While the mainstream media remains focused on vague accusations of possible “collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia a very real and well-documented case concerning past President Obama and Iran is about to blow everything else off the front page.
Congress has instructed Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the DOJ to turn over all communications and documents related to efforts by President Obama and his administration to torpedo investigation by the DEA into terrorist organization Hezbollah and its connection to Iranian-backed militants.
Politico broke the story with its nearly 3000 page exposé, The Secret Backstory of how Obama let Hezbollah Off the Hook, in which contributor Josh Meyer showed in meticulous detail how U.S. drug enforcement agents accuse the Obama administration of undermining and throwing roadblocks in the way of its investigation into drug trafficking and money laundering efforts by Hezbollah.
The investigation began near the end of 2008 and centered on Iranian-backed militants working with Hezbollah and Iranian-backed militants who participated in the illicit drug network. Years of undercover operations and U.S. wiretaps were part of the investigation.
Politico’s report shows that Hezbollah is believed to been laundering at least $200 million per month just in the United States alone.
Some lawmakers are now requesting the DOJ hand over to Congress all materials related to the DEA’s investigation known as Project Cassandra, a years-long effort to identify Hezbollah’s drug activities that included the U.S. and Latin America. Other investigations such as Operation Perseus, Operation Titan, and the Iran-Hezbollah Super Facilitator Initiative were also information of interest.
Congress is now seeking “all documents and communications referring or relating to the potential designation of Hezbollah as a Transnational Criminal Organization,” as well as, “all documents referring or relating to efforts to prosecute targets related to Hezbollah through the” RICO Act.
The deadline for the DOJ to provide Congress with these communications and documents is no later than 5pm on Jan. 8, 2018. The agency is also required to brief lawmakers no later than the 12th of the same month.
Lawmakers also have required DOJ brief them no later than Jan. 12, 2018, on the matter.
“I’ve long believed that the Obama administration could not have done any more to bend over backwards to appease the Iranian regime, yet news that the Obama administration killed the investigation into a billion dollar drug ring that lined the terrorist group Hezbollah’s pockets in order to save its coveted Iran deal may very well take the cake,” said Rep. Ron DeSantis (Rep – FL).
Representatives DeSantis and Jordan of Ohio said it a letter:
Hezbollah is a brutal terrorist group with American blood on its hands and it would be unconscionable for American policy to deliberately empower such a nefarious group, Congressional leaders have begun a formal investigation into the matter and petitioned the DOJ to hand over “all documents and communications” that may shine light on “interference with the DEA’s law enforcement efforts against Hezbollah.
According to Politico, the Obama Administration not only knew of Hezbollah’s worldwide drug trafficking enterprise but actively did everything it could to tie the hands of agencies like the DEA that were tasked with stopping such activities. Katherine Bauer, a former Obama-era Treasury official submitted written testimony last February to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in which she said, “under the Obama administration … these [Hezbollah-related] investigations were tamped down for fear of rocking the boat with Iran and jeopardizing the nuclear deal.”
Apparently in its push to seal a nuclear deal with Iran, President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry squashed years of hard work by the DEA. The final agreement in which Tehran promised to shelve efforts to build a nuclear weapons program in exchange for being released from crippling international economic sanctions was signed on Jan. 17, 2016. Within months, Project Cassandra had been all but gutted.
Former Project Cassandra task leaders and some current leaders in Washington say the loss of information gleaned by investigations like Project Cassandra has crippled the U.S. government ability pursue Hezbollah’s illicit conspiracies with top officials in the Iranian, Syrian, Venezuelan and Russian governments. That includes information that was being developed about presidents Nicolas Maduro, Assad, and Putin.
The end result of Obama’s refusal to listen to the DEA is that Hezbollah — in league with Iran, Russia, and the Assad regime — has all but overwhelmed opposition groups in Syria, including those backed by the United States.
~ American Liberty Report
