Time for the US to stop arming its enemies By Rachel Ehrenfeld
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/04/time_for_the_us_to_stop_arming_its_enemies.html
It’s hard to overstate how much damage was done by the Obama Administration’s misjudgment that Sunni jihadists and Shia Iran were somehow friendly to us and could be useful tools of American policy. But using jihadi groups claiming to be less violent than al-Qaida and ISIS resulted in the Benghazi massacre of four Americans including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, the destabilization of Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria, and elsewhere.
The “Stop Arming Terrorists Act” (SATA) (HR 608), which was sponsored Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) would help curtail U.S. assistance to Sunni and Shia jihadists, who would gladly use it against Americans, not not only against each other.
Rep. Gabbard points out in her introductory statement for the bill,
“Under U.S. law it is illegal for any American to provide money or assistance to al-Qaida, ISIS or other terrorist groups. If you or I gave money, weapons or support to al-Qaida or ISIS, we would be thrown in jail. Yet the U.S. government has been violating this law for years, quietly supporting allies and partners of al-Qaida, ISIL, Jabhat Fateh al Sham, and other terrorist groups with money, weapons, and intelligence support, in their fight to overthrow the Syrian government.”
The Senate sponsor of SATA (S.532), Sen. Rand Paul, added in the introductory statement:
“One of the unintended consequences of nation-building and open-ended intervention is American funds and weapons benefiting those who hate us. This legislation will strengthen our foreign policy, enhance our national security, and safeguard our resources.”
In addition to the SATA, Congress should restrict U.S. government financial and other material support to Iran-supported Shia groups, notably Hezbollah in Lebanon. While the so-called “military wing’ of the Hezballah has been designated by the U.S. as terrorist, its ‘political -wing’ is free to operate in Lebanon. Members of the Hezballah-led bloc in the Lebanese Parliament, served until recently and wield influence on academic and financial institutions.
The case he cited was that of the American University in Beirut (AUB). On March 23, 2017, the settlement penalty of $700,000 against AUB was announced on March 23, 2017, by the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York “for alleged False Claims Act (FCA) violations arising from OFAC sanctions violations, including “false certifications of economic sanctions compliance made by AUB to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in connection with U.S. Government grants. AUB acknowledged that it provided journalism training workshops attended by representatives of two designated Hizballah media entities, and separately promoted a designated Hizballah construction company through its inclusion on a publicly accessible online database. AUB agreed to pay $700,000 and strengthen its compliance program to resolve the civil action.” However, this settlement is unlikely to prevent that some of the 2017 U.S. planned aid of $233,510M from going to Hizballah and its ilk.
The SATA, which has already bi-partisan co-sponsorship from Walter Jones (R-NC), Barbara Lee (D-CA), John Conyers (D-MI), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Peter Welsh (D-VT), and Ted Yoho (R-FL), Thomas Garrett (R-VA), Paul Gosar (R-VA), Scott Perry (R-PA). It should be supported by all.
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