If you were writing a bad dystopian novel, a successor to some old horror film or Orwell’s 1984, you might have the good guys go dark and turn over the world to terrorist Iran. Well, if you can believe it, Biden just took a step that way.
Unable to secure a deal with Iran to stop them from building nuclear weapons, Iran straining under Trump-era anti-terrorist sanctions, Biden did the unthinkable.
What did he do? Ignoring federal laws outlawing payment of ransom to terrorists for hostages – and State’s declaration that Iran is a “state sponsor of terrorism” – Biden just paid out a $6,000,000,000 ransom to Iran for five US hostages.
Illegal? One would think so, but of course, White House, State, and Justice lawyers will say, “No, a well-intentioned Biden exception to the law,” nothing to see here.
The six billion dollar waiver of a longstanding freeze by allies on money to which Iran has no right will allow Iran to refocus on building nuclear weapons, suppress human rights, and effectively get around the Trump-era anti-terror sanctions.
Like ignoring Supreme Court decisions against executive loan forgiveness and against bringing politically-motivated indictments – including a 9-0 decision against the current prosecutor of Trump – and appellate decisions, like the 5th Circuit slap down of Biden for violating the 1st Amendment by colluding with high tech to suppress speech, Biden just ignores the law and his critics.
The thing is infuriating, not just because it flies in the face of expectations that the chief executive will not flout our nation’s laws, but because this latest decision on Iran is like dropping a boulder in a bathtub: it will create huge – negative – waves.
The Biden decision confirms what many have long thought, that this crowd has a wholesale misunderstanding of Iran. They do not see they are playing with fire.
Sadly, the Biden team is stunningly naïve, forgetting that violent, ideologically possessed, totalitarian regimes welcome appeasement, soak it up, then use these acts of appeasement – forgiveness and money payments – to further terrorize.
Iran is not interested in becoming part of the international community, gaining acceptance from rights-based Western nations, or abandoning medieval means for suppressing (killing) minorities, women, dissent, or those seeking Western rights.
They could care less about the West, no more than the Nazis, Soviets, historical or current fascists, communists, or one-off dictators, care what we say. Power, in their view, is all about securing advantages, preferably at our expense, not for praise.
US policy since 2001 states: “The U.S. Government will make no concessions to terrorists holding official or private U.S. citizens hostage. It will not pay ransom, release prisoners, change its policies, or agree to other acts that might encourage additional terrorism.”
Biden’s own State Department – showcasing hypocrisy – declares Iran a “State sponsor of terrorism,” saying “Iran continued…terrorist-related activity in 2021, including support for Hizballah…and various terrorist…groups in Iraq, Syria, Bahrain, and…throughout the Middle East,” deploying “the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) to provide support to terrorist organizations, provide cover for associated covert operations, and create instability in the region.”
Moreover, they observed, “Iran has acknowledged the involvement of the IRGC-QF in the Iraq and Syria conflicts…cultivating and supporting terrorist activity abroad.”
Despite Trump’s designation of the IRGC as “a Foreign Terrorist Organization” in 2019, despite Biden’s admission that Iran is officially a terrorist state – the world’s largest – they have nevertheless decided to pay billions for hostages.
After a July 2022 Biden order meant to show he is tough on terror, released just before Biden abandoned Afghanistan, leaving 100,000 allies to die, he now gives Iran the keys to the castle. What is wrong with this man and his team? Can they be this stupid?
Think about what this decision means. It means Iran, China, and the world know Biden does not care what US law says, and they will violate it for political advantage.
It means appeasement and paying for delayed aggression – a bargain terrorists never keep – is their stock in trade, Afghanistan to Iran. Like Chamberlain pre-WWII, appeasement is Biden’s currency – a currency that, if history holds, is worthless.
It means neither our European nor Asian allies can count on us, and they know it. Biden breaks his own laws, and with the stink of corruption around him, this seals it.
It means Iran will have the money needed to accelerate nuclear weapons, suppress freedom-seeking people, circumvent Trump’s sanctions, and boldly laugh at us.
It means this administration undercuts the security of Americans for political gains, like abandoning the border, defunding police, legalizing drugs, and delegitimizing the rule of law.
Allies – and adversaries – all notice and will recalculate. China will look like an even bet, maybe a better one, all told. Biden’s word will be – as it already is – ignored.
Net-net, this was pure folly, another wild misunderstanding of global security, unnecessary, illegal, counterproductive. Purchasing hostages from patently bad actors only encourages future hostage-taking. Folly, pure folly. Sigh. What next?
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC.
