Obama's government approved arms sales to foreign governments known to be supporting ISIS.
As well as the many revelations to come from the Podesta emails leaked by Wikileaks, perhaps just as revealing was the fact that much of the mainstream media gave very little coverage to the contents of these revelations.
One such revelation that went largely unreported was the fact that Obama's government authorized the sale of arms to foreign governments that were known to be supporting ISIS.
Specifically, Obama's government authorized the sale of $11 billion of arms to Qatar, and the sale of $46 billion of arms to Saudi Arabia.
In an email1 to Hillary Clinton, John Podesta acknowledged 'the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISISL':
1 https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/3774
Despite knowing that the Qatari government were supporting ISIS, earlier that year Obama's government authorized the sale of $11 billion of arms to Qatar.2
2 http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/us-selling-11b-weaponry-gulf-state-supports-hamas-syrian-jihadists
The deal was signed at the Pentagon by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel just months after3 a senior U.S. Treasury official acknowledged Qatar’s covert funding for jihadists in Syria, including ISIS and Al-Nusra.
3 The speech acknowledging Qatar's support for jihadists was made on Mar 4, 2014. The arms deal was signed on Jul 14, 2014.
In his speech, available on the US Treasury website4, David Cohen, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, stated, "The Qatari government is also supporting extremist groups operating in Syria." He added, "The recipients of these funds are often terrorist groups, including Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, Al-Nusra Front, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)."
4 https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl2308.aspx
Saudi Arabia was the other foreign government mentioned in John Podesta's email to Hillary Clinton acknowledged to be 'providing financial and logistic support to ISIL.' As of April 07, 2015, Obama's government had signed arms deals with Saudi Arabia totaling $46 billion.5
5 https://www.democracynow.org/2015/4/7/are_obamas_record_arms_sales_to
Discussing these arms sales to Saudi Arabia, American military expert and Director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy, William D. Hartung stated, "Saudi Arabia is using U.S. weapons to bomb Yemen. Civilians have been killed."
You would think that the US government approving arms sales to foreign governments known to be supporting ISIS would be the biggest story of the decade, and yet incredibly this received very little coverage from the mainstream media.
Just as dangerous as fake news, is false news by omission. When the mainstream media fail to give appropriate coverage to a story as significant as arms sales to countries supporting ISIS, you have to question whether they are reporting with integrity, and if their motivations are fair and impartial?
It's also incredible that in an interview with 60 Minutes, Obama claimed, "I'm proud of the fact that with two weeks to go we're probably the first administration in modern history that hasn't had a major scandal in the White House."8
8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEdNrylUuNo
If approving arms sales to foreign governments known to be supporting ISIS doesn't qualify as a scandal, then Obama clearly didn't set the bar very high.
One such revelation that went largely unreported was the fact that Obama's government authorized the sale of arms to foreign governments that were known to be supporting ISIS.
Specifically, Obama's government authorized the sale of $11 billion of arms to Qatar, and the sale of $46 billion of arms to Saudi Arabia.
In an email1 to Hillary Clinton, John Podesta acknowledged 'the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISISL':
1 https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/3774
'...providing financial and logistic support to ISIL' |
Despite knowing that the Qatari government were supporting ISIS, earlier that year Obama's government authorized the sale of $11 billion of arms to Qatar.2
2 http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/us-selling-11b-weaponry-gulf-state-supports-hamas-syrian-jihadists
The deal was signed at the Pentagon by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel just months after3 a senior U.S. Treasury official acknowledged Qatar’s covert funding for jihadists in Syria, including ISIS and Al-Nusra.
3 The speech acknowledging Qatar's support for jihadists was made on Mar 4, 2014. The arms deal was signed on Jul 14, 2014.
In his speech, available on the US Treasury website4, David Cohen, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, stated, "The Qatari government is also supporting extremist groups operating in Syria." He added, "The recipients of these funds are often terrorist groups, including Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, Al-Nusra Front, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)."
4 https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl2308.aspx
Saudi Arabia was the other foreign government mentioned in John Podesta's email to Hillary Clinton acknowledged to be 'providing financial and logistic support to ISIL.' As of April 07, 2015, Obama's government had signed arms deals with Saudi Arabia totaling $46 billion.5
5 https://www.democracynow.org/2015/4/7/are_obamas_record_arms_sales_to
Discussing these arms sales to Saudi Arabia, American military expert and Director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy, William D. Hartung stated, "Saudi Arabia is using U.S. weapons to bomb Yemen. Civilians have been killed."
You would think that the US government approving arms sales to foreign governments known to be supporting ISIS would be the biggest story of the decade, and yet incredibly this received very little coverage from the mainstream media.
Just as dangerous as fake news, is false news by omission. When the mainstream media fail to give appropriate coverage to a story as significant as arms sales to countries supporting ISIS, you have to question whether they are reporting with integrity, and if their motivations are fair and impartial?
It's also incredible that in an interview with 60 Minutes, Obama claimed, "I'm proud of the fact that with two weeks to go we're probably the first administration in modern history that hasn't had a major scandal in the White House."8
8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEdNrylUuNo
If approving arms sales to foreign governments known to be supporting ISIS doesn't qualify as a scandal, then Obama clearly didn't set the bar very high.
No comments:
Post a Comment