All true. Moreover, the Obama Administration announced the claims settlement back in January. Since then, it has been trying to figure out the mechanism for making the payment. Since banking channels are still closed due to U.S. sanctions, the U.S. Treasury cannot just do a wire transfer or write a check that Iran could cash at a bank elsewhere, a planeload of cash was the chosen option. Was the timing completely coincidental? No, but it was Iranian money, not a ransom payment.
Most directly relevant to Steve King's racist and Eurocentric rant is the issue he stresses the most -- Christianity. One wonders if he is aware that Christianity emerged from an Asian tribe, the Hebrews, and Hellenized Asian origins. Jesus, Mary and Joseph may have white skins in Western art and in the Sunday School literature that King grew up with, but that is a crude distortion of what would have been true for a family in Nazareth.
We met in Benghazi, where I was the senior U.S. diplomat, in 1971 or 1972 and again at the State Department when he was going to Syria to help free a U.S. prisoner. Always the champion.
Met him in Benghazi Libya, where I was the chief U.S. diplomat, in 1971 or 1972. In public remarks, he urged young Libyans to get educated rather than become fighters. Always a champion.
Ehud Barak was a very promising Israeli general who failed as Prime Minister. He was not the first Israeli military commander named Barak who was used and then discarded by the Israeli politicians. See Judges 6:6-22
Some people keep assuming that it will be the US government that asks to extend troop presence. That's highly unlikely, given the strains on U.S. military forces and public fatigue in the U.S. with the ill considered Iraq venture. Much more likely is that at some point there will be parts of the Iraqi government that will ask for some forces to stay on after the 2011 deadline of the bilateral agreement. Inevitably, that would be controversial among the various Iraqi factions. Moreover, it would require some kind of new agreement between the two governments. That, in turn, would be far from automatic for the wider U.S. political establishment.
David Mack, Adjunct Scholar, Middle East Institute
All true. Moreover, the Obama Administration announced the claims settlement back in January. Since then, it has been trying to figure out the mechanism for making the payment. Since banking channels are still closed due to U.S. sanctions, the U.S. Treasury cannot just do a wire transfer or write a check that Iran could cash at a bank elsewhere, a planeload of cash was the chosen option. Was the timing completely coincidental? No, but it was Iranian money, not a ransom payment.
Most directly relevant to Steve King's racist and Eurocentric rant is the issue he stresses the most -- Christianity. One wonders if he is aware that Christianity emerged from an Asian tribe, the Hebrews, and Hellenized Asian origins. Jesus, Mary and Joseph may have white skins in Western art and in the Sunday School literature that King grew up with, but that is a crude distortion of what would have been true for a family in Nazareth.
We met in Benghazi, where I was the senior U.S. diplomat, in 1971 or 1972 and again at the State Department when he was going to Syria to help free a U.S. prisoner. Always the champion.
Met him in Benghazi Libya, where I was the chief U.S. diplomat, in 1971 or 1972. In public remarks, he urged young Libyans to get educated rather than become fighters. Always a champion.
Ehud Barak was a very promising Israeli general who failed as Prime Minister. He was not the first Israeli military commander named Barak who was used and then discarded by the Israeli politicians. See Judges 6:6-22
Some people keep assuming that it will be the US government that asks to extend troop presence. That's highly unlikely, given the strains on U.S. military forces and public fatigue in the U.S. with the ill considered Iraq venture. Much more likely is that at some point there will be parts of the Iraqi government that will ask for some forces to stay on after the 2011 deadline of the bilateral agreement. Inevitably, that would be controversial among the various Iraqi factions. Moreover, it would require some kind of new agreement between the two governments. That, in turn, would be far from automatic for the wider U.S. political establishment.
David Mack, Adjunct Scholar, Middle East Institute