Posted on 11/05/2024 7:02:10 AM PST by SJackson
Did his attempt to curry favor with Iran work?
One of the ways Hezbollah earns money — about one billion dollars a year — is by drug trafficking. It controls much of the sale of drugs sent from Colombia and Venezuela to customers in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. For eight years, beginning in 2008, a wide-ranging investigation by the Drug Enforcement Agency known as Project Cassandra uncovered how Hezbollah had transformed itself from a Middle Eastern political and military organization into an international crime syndicate, but Project Cassandra was shut down by the Obama administration, that wanted to go easy on Hezbollah in order to curry favor with Iran at a time when the administration wanted Tehran to agree to the “Iran deal” that, it was hoped, would stop Iran’s nuclear project from proceeding (spoiler alert: it didn’t). More on the Obama administration’s folly can be found here: “Hezbollah received billions of dollars thanks to Obama shutting down a DEA operation to destroy its drug smuggling operations,” Elder of Ziyon, October 28, 2024:
In 2017, Politico broke a story that has particular relevance to what is happening in Lebanon today.
In its determination to secure a nuclear deal with Iran, the Obama administration derailed an ambitious law enforcement campaign targeting drug trafficking by the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah, even as it was funneling cocaine into the United States, according to a POLITICO investigation.
The campaign, dubbed Project Cassandra, was launched in 2008 after the Drug Enforcement Administration amassed evidence that Hezbollah had transformed itself from a Middle East-focused military and political organization into an international crime syndicate that some investigators believed was collecting $1 billion a year from drug and weapons trafficking, money laundering and other criminal activities.
Over the next eight years, agents working out of a top-secret DEA facility in Chantilly, Virginia, used wiretaps, undercover operations and informants to map Hezbollah’s illicit networks, with the help of 30 U.S. and foreign security agencies.
They followed cocaine shipments, some from Latin America to West Africa and on to Europe and the Middle East, and others through Venezuela and Mexico to the United States. They tracked the river of dirty cash as it was laundered by, among other tactics, buying American used cars and shipping them to Africa. And with the help of some key cooperating witnesses, the agents traced the conspiracy, they believed, to the innermost circle of Hezbollah and its state sponsors in Iran.
But as Project Cassandra reached higher into the hierarchy of the conspiracy, Obama administration officials threw an increasingly insurmountable series of roadblocks in its way, according to interviews with dozens of participants who in many cases spoke for the first time about events shrouded in secrecy, and a review of government documents and court records. When Project Cassandra leaders sought approval for some significant investigations, prosecutions, arrests and financial sanctions, officials at the Justice and Treasury departments delayed, hindered or rejected their requests.
“This was a policy decision, it was a systematic decision,” said David Asher, who helped establish and oversee Project Cassandra as a Defense Department illicit finance analyst. “They serially ripped apart this entire effort that was very well supported and resourced, and it was done from the top down.”
The article also notes how the Obama administration was convinced that Hezbollah had “moderate” elements that could be encouraged….
Of course, there is no “moderate” wing of Hezbollah. This was a fantasy that the greenhorns in the Obama administration allowed themselves to believe.
Did Obama’s attempt to curry favor with Iran by ending an investigation into Hezbollah for drug-and-weapons trafficking work? Did the “Iran deal” that Tehran ultimately agreed to actually halt Iran’s march to nuclear weapons, or only slow it down? Tehran did not stop working on its nuclear project, but the Obama administration refused to recognize its own folly in trusting the Iranians to uphold their side of the Iran deal. Still worse, despite the evidence amassed by the investigators of Operation Cassandra, there was no attempt to stop Hezbollah from continuing its drug trafficking operation. The billion dollars it took in paid both for weapons (not all of its weapons are supplied free by Iran) and for the salaries of its fighters. The Middle East would have become a very different place if the Obama administration had gone after Hezbollah as a criminal enterprise, and shut down its trafficking operations. Had that happened, perhaps Obama would have earned his undeserved and inexplicable Nobel Peace Prize.
Did it work, depends on Obama's objective. It's certainly empowered Hizbollah. Related threads
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10 years old now, but still relevant!!!
Seeds of Terror
How heroin is bankrolling the Taliban and al Qaeda.
http://failuremag.com/feature/article/seeds_of_terror/#ixzz35QhbgQ8K
Drug shipments off of Africa have “significantly increased since 2009”
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?xfile=data/international/2014/June/international_June26.xml§ion=international
Drug trafficking, kidnapping fund al Qaeda
By Rachel Ehrenfeld, Special to CNN -May 4, 2011
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/05/03/ehrenfeld.al.qaeda.funding/
Qatar used as transit point by drug traffickers: Expert 2013
http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/news/qatar/253421/qatar-used-as-transit-point-by-drug-traffickers-expert-
Obama secretly released high risk Taliban terrorists to the care of Qatar. (Qatar is where the US established for Taliban headquarters in 2011.)
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-offers-the-taliban-a-new-mideast-headquarters-2011-9
Islamic Revolutionaries under any name you google are tied to the Heroin trade along with most other drugs, as well as human trafficking.
http://www.newsweek.com/2013/06/12/talibans-new-role-afghanistans-drug-mafia-237524.html
Heroin production hits record levels in Afghanistan - study
http://rt.com/news/156128-afghanistan-drugs-usa-heroin/
Drug War? American Troops Are Protecting Afghan Opium. U.S. Occupation Leads to All-Time High Heroin Production
http://www.globalresearch.ca/drug-war-american-troops-are-protecting-afghan-opium-u-s-occupation-leads-to-all-time-high-heroin-production/5358053
Terrorists in “Americas Back Yard”
State Department Reports Hezbollah Increasing Drug and Terrorism in South America 2013
http://interamericansecuritywatch.com/exporting-terror-in-americas-backyard/
“There has indeed been a “marked resurgence” of Iranian state sponsorship of terrorism over the past 18 months. But as the new Nisman report drives home, here’s an even more disturbing fact — Iran has run intelligence networks in the United States’ backyard to “sponsor, foster and execute terrorist attacks” for decades.”
“Criminal plans” by Iran could be under way in Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago, the report said.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/03/world/americas/iran-latin-america/
Mexican Cartels Buying Afghan Heroin
http://www.banderasnews.com/1101/nr-afghanheroin.htm
Obama’s America:
“The horrific toll of America’s heroin ‘epidemic”
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26672422
America’s Heroin Epidemic -BBC 2014
The SEC sees no evil while Wall Street banks launder $BILLIONS in cartel
money. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/03/us-bank-mexico-drug-gangs
Hedge Fund Manager, Banker, and the largest Individual donor to Obama’s coiffeurs, continues to pour $Millions into thenDrug Legalization Campaign, made to look like citizen activism. George Soros 2/2014
http://www.hightimes.com/read/how-one-percent-will-legalize-marijuana
As “medical marijuana” legalization spreads across the country, police and other industry warnings about the dangers of legalizing marijuana ignored by media
http://www.flsheriffs.org/newsroom/entry/florida-sheriffs-pass-resolution-to-oppose-the-legalization-of-marijuana
DEA has been caught laundering money as well, “Agency officials declined to publicly discuss details of their work, citing concerns about compromising their investigations.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/world/americas/us-drug-agents-launder-profits-of-mexican-cartels.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&;;
Mexican Diplomat Says America Pretty Much Invited The Sinaloa Drug Cartel Across The Border
http://www.businessinsider.com/stratfor-the-us-works-with-cartels-2012-9#ixzz36vAJbBpS
Obama shut down the NDIC in 2012, the itelligence agency dedicated to tracking terrorism funded by drug trafficking.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/tag/national-drug-intelligence-center/
“Mexican cartel violence is at an all-time high along the increasingly porous southern border yet the Obama Administration has shut down a critical intelligence agency dedicated to identifying, tracking and severing the nexus between drug trafficking and terrorism.”
CONFIRMED: The DEA Struck A Deal With SINALOA Mexico’s Most Notorious Drug Cartel (They claimed feds agreed they could traffic into Chicago) JAN. 13, 2014
more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-government-and-the-sinaloa-cartel-2014-1#ixzz30wXEcHSl
U.S. Government and Top Mexican Drug Cartel Exposed as Partners
Written by Alex Newman Jan. 2014
http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/north-america/item/17396-u-s-government-and-top-mexican-drug-cartel-exposed-as-partners
The link between drugs and crime, including violent crime, would be hard to overstate in Chicago. Eighty-six percent of adult males arrested in Chicago last year tested positive for drug use. Chicago, with a population of 2.7 million, had 506 murders in 2012, the highest per capita among the four most populous U.S. cities.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-17/heroin-pushed-on-chicago-by-cartel-fueling-gang-murders.html
The Truth About Chicago’s Crime Rates (cooking the books)
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/May-2014/Chicago-crime-rates/
Dirty doctors, Russian mafia fueling prescription drug and heroin abuse in N.J., investigation finds
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/07/nj_state_commission_of_investigation_prescription_drug_heroin_abuse.html
Opiates are now the leading cause of accidental deaths, surpassing car crashes and alcohol. http://elitedaily.com/news/world/prescription-painkillers-overtake-car-crashes-leading-accidental-death-us/
Banks Laundering Cartel Drug Money -Rampant
http://www.globalresearch.ca/money-laundering-and-the-drug-trade-the-role-of-the-banks/5334205
BORDER CRISIS: CONGRESSMAN SAYS FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ‘CAUSING HUMAN TRAFFICKING’
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/07/05/Congressman-Illegls-Aliens-Rise-Obama-Advertises-If%20you-Come-You-Can-Stay
Cartels Exploit Immigration Crisis To Smuggle More Drugs Across Border
By Frank Diez July 03, 2014
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2014/07/03/cartels-exploit-immigration-crisis-to-smuggle-more-drugs-across-border/
Mexican Cartels are Behind Border Crisis -2014
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/23/how-mexico-s-cartels-are-behind-the-border-kid-crisis.html
Drug dealing, informant get border pass -2014
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/informant-gets-free-border-pass-675432
EXCLUSIVE: Photos Show Drugs Pouring Over Southern Arizona Border as Agent Resources are Overwhelmed Jul 08, 2014
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2014/07/08/exclusive-photos-show-drugs-pouring-over-southern-arizona-border-n1859982
The Obama Administration’s Human Trafficking
July 11, 2014 by Arnold
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/arnold-ahlert/the-obama-administrations-human-trafficking/
7 posted on 7/12/2014, 4:16:07 PM by mgist (.)
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And fjb refinanced iran.
What else is new?
Obama is very successful quashing investigation he doesn’t like. Too bad that real investigative journalism is dead. Otherwise a best selling book “The Life Times and Fate of Obama’s cook” would be a revelation. Such a book telling that story will never be written or published.
Bump
Odungo was, and continues to be, a skidmark on the underwear of America.
obama worked actively to promote islam in the USA. He did it out of love. biden continued the policy, but out of a desire for self-gain.
SMH
Because he is an Irania asset. That Kenyan can’t even wipe his own arse without Vallary Jarrett giving him permission from the ayatollahs.
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