Incredible - Obama: 'I did not pay a ransom. IRAN paid the ransom!'

[Fueri]

1 - Sure if it had nothing to do with the release of the hostages, except, yeah, it did, despite the lies initially told by the administration.

2- Utterly irrelevant. Good, bad, up, down. Just irrelevant.

whether or not we owed the money and whether or not we would pay it had nothing to do with the prisoners

True, it had nothing to do at all with the situation right up until they made it have something to do with it by making it a contingency.

This is simple stuff. Was the 400M cash a part of the deal or not.

According to the administration, at least now after lying through their teeth about it, yes it was.

nobody has said it was a part of the deal

except for the State Department, who changed their tune yesterday, after claiming otherwise, which I'm thinking is why this thread is here....

they said they held thr money until after the release. it was not part of the deal.

Good lord, use the google. Every damn outlet on the planet is reporting otherwise.

 

[ogibillm]

whether or not we owed the money and whether or not we would pay it had nothing to do with the prisoners

True, it had nothing to do at all with the situation right up until they made it have something to do with it by making it a contingency.

This is simple stuff. Was the 400M cash a part of the deal or not.

According to the administration, at least now after lying through their teeth about it, yes it was.

nobody has said it was a part of the deal

except for the State Department, who changed their tune yesterday, after claiming otherwise, which I'm thinking is why this thread is here....

they said they held thr money until after the release. it was not part of the deal.

Good lord, use the google. Every damn outlet on the planet is reporting otherwise.

State Department: US held up cash until Iran released Americans - CNNPolitics.com

 

[g5000]

The $400 million was Iran's money. How does one pay a ransom to someone with their own money?

Please explain.

 

[g5000]

The cash was a refund owed to Iran. We withheld their refund until they released the Americans.

The Americans were freed as part of a prisoner swap. National Review: In Prisoner Swap, Iran Frees American Pastor Saeed Abedini and Three Other American Hostages

 

[ogibillm]

The $400 million was Iran's money. How does one pay a ransom to someone with their own money?

Please explain.

if anything iran released prisoners they did not have to release in exchange for money we did have to pay.

 

[SYTFE]

It's amazing that the RWnuts around here think it would have better if the US had released Iran's funds to them and the Americans would have stayed prisoners in Iran.

How stupid is that.

They're sociopaths.

 

[Fueri]

True, it had nothing to do at all with the situation right up until they made it have something to do with it by making it a contingency.

This is simple stuff. Was the 400M cash a part of the deal or not.

According to the administration, at least now after lying through their teeth about it, yes it was.

nobody has said it was a part of the deal

except for the State Department, who changed their tune yesterday, after claiming otherwise, which I'm thinking is why this thread is here....

they said they held thr money until after the release. it was not part of the deal.

Good lord, use the google. Every damn outlet on the planet is reporting otherwise.

State Department: US held up cash until Iran released Americans - CNNPolitics.com

and, so? when there are two deals and the execution of one is contingent upon the execution of the other they are then linked.

the administration claimed otherwise initially and are now admitting otherwise, as I've been saying all along.

"State Department spokesman John Kirby was asked at a press briefing: “In basic English, you’re saying you wouldn’t give them $400 million in cash until the prisoners were released, correct?”

“That’s correct,” he replied."

 

[ogibillm]

nobody has said it was a part of the deal

except for the State Department, who changed their tune yesterday, after claiming otherwise, which I'm thinking is why this thread is here....

they said they held thr money until after the release. it was not part of the deal.

Good lord, use the google. Every damn outlet on the planet is reporting otherwise.

State Department: US held up cash until Iran released Americans - CNNPolitics.com

and, so? when there are two deals and the execution of one is contingent upon the execution of the other they are then linked.

the administration claimed otherwise initially and are now admitting otherwise, as I've been saying all along.

"State Department spokesman John Kirby was asked at a press briefing: “In basic English, you’re saying you wouldn’t give them $400 million in cash until the prisoners were released, correct?”

“That’s correct,” he replied."

and you aren't okay with that? had they changed their mind and not released the prisoners as agreed do you think we should have given the payment anyways or maybe dragged it out as long as possible?

 

[occupied]

I care than Iran's nuclear program was set back twenty years and the war drums have quieted.

How the hell do you believe that to be true when weeks of advance notice has to be given for any inspection and all soil samples are collected by the Iranian government?

You are either an idiot or a liar, and since yo are a Democrat it sounds like you could be both.

It's true because the heavy industry required to manufacture a nuclear weapons capability cannot be hidden by any means. There is just no way. It would be like trying to hide a radioactive steel mill from instruments that can detect ridiculously minuscule radiation sources like a cancer patent riding by in a car.

 

[the_human_being]

Ransom, you pay... then get hostages,

leverage, you get hostages... then you give them back what was theirs...or, then you pay.

It's a fine line, but there is a difference.

Actually, it's termed "aiding and abetting the enemy". People have been imprisoned for doing that.

Do you truly believe every Whitehouse lawyer under the Sun is not giving the President legal advice on these type of things before any moves are made?

Even Bush had lawyers draw up why an invasion of iraq was legal, or basically, why the ''Bush Doctrine-Preemptive War Doctrine'' was constitutional and legal....

Trust me, or as Trump would say, ''Believe me!'' Our Presidents are covering their rear-ends, and are lawyered up in moves like this...before they even make them!

I'm certain the WhiteHouse lawyers would have advised him it was aiding and abetting, IF IT WERE the case!

I'm certainly not a lawyer but I am a veteran and one does not aid the enemy in any way shape or form.

 

[occupied]

Ransom, you pay... then get hostages,

leverage, you get hostages... then you give them back what was theirs...or, then you pay.

It's a fine line, but there is a difference.

Actually, it's termed "aiding and abetting the enemy". People have been imprisoned for doing that.

Do you truly believe every Whitehouse lawyer under the Sun is not giving the President legal advice on these type of things before any moves are made?

Even Bush had lawyers draw up why an invasion of iraq was legal, or basically, why the ''Bush Doctrine-Preemptive War Doctrine'' was constitutional and legal....

Trust me, or as Trump would say, ''Believe me!'' Our Presidents are covering their rear-ends, and are lawyered up in moves like this...before they even make them!

I'm certain the WhiteHouse lawyers would have advised him it was aiding and abetting, IF IT WERE the case!

I'm certainly not a lawyer but I am a veteran and one does not aid the enemy in any way shape or form.

I always like to ask if there is any way for an "enemy" to become, if not a friend, someone you no longer want to kill? We somehow made the transition with Russia, they were Americas greatest adversary and now conservatives, at least, love them.

 

[the_human_being]

so Iran traded hostages for money then, instead of us trading money for hostages? Wow, that is soooo different. LOL.

however you want to see it, moron, the administration traded the money for the people. It was a clear condition of this deal, which they have now admitted, after initially completely denying, so you can basically shut the fuck up or keep making yourself look like a fool, it doesn't really matter to me.

you really have a tough time understanding that we owed iran that money and they were getting it, eventually, whether they released the prisoners or not

Bull-oney.

You people have a tough time understanding that by making the cash a bargaining chip they made it part of the deal.

How that is not self-evident to someone who is such a sharpie that they are calling out others for their obtuseness I dunno, but I do know I find that pretty funny.

Then they lied about it, of course. They wouldn't have had to if one of two things had been true:

1. They hadn't made it part of the deal, as they claimed.
2. It didn't matter so there was nothing to conceal.

And now, of course, it doesn't matter to the true believers, who are busy spinning, spinning, spinning.

the 'true believers' as you call them are the ones pretending two things

1) that paying a debt arbitrated at the hague is ransom
2) that using the debt payment as leverage for the return of our citizens is somehow bad

1 - Sure if it had nothing to do with the release of the hostages, except, yeah, it did, despite the lies initially told by the administration.

2- Utterly irrelevant. Good, bad, up, down. Just irrelevant.

It got the hostages released at no cost to us. I marvel at why dopes like you think that's a bad thing.

Isn't the payment an enticement for others to hold Americans for ransom? It sounds like one could make a case now that taking Americans hostage and holding them for ransom or "leverage" could pay off very handsomely. How much will the market rate now be per hostage?

 

[occupied]

except for the State Department, who changed their tune yesterday, after claiming otherwise, which I'm thinking is why this thread is here....

they said they held thr money until after the release. it was not part of the deal.

Good lord, use the google. Every damn outlet on the planet is reporting otherwise.

State Department: US held up cash until Iran released Americans - CNNPolitics.com

and, so? when there are two deals and the execution of one is contingent upon the execution of the other they are then linked.

the administration claimed otherwise initially and are now admitting otherwise, as I've been saying all along.

"State Department spokesman John Kirby was asked at a press briefing: “In basic English, you’re saying you wouldn’t give them $400 million in cash until the prisoners were released, correct?”

“That’s correct,” he replied."

and you aren't okay with that? had they changed their mind and not released the prisoners as agreed do you think we should have given the payment anyways or maybe dragged it out as long as possible?

This was just a down payment, we have a lot more of their money, if they did not follow through it would be a cheap price to find them untrustworthy.

 

[the_human_being]

Ransom, you pay... then get hostages,

leverage, you get hostages... then you give them back what was theirs...or, then you pay.

It's a fine line, but there is a difference.

Actually, it's termed "aiding and abetting the enemy". People have been imprisoned for doing that.

Do you truly believe every Whitehouse lawyer under the Sun is not giving the President legal advice on these type of things before any moves are made?

Even Bush had lawyers draw up why an invasion of iraq was legal, or basically, why the ''Bush Doctrine-Preemptive War Doctrine'' was constitutional and legal....

Trust me, or as Trump would say, ''Believe me!'' Our Presidents are covering their rear-ends, and are lawyered up in moves like this...before they even make them!

I'm certain the WhiteHouse lawyers would have advised him it was aiding and abetting, IF IT WERE the case!

I'm certainly not a lawyer but I am a veteran and one does not aid the enemy in any way shape or form.

I always like to ask if there is any way for an "enemy" to become, if not a friend, someone you no longer want to kill? We somehow made the transition with Russia, they were Americas greatest adversary and now conservatives, at least, love them.

We are well known for making strange bedfellows. Stalin was our ally against Germany and Japan.

 

[occupied]

I always like to ask if there is any way for an "enemy" to become, if not a friend, someone you no longer want to kill? We somehow made the transition with Russia, they were Americas greatest adversary and now conservatives, at least, love them.

We are well known for making strange bedfellows. Stalin was our ally against Germany and Japan.

This is true, sometimes it works and sometimes it does not, but you have to try. Letting animosity drag on for a generation is nothing but wasted time. We will probably never be friends with Iran but there is a definite benefit to our government not acting in ways that confirms the propaganda that keeps the Ayatollahs in power.

 

[NYcarbineer]

you really have a tough time understanding that we owed iran that money and they were getting it, eventually, whether they released the prisoners or not

Bull-oney.

You people have a tough time understanding that by making the cash a bargaining chip they made it part of the deal.

How that is not self-evident to someone who is such a sharpie that they are calling out others for their obtuseness I dunno, but I do know I find that pretty funny.

Then they lied about it, of course. They wouldn't have had to if one of two things had been true:

1. They hadn't made it part of the deal, as they claimed.
2. It didn't matter so there was nothing to conceal.

And now, of course, it doesn't matter to the true believers, who are busy spinning, spinning, spinning.

the 'true believers' as you call them are the ones pretending two things

1) that paying a debt arbitrated at the hague is ransom
2) that using the debt payment as leverage for the return of our citizens is somehow bad

1 - Sure if it had nothing to do with the release of the hostages, except, yeah, it did, despite the lies initially told by the administration.

2- Utterly irrelevant. Good, bad, up, down. Just irrelevant.

It got the hostages released at no cost to us. I marvel at why dopes like you think that's a bad thing.

Isn't the payment an enticement for others to hold Americans for ransom? It sounds like one could make a case now that taking Americans hostage and holding them for ransom or "leverage" could pay off very handsomely. How much will the market rate now be per hostage?

How many times do we have to point out it was the Iranian's money?

Give us a ballpark figure.

 

[Care4all]

you really have a tough time understanding that we owed iran that money and they were getting it, eventually, whether they released the prisoners or not

Bull-oney.

You people have a tough time understanding that by making the cash a bargaining chip they made it part of the deal.

How that is not self-evident to someone who is such a sharpie that they are calling out others for their obtuseness I dunno, but I do know I find that pretty funny.

Then they lied about it, of course. They wouldn't have had to if one of two things had been true:

1. They hadn't made it part of the deal, as they claimed.
2. It didn't matter so there was nothing to conceal.

And now, of course, it doesn't matter to the true believers, who are busy spinning, spinning, spinning.

the 'true believers' as you call them are the ones pretending two things

1) that paying a debt arbitrated at the hague is ransom
2) that using the debt payment as leverage for the return of our citizens is somehow bad

1 - Sure if it had nothing to do with the release of the hostages, except, yeah, it did, despite the lies initially told by the administration.

2- Utterly irrelevant. Good, bad, up, down. Just irrelevant.

It got the hostages released at no cost to us. I marvel at why dopes like you think that's a bad thing.

Isn't the payment an enticement for others to hold Americans for ransom? It sounds like one could make a case now that taking Americans hostage and holding them for ransom or "leverage" could pay off very handsomely. How much will the market rate now be per hostage?

no, because other countries aren't owed $400 million of their own money back. If you stupid republicans would just keep your mouths shut and stop trying to hurt the USA/Obama and other hostages, no one would have even thought this $400 million that was Iran's money was for a hostage ransome.

YOU and YOUR ILK are the ONES harming us, and how you can't see this, is beyond me....

 

[Skylar]

So let me see if I have this right. We owned $400 million to Iran. They wanted their $400 million and we'd agreed to give it back to them. But Obama put a condition of the delivery of Iran's money....that Iran return prisoners to the US.

Which Iran did. And republicans have inexplicably called a 'ransom'.

Um.....generally speaking a random doesn't already belong to the people you are paying it to.

 

[NYcarbineer]

So let me see if I have this right. We owned $400 million to Iran. They wanted their $400 million and we'd agreed to give it back to them. But Obama put a condition of the delivery of Iran's money....that Iran return prisoners to the US.

Which Iran did. And republicans have inexplicably called a 'ransom'.

Um.....generally speaking a random doesn't already belong to the people you are paying it to.

Collecting ransom out of your own pocket is the world's dumbest criminal enterprise lol.

 

[Skylar]

So let me see if I have this right. We owned $400 million to Iran. They wanted their $400 million and we'd agreed to give it back to them. But Obama put a condition of the delivery of Iran's money....that Iran return prisoners to the US.

Which Iran did. And republicans have inexplicably called a 'ransom'.

Um.....generally speaking a random doesn't already belong to the people you are paying it to.

Collecting ransom out of your own pocket is the world's dumbest criminal enterprise lol.

'
Seriously. That's like putting duct tape on your mouth and sending yourself a random note.