“We don’t pay ransom for hostages,” said President Obama.
“It is against the policy of the United States to pay ransom for hostages,” said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.
“This was not ransom,” declared State Department Spokesman John Kirby
That united front lasted all of two weeks, when it was discovered that we wouldn’t give Iran the money until the four detained Americans were released. That’s a textbook definition of…ransom. Of course, Republicans are having a field day over this latest failure for Obama’s smart power diplomacy with a state sponsor of terror. The Senate GOP cut this video, where it pretty much lays out how the administration just went against its own policy regarding ransom for hostages.
I mean this is an administration that couldn’t bring itself to call the Russian invasion of Ukraine...an actual invasion. They called it an “uncontested arrival.” They tried to spin the Iran payment as leverage, not ransom. A non-ransom leverage payment that had strings attached, with the most paramount being that they release the detained Americans before the can take control of the money.
Up is down. Black is white. The world is flat.