way anymore.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Hey, media goons!\u00a0 <\/span>WTF?<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I guess we DO negotiate with Terrorists It all comes down as to which timeline or which background you want to believe.\u00a0 When the Shah was overthrown in 1979 and the US Embassy taken over with all the hostages, the US froze several billion dollars of assets the Iranians had in US banks.\u00a0 Part of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writeofcenter.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writeofcenter.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writeofcenter.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writeofcenter.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writeofcenter.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=313"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/writeofcenter.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314,"href":"https:\/\/writeofcenter.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions\/314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writeofcenter.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writeofcenter.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writeofcenter.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}