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Trump Pins Some Blame On Obama For Iran's Missile Attack. Should He Have?
Powerline ^ | 01/09/2020 | Paul Mirengoff

Posted on 01/09/2020 8:22:36 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Trump pins some blame on Obama for missile attack. Should he have?

During his address to the nation this morning about the situation with Iran, President Trump said the ballistic missiles that targeted two U.S. air bases in Iraq were paid for using “funds made available by the last administration.” This assertion enraged Democrats and their media allies such as the Washington Post.

Is their outrage justified? I see two issues here. The first is whether President Trump should be calling out his predecessor, especially at a time when national unity (however slender the hope for it may be) is particularly important.

I don’t think Trump should be. His criticism of President Obama was gratuitous. The purpose of Trump’s address was to inform the country about the Iranian attack on our our bases and related matters. There was no reason to take a potshot at Obama.

I should add, however, that, as president, Obama rarely missed an opportunity to blame his predecessor, George W. Bush, for whatever ailed America at a given moment. Until Trump came along, Obama was by far the least gracious president of my lifetime.

The second issue is whether Trump was correct in saying that the missiles Iran fired at our bases were paid for with “funds made available” by the Obama administration. I think he mostly is.

We can’t possibly know which specific monies paid for the missiles in question. But Trump didn’t say that those missiles were bought with funds supplied by the Obama administration. He said, in essence, that the monies to purchase them were available thanks to the Obama administration’s payments to the regime.

We can’t know this for sure, either. However, as David Harsanyi says, we do know that money is fungible and that the Iranian military, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Hezbollah were the major beneficiaries of the funds Obama handed over.

Thus, it’s reasonable to suppose, at a minimum, that Iran had more missiles available to fire at our bases than it would have possessed if the regime hadn’t been bailed out financially by Obama. At any rate, Trump’s statement is hardly “far-fetched,” which is how the Post characterized it.

Media apologists for Obama, and for Iran, such as CNN, Andrea Mitchell, and the Washington Post, counter that the money Obama turned over belonged to Iran. Even if this were true, it wouldn’t overcome Trump’s claim that Obama made available funds that enabled the attack on our bases. Whatever the equities, Iran didn’t have those funds until Obama handed them over.

In any case, I agree with Harsanyi that that the funds in question did not belong to Iran. He explains:

In 2016, the United States was in the middle of an unresolved dispute in front of the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal at The Hague over cash advanced by the Shah for military equipment we refused to deliver after the 1979 revolution. . . .

It is unlikely that U.S. would ultimately have been obligated to hand over a single deutschmark to the mullahs. For one thing, the U.S. had its own counterclaims over Iran’s many violations — which, in total, exceeded the amount supposedly “owed” to it. Obama, in his obsessive goal of placating Iran to procure a deal, unilaterally dismissed a stipulation held by the previous administration that the United States wouldn’t release funds until other court judgments held against Iran for its terrorist acts on American citizens were all resolved.

Let’s remember, until the Wall Street Journal reported that the administration had secretly airlifted $400 million in ransom payments for four Americans detained in Tehran — seven months after the fact — we were never informed about the cash transfers. And Obama never offered any legal justification or accounting for the billions he transferred. Nor did Obama ever explain the fiscal calculation of tacking on an extra $1.3 billion in interest payments. The president, in fact, risibly claimed that the agreement had saved “billions of dollars.”

I wish Trump hadn’t used his address on Iran to score points against Obama. But when it comes to Iran (and not just Iran) the points are there to be scored in abundance.



TOPICS: Military/Veterans; Politics
KEYWORDS: iran; missileattack; obama; trump
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1 posted on 01/09/2020 8:22:36 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

NO. Of Course not

It’s always Trump’s fault


2 posted on 01/09/2020 8:24:04 AM PST by A_Former_Democrat (Guns up . . . We cominÂ’ PS: Eric The Blower Ciaramella. PASS IT ON)
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To: SeekAndFind

We are so pleased that he is unafraid to point out the way that the prior regime weakened our world wide stature by their non actions....

That pile of cash wasn’t redistributed to the Iranian people, or they wouldn’t be protesting.


3 posted on 01/09/2020 8:26:15 AM PST by patriotspride
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To: SeekAndFind

For the media it’s 24/7/365 when it comes to bashing Trump, and for protecting the political legacy of The One!


4 posted on 01/09/2020 8:26:37 AM PST by dowcaet
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To: SeekAndFind

I do not believe that the hostages were ever properly compensated.
Thus, the charges are fully accurate. That money included money owed the hostages from the Carter Years and their heirs plus interest.


5 posted on 01/09/2020 8:26:39 AM PST by MrEdd (Caveat Emptor)
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To: SeekAndFind

DUmping on Bronc0 Bama is always a good way to incite the LSM to perform more Fake Gerbilism.


6 posted on 01/09/2020 8:28:11 AM PST by Paladin2
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To: SeekAndFind

“I wish Trump hadn’t used his address on Iran to score points against Obama.”

I don’t. Obama and his ilk have dug us into the hole that we’re in, and it’s past time to take away their shovels, lest they keep on digging.


7 posted on 01/09/2020 8:28:30 AM PST by rightwingcrazy (;-,)
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To: SeekAndFind

He didn’t blame anyone actually. He just said that Iran used the money to attack U.S troops which is logically true.


8 posted on 01/09/2020 8:28:38 AM PST by wiseprince
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To: MrEdd

“That money included money owed the hostages from the Carter Years and their heirs plus interest.”

(Not?) Surprisingly, lots here disagree with that statement, and pontificate to us that it was “Iran’s money anyway”.


9 posted on 01/09/2020 8:29:58 AM PST by treetopsandroofs
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To: wiseprince

He didn’t blame anyone actually. He just said that Iran used the money to attack U.S troops which is logically true.
____________________________________________________________

“The missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/read-full-transcript-trump-s-iran-speech-n1112456


10 posted on 01/09/2020 8:32:10 AM PST by treetopsandroofs
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To: SeekAndFind

Yes, as he was a traitors bastard that sold us out to the Iranians for his handler.


11 posted on 01/09/2020 8:32:43 AM PST by kosciusko51
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To: All

Obongo’s No 2 is an Iranian. Helllo.


12 posted on 01/09/2020 8:33:38 AM PST by gibsonguy
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To: SeekAndFind
I don’t think Trump should be. His criticism of President Obama was gratuitous.

No, it is not at all gratuitous. It is a much needed reality check for those who are incapable of grasping the fact that a certain ideology (leftism) is profoundly flawed. Obama's policies were bad for the US and world peace. That should be pointed out as often as possible to remind those who would elect another like Obama.

13 posted on 01/09/2020 8:34:19 AM PST by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org)
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To: SeekAndFind

One word “YES”


14 posted on 01/09/2020 8:35:53 AM PST by LoveMyFreedom
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To: SeekAndFind

What Trump said was 100% accurate and didn’t even use anyone’s name.

This author is a NeverTrumper.


15 posted on 01/09/2020 8:53:33 AM PST by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: treetopsandroofs

That’s not blaming. That’s stating a fact. I’d it makes it sounds like this couldnt happen but for the last admin...well...The facts are the facts


16 posted on 01/09/2020 9:16:22 AM PST by wiseprince
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To: SeekAndFind

bam gave them permission to build a nuclear bomb: the “nuclear deal.” He gave them our money. He had a highly-paid advisor in the White House, valerie jarrett, who promoted iran’s interests.

Also, never forget that the pope operated diplomatically to facilitate the iran nuclear deal. Yes he did.


17 posted on 01/09/2020 9:25:17 AM PST by I want the USA back (If free speech is taken away, dumb and silent we are led, like sheep to the slaughter: G Washington)
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To: SeekAndFind
When considering relations between the US and Iran over the last 40 years one can consider two pivotal moments:

First: Inauguration Day 1981.The mullahs had held our citizens for almost 18 months. But they released them on that particular day. IOW,the mullahs knew that the Peanut Farmer was weak..and that Reagan wasn't.

Second: Osama Obama shipped $1.5 billion (in small bills) to the mullahs. Trump took out their chief murderer of U nationals,the nationals of allies (as confirmed in the British parliament just yesterday) and innocent civilians. Thousands of people.

Their response...lob a couple of outdated missiles into the desert.

IOW,Osama Obama was weak...Trump isn't.

They know that there's a new sheriff in town. John Friggin Kerry is advising them to look forward a Rat President next year.They're in for an unpleasant surprise.

18 posted on 01/09/2020 9:27:29 AM PST by Gay State Conservative (The Rats Can't Get Over The Fact That They Lost A Rigged Election)
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To: SeekAndFind
I wish Trump hadn’t used his address on Iran to score points against Obama. 

Again with calling on Republicans to fight by the Marquess of Queensberry rules while being continually sucker-punched by Democrats.

-PJ

19 posted on 01/09/2020 9:38:12 AM PST by Political Junkie Too (Freedom of the press is the People's right to publish, not CNN's right to the 1st question.)
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To: SeekAndFind

“The first is whether President Trump should be calling out his predecessor, especially at a time when national unity (however slender the hope for it may be) is particularly important.”

Like the Democrats and their Lame Street Media puppets are doing anything but dividing this Republic.


20 posted on 01/09/2020 9:46:28 AM PST by antidemoncrat
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