Posted on 01/08/2020 1:44:03 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
President Donald Trump wrongly dismissed the continuing threat of the Islamic State group and spread a false tale of the U.S. paying out billions of dollars to Iran as part of the multinational deal freezing its nuclear program in an address Wednesday that fell short on facts.
He also made an assertion that is as dubious as it was provocative: that the Iranian missiles fired by Tehran at two military bases hosting U.S. forces in Iraq were paid for by money “made available” to Iran by the Obama administration.
A look at some of the president’s claims in his remarks on Iran’s missile strike on the two Iraqi bases:
TRUMP: “Three months ago, after destroying 100% of ISIS and its territorial caliphate ...”
THE FACTS: His claim of a 100% defeat is misleading as the Islamic State still poses a threat.
TRUMP: “Iran’s hostility substantially increased after the foolish Iran nuclear deal was signed in 2013. And they were given $150 billion, not to mention $1.8 billion in cash.”
THE FACTS: There was no $150 billion payout from the U.S. treasury or other countries.
TRUMP: “The missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration.”
THE FACTS: That accusation comes without corroboration.
TRUMP: “We are independent, and we do not need Middle East oil.”
THE FACTS: Trump’s declaration of energy independence is premature. The U.S. still needs plenty of oil from the Mideast.
TRUMP: “The American military has been completely rebuilt under my administration, at a cost of $2.5 trillion.”
THE FACTS: That’s an exaggeration.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
THE FACTS: His claim of a 100% defeat is misleading as the Islamic State still poses a threat. IS was defeated in Iraq in 2017, then lost the last of its land holdings in Syria in March, marking the end of the extremists’ self-declared caliphate.
If ISIS has no land, it is no longer a STATE, idiots. You are quibbling merely because President Trump has stated a fact YOU disagree with.
You are entitled to your wrong opinion, but you are NOT entitled to your own facts.
THE FACTS: There was no $150 billion payout from the U.S. treasury or other countries.When Iran signed the multinational deal to restrain its nuclear development in return for being freed from sanctions, it regained access to its own assets, which had been frozen abroad. Iran was allowed to get its money back.
Trump said nothing about the money coming from the US Treasury or other countries. He merely said they were given $150 Billion, essentially by Obama without authority, or vote of Congress, or approval of a Treaty by the US Senate, money that would be spent on military expenditures and terrorism.
You are entitled to your wrong opinion, but you are NOT entitled to your own facts.
THE FACTS: That accusation comes without corroboration. The administration has offered no information supporting the contention that in regaining access to $150 billion of its assets that had been frozen abroad, Iran steered a chunk of that money to the missiles that hit the bases in Iraq.
IDIOTS, money is fungible. Without that $150 billion, Iran would not have had $150 billion to spend, regardless of where it was spent. Money was spent on missiles that would have had to have been spent on other things more desperately needed. Instead fungible money was spent on missiles. Had they not had $150 Billion, it is more likely they would not have been so profligate of wasting missiles. QED. IDIOTS.
You are entitled to your wrong opinion, but you are NOT entitled to your own facts.
THE FACTS: Trump’s declaration of energy independence is premature. The U.S. still needs plenty of oil from the Mideast.
We can, if pressed, convert our production of gasoline to use what is produced by fracking and what we EXPORT can be made up from crude that would be normally imported into the United States by those nations that normally get it from us. It would be somewhat disruptive, but we could handle it. We are energy independent, if we need to be.
Just because it might be difficult, does not make it false, or a lie.
You are entitled to your wrong opinion, but you are NOT entitled to your own facts.
THE FACTS: That’s an exaggeration.It’s true that his administration has accelerated a sharp buildup in defense spending, including a respite from what the U.S. military considered to be crippling spending limits under budget sequestration.
But a number of new Pentagon weapons programs, such as the F-35 fighter jet, were started years before the Trump administration. And it will take years for freshly ordered tanks, planes and other weapons to be built, delivered and put to use.
Again, the AP response is the exaggeration. The coincidental “Elephant Walk of F-35 this week in Utah shows the lie of what the AP is spewing. It is always a multi-year effort when equipment is planned. The final paragraph about nuclear weapons replacement is disingenuous as we are not intending to use nukes in any confrontations with Iran. That is just more of their blockading to make Trump look bad.
There was more info in the full article, but it was actually more obfuscation of the facts.
There was one thing he said and I’ll add many others say also, energy independent. We are not energy independent, we still import millions of barrels a day to meet our needs. Now we do produce more energy overall than we could possibly use at this present time. We’re producing more natural gas than ever but have a very poor infrastructure to truly utilize it.
If producing more energy than we consume is the definition of energy independence then I’d have to say the President is right. Had he said we were independent of foreign oil then I’d ask him to tap the brakes a little.
They are so full of it
I don’t recall there ever being an AP fact check during the Obama reign of terror.
Correct me if this is incorrect but, as I recall, Iran paid us for military hardware that was not delivered since they seized our embassy and held Americans hostage. That in effect terminated the contract which was non-refundable. Obama had no legal or moral basis for returning those funds.
You can say that again. . . And again. . . And again. . .
Somethings just scream out to be repeated. LOL!
They really must have had fun with that. I can see they worked really hard to refute his statements.
When - OH! When are all these so-called journalists going to get it through their heads that they are clowns not even worthy of being sent to the unemployment lines? They are jokes - can’t they see that?
They are just saying “no it isn’t” to everything.
“Look, I came here for an argument.”
“No you didn’t”
The money Obama gave to Iran was a release of the sanctioned money which we withheld in 1979 after the current Iranian regime attacked the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 52 hostages.
You run a red light, and get a $100 ticket. You pay the ticket. But later you decide to ask for your money back. Do you deserve to have your money back? Does it matter that the $100 was “yours in the first place”?
Meaning in part, changing what Trump said in denying it:
Iran’s hostility substantially increased after the foolish Iran nuclear deal was signed in 2013. And they were given $150 billion, not to mention $1.8 billion in cash.”
THE FACTS: There was no $150 billion payout from the U.S. treasury or other countries.
Where did Trump say the U.S. treasury? As for other countries;
When Iran signed the multinational deal to restrain its nuclear development in return for being freed from sanctions, it regained access to its own assets, which had been frozen abroad. Iran was allowed to get its money back.
Does not "frozen abroad" mean other countries?
As for 2013:
The deal actually was signed in 2015, after a 2013 preliminary agreement.
A technical detail.
Then,
The $1.8 billion is a separate matter. A payout of roughly that amount did come from the U.S. treasury.
Again, where does "they were given $150 billion, not to mention $1.8 billion in cash" say "from the U.S. treasury?"
In the 1970s, Iran paid the U.S. $400 million for military equipment that was never delivered because the government was overthrown and diplomatic relations ruptured. After the nuclear deal, the U.S. and Iran announced they had settled the matter, with the U.S. agreeing to pay the $400 million principal along with about $1.3 billion in interest.
So indeed "they were given $150 billion, not to mention $1.8 billion in cash."
Next,
TRUMP: “The missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration.”
THE FACTS: That accusation comes without corroboration. The administration has offered no information supporting the contention that in regaining access to $150 billion of its assets that had been frozen abroad, Iran steered a chunk of that money to the missiles that hit the bases in Iraq.
Meaning AP has no corroboration, and thus it decrees the claim to be false.
TRUMP: “We are independent, and we do not need Middle East oil.”
THE FACTS: Trump’s declaration of energy independence is premature. The U.S. still needs plenty of oil from the Mideast.
On energy more broadly, the U.S. is indeed close to parity on how much energy it produces and how much it consumes. In some months, it produces more than it consumes. But it has not achieved self-sufficiency.
So Trump was guilty of hype, unless he means that if necessary, with changes and the help of reserves, the US could survive without ME oil.
America is now the world’s top oil producer.
For the first time since 1973, the United States is the world's largest producer of crude oil, according to preliminary estimates published on Wednesday by the Energy Department. But,
US oil refineries, which were mostly built decades ago, still require heavy doses of foreign oil. https://money.cnn.com/2018/09/12/investing/us-oil-production-russia-saudi-arabia/index.html
The United States, produces roughly 12 million barrels per day, but consumes 20 million bpd, meaning it must import the rest. Much of the US shortfall comes from Canada, but some still comes from Saudi Arabia, Iraq and other Gulf nations because several US refineries prefer their oil. Crude oil is graded by density and consistency, and oil from different geographical locations will naturally have unique properties. The biggest US refinery — Motiva Enterprises LLC in Port Arthur, Texas — is half-owned by Saudi Arabia's state energy company, Saudi Aramco, and is set up for heavier Saudi grades. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-18/saudi-oil-us-explainer-how-much-does-the-us-have/11519486
TRUMP: “The American military has been completely rebuilt under my administration, at a cost of $2.5 trillion.”
THE FACTS: That’s an exaggeration.
At least they called it what it is.
Replying to
@APFactCheck
and
@hopeyen1
How pathetic - you will say anything to “debunk” all of President Trump’s many accomplishments - FACT: Obama funded Iran with over $150 billion and a planeload of hard cash. FACT: Iran stepped up terror after this deal FACT: ISIS is effectively dead FACT: your TDS is showing.
No! The AP has grown less reliable as the Academmic/Media complex has become more aggressively biased.
This is why you cannot debate leftist. It is worthless.
Top notch work by America's "FAKE NEWS" BULL$HIT artists.
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