The Patriot Post® · Iran Away Without Paying
The president’s Iran deal came at great expense to U.S. security — and it may come at even greater expense to the regime’s victims. About 43 billion dollars’ worth. Until recently, most people probably didn’t know that the Iranian government owed a bundle of money to American and Israeli terrorism victims. Since the late 1990s, U.S. courts have awarded billions of dollars to these families for their loss and their suffering. Billions of dollars that — for years — has gone unpaid.
Now, with Iran set to cash in on the international community’s misplaced trust, Congress is demanding that President Hassan Rouhani pay up. Before the U.S. lifts sanctions, at least 120 House conservatives want the regime to give survivors of terrorism what’s owed them. If Iran refuses, a new bill would block the flow of funds promised in the U.S. nuclear deal.
Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.), the man behind the measure, argues that “Iran should not get a red cent in U.S. sanctions relief until it has paid its victims what they are owed. I oppose the Iran deal, but surely we can all agree that Iran should not reap any benefits from the U.S. until it has compensated the families of those whose lives were taken by Iranian terrorism.” Under his Justice for Victims of Iranian Terrorism Act, the president would be barred from lifting sanctions until Rouhani’s country paid “all court-ordered judgments.”
Unfortunately, the White House doesn’t seem to care about American victims — not here, and not in Iran. While American Pastor Saeed Abedini is senselessly beaten for his faith in the worst prison in Tehran, the Obama administration continues to shrug off his plight, the plight of three other U.S. hostages, and now, other families that have suffered because of Iran’s state-sponsored terrorism. In an announcement this week, the White House made it clear that it would veto H.R. 3457, insisting that the president will not renegotiate the Iran deal despite his supposed concern for the victims.
An astonished Meehan said, “I’d just like to understand why [Obama] thinks it’s more important to give money back to Iran than it is to first pay the victims of their past terror acts.” Instead of fighting for American victims, the president is going to send billions of dollars to Iran to create more? Like us, Congressman Ted Poe (R-Texas) is outraged that the administration would even consider bankrolling Iran while these atrocities go unanswered. In a speech on the House floor, he railed against the lunacy of the White House’s position.
“Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism. Iran has been sued in federal courts by the families of the murdered victims. Iran is guilty of the murder of 421 Americans in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983. Iran is guilty of the murder of 19 service members and injuring 372 others in Saudi Arabia in 1996. Iran is guilty of murdering a thousand other Americans, including some in Iraq and Afghanistan… Federal courts have awarded the victim and families over $40 billion for these crimes, but Iran will not pay. It laughs at the death of the innocent it has murdered. It laughs at American justice.” Now, he argues, is the time to hold the regime accountable. “Let the ayatollah know he cannot get a diplomatic pass or sanctions relief until he pays for his crimes. The ayatollah has sown the seeds of murder in Iran, and now it is time for them to reap the consequences of their crimes.”
Contact your representative and urge him or her to stand with the survivors of Iranian terrorism. For more on what the deal could cost America, don’t miss Senator John McCain’s speech at last weekend’s Values Voter Summit.
Secret Service Does Secret Disservice to Rep
Turns out, the Secret Service isn’t so secret after all. The disgraced agency, rocked by everything from prostitution charges to security lapses, is at the center of another firestorm — this time, for smearing Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah). The conservative congressman, who’s been front and center in the battle for government accountability, was apparently the target of a Secret Service vendetta, a new report found.
Tired of the corruption in Washington, Chaffetz hasn’t been shy about demanding better of most federal offices, including the president’s own security team. In a hearing back in March, the Utah leader took the Secret Service to task for botching a job involving a suspicious package on White House grounds. Upset over the confrontation, top officials at the Secret Service exacted revenge by circulating highly sensitive information about Chaffetz to its agents. During an investigation of the agency, the inspector general uncovered a plot by Assistant Director Edward Lowery to humiliate Chaffetz. “Some information that he might find embarrassing needs to get out,” Lowery emailed another director. In a stunning move, Lowery helped to leak Chaffetz’s personnel file, which included the fact that he’d applied for a job at the Secret Service in the early 2000s and was turned down.
The information wormed its way to dozens of agents, including the president’s own detail. As many as 18 supervisors and executives at the Secret Service knew this was happening and did nothing. “These agents for an agency whose motto — ‘Worthy of trust and confidence’ — is engraved in marble in the lobby of their headquarters building,” the inspector general wrote. “Few could credibly argue that the agents involved in this episode lived up to this motto.”
In trying to deflect their scandals, the Secret Service created more! Rep. Chaffetz, who was busy chairing the first House hearing with Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards this week, finally responded to the breach [Wednesday], saying, “It was a tactic designed to intimidate and embarrass me, and frankly, it is intimidating. It’s scary to think about all the possible dangers in having your personal information exposed.”
Is this what the Left meant by “the most transparent administration” in history? A president who exposes confidential information about conservatives while the rest of the administration operates in secrecy? From Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder to the IRS and Benghazi, “lawless” doesn’t begin to describe the corruption taking place in America’s highest offices. That’s why leaders like Jason Chaffetz are so important. They won’t bend — not even in the face of gross power abuses like this one.
A Hostile Environment for Global Warming?
First, same-sex marriage opponents are jailed — and it looks like climate change skeptics aren’t far behind! Frustrated by the slow pace of the global warming debate, a group of 20 liberal scientists is asking President Obama to investigate — and hopefully prosecute — their opponents. Like most Americans, fossil fuel companies aren’t buying the phony science behind the carbon emission hysteria, so they aren’t exactly racing to implement policies that reduce it.
That isn’t sitting well with the president’s friends, who insist that these naysayers should be forced to act — or face up to 20 years in jail. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) had already floated the idea of prosecuting these corporations under RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Of course, the irony is that RICO was enacted to fight the mob — now, it’s being used by the environmentalist mafia to demand action on their manufactured crises. It’s a betrayal of the entire scientific creed — which is to challenge theories and concepts with open debate.
But open debate is exactly what the Left is hoping to avoid, especially when the facts aren’t on its side. As Judith Curry lamented, “Attempts by powerful people to silence other scientists, especially in this brutal fashion, is a recipe for stifling scientific progress and for making poor policies.” As far as the Left is concerned, if you can’t win the debate, silence it! If you can’t create conformity, force it!
This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.