Biden, like Obama, gives billions of dollars to Iran while refusing to give money to the American victims of Iranian terror

[mark francis]

There is something wrong in DC when government leaders authorize billions of dollars to foreigners, including terrorists as well as illegal immigrants, yet refuses to honor congressional mandates and court rulings authorizing monetary compensation to victims of foreign terror. That is disturbing.

Biden should remember Americans harmed by foreign powers if he compensates migrants | The Hill 11-7-21

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL

Biden should remember Americans harmed by foreign powers if he compensates migrants

BY BARRY ROSEN, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 11/07/21 8:00 AM ET

The Biden administration is strongly considering paying migrant families detained and separated by U.S. officials after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. According to news reports, the U.S. is preparing to pay out nearly a half-million dollars per person, or nearly $1 million per family — though the president denied this when asked, leading to some confusion about the plan.

Whether this is morally and politically the right move is for others to decide. Should the payments be made, President Biden should consider his obligation as well to Americans citizens egregiously harmed or killed by foreign powers and state-sponsored terrorist groups.

Survivors of the Iran Hostage Crisis — myself included — and our families were wronged by a foreign power. The Islamic Republic of Iran held Americans for 444 days. The trauma of captivity lingers to this day. But we cannot sue the Islamic Republic like migrants can sue the U.S. government. We are barred from doing so under the terms of the agreement that precipitated our release.

To right that wrong, Congress responded in 2015 by passing legislation creating the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism (USVSST) Fund and authorizing a payment of $4.4 million, or $10,000 for each day we were held in captivity, to survivors. A lesser amount was authorized for our immediate families.

Only a tiny fraction of these funds has been paid, however, because the USVSST Fund is dependent upon revenue derived from the enforcement of U.S. sanctions. Congress compounded the challenge of paying survivors and their families by adding the families of victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and survivors to the list of all those eligible for payment from the fund.

An equitable decision would have been to weigh payments more heavily toward those who have waited the longest. A smart decision would have been to pay the victims of Iranian terror with the revenue collected from the sale of Iranian oil and petrochemicals seized from vessels carrying the illicit cargo. In May, the U.S. government sold more than 2 million barrels of Iranian crude oil for $110 million. That sale alone would have cleared nearly half of the fund’s total obligations to former hostages and their families if payouts had been targeted to specific enforcement.

The executive branch has the authority, through Attorney General Merrick Garland, to allocate the money and pay in full the longest-tenured members of the class covered by the fund — but Biden has not, nor did his predecessors, of course. If nothing changes, neither the victims of the Iran Hostage Crisis nor those of the 9/11 attacks will live to see a full and complete payout because the fund cannot possibly pay all of its eligible members based on the way it is presently organized.

 

[Boris Norris]

There is something wrong in DC when government leaders authorize billions of dollars to foreigners, including terrorists as well as illegal immigrants, yet refuses to honor congressional mandates and court rulings authorizing monetary compensation to victims of foreign terror. That is disturbing.

Biden should remember Americans harmed by foreign powers if he compensates migrants | The Hill 11-7-21

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL

Biden should remember Americans harmed by foreign powers if he compensates migrants

BY BARRY ROSEN, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 11/07/21 8:00 AM ET

The Biden administration is strongly considering paying migrant families detained and separated by U.S. officials after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. According to news reports, the U.S. is preparing to pay out nearly a half-million dollars per person, or nearly $1 million per family — though the president denied this when asked, leading to some confusion about the plan.

Whether this is morally and politically the right move is for others to decide. Should the payments be made, President Biden should consider his obligation as well to Americans citizens egregiously harmed or killed by foreign powers and state-sponsored terrorist groups.

Survivors of the Iran Hostage Crisis — myself included — and our families were wronged by a foreign power. The Islamic Republic of Iran held Americans for 444 days. The trauma of captivity lingers to this day. But we cannot sue the Islamic Republic like migrants can sue the U.S. government. We are barred from doing so under the terms of the agreement that precipitated our release.

To right that wrong, Congress responded in 2015 by passing legislation creating the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism (USVSST) Fund and authorizing a payment of $4.4 million, or $10,000 for each day we were held in captivity, to survivors. A lesser amount was authorized for our immediate families.

Only a tiny fraction of these funds has been paid, however, because the USVSST Fund is dependent upon revenue derived from the enforcement of U.S. sanctions. Congress compounded the challenge of paying survivors and their families by adding the families of victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and survivors to the list of all those eligible for payment from the fund.

An equitable decision would have been to weigh payments more heavily toward those who have waited the longest. A smart decision would have been to pay the victims of Iranian terror with the revenue collected from the sale of Iranian oil and petrochemicals seized from vessels carrying the illicit cargo. In May, the U.S. government sold more than 2 million barrels of Iranian crude oil for $110 million. That sale alone would have cleared nearly half of the fund’s total obligations to former hostages and their families if payouts had been targeted to specific enforcement.

The executive branch has the authority, through Attorney General Merrick Garland, to allocate the money and pay in full the longest-tenured members of the class covered by the fund — but Biden has not, nor did his predecessors, of course. If nothing changes, neither the victims of the Iran Hostage Crisis nor those of the 9/11 attacks will live to see a full and complete payout because the fund cannot possibly pay all of its eligible members based on the way it is presently organized.

Is that the same money the USA was obliged to return?
You will notice it was all the Congress which includes your buddies.

 

[mark francis]

Is that the same money the USA was obliged to return?
You will notice it was all the Congress which includes your buddies.

The SCOTUS said the money was not to be returned to Iran, in spite of Obama's thinking to the contrary. No government leader has ever given the American victims of Iranian terror the money SCOTUS said they should be given from assets taken from Iran. Shame on Obama and all the others for that despicable failure in light of all the money the US has given to Iranian terrorists instead.

 

[Phoenix68]

There is something wrong in DC when government leaders authorize billions of dollars to foreigners, including terrorists as well as illegal immigrants, yet refuses to honor congressional mandates and court rulings authorizing monetary compensation to victims of foreign terror. That is disturbing.
Biden should remember Americans harmed by foreign powers if he compensates migrants | The Hill 11-7-21
Survivors of the Iran Hostage Crisis — myself included — and our families were wronged by a foreign power. The Islamic Republic of Iran held Americans for 444 days. The trauma of captivity lingers to this day. But we cannot sue the Islamic Republic like migrants can sue the U.S. government. We are barred from doing so under the terms of the agreement that precipitated our release.

.

.
Isn't this where "conservatives" always insist..."IT ISN'T ABOUT THE MONEY!"
.​

 

[Boris Norris]

The SCOTUS said the money was not to be returned to Iran, in spite of Obama's thinking to the contrary. No government leader has ever given the American victims of Iranian terror the money SCOTUS said they should be given from assets taken from Iran. Shame on Obama and all the others for that despicable failure in light of all the money the US has given to Iranian terrorists instead.

It goes to show how much push the SC have.

 

[mark francis]

It goes to show how much push the SC have.

You are right. When it comes to Democrat corruption the Democrats repeatedly show they are going to do whatever they want to do even if it involves violating laws, court orders, or the will of the majority of the American people.

 

[Boris Norris]

You are right. When it comes to Democrat corruption the Democrats repeatedly show they are going to do whatever they want to do even if it involves violating laws, court orders, or the will of the majority of the American people.

Of course they do and I'm proud of them. I want them to crush every morsel of republican skeleton and force the closure of every church.
It's fools like you that are destroying this country. A head full of god where brains should be.

 

[mark francis]

Of course they do and I'm proud of them. I want them to crush every morsel of republican skeleton and force the closure of every church.
It's fools like you that are destroying this country. A head full of god where brains should be.

I thought so. Crooked Democrat oligarchs keep democrat followers doing the dirty work of looting, burning, bombing, rioting, and committing voting fraud by convincing the rubes that whatever evil they do is just retribution for what whites and rich people have done to blacks and poor people for centuries.