Obama’s call to close Vatican embassy is ‘slap in the face’ to Roman Catholics

The Obama administration, in what’s been called an egregious slap in the face to the Vatican, has moved to shut down the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See — a free-standing facility — and relocate offices onto the grounds of the larger American Embassy in Italy.

The new offices will be in a separate building on the property, Breitbart reported.

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SEE ALSO: Pope Francis takes veiled swipe at ‘progressive’ Democrats

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And while U.S. officials are touting the relocation as a security measure that’s a cautionary reaction to last year’s attacks on America's facility in Benghazi, several former American envoys are raising the red flag.

It’s a “massive downgrade of U.S.-Vatican ties,” said former U.S. Ambassador James Nicholson in the National Catholic Reporter. “It’s turning this embassy into a stepchild of the embassy to Italy. The Holy See is a pivot point for international affairs and a major listening post for the United States, and … [it’s] an insult to American Catholics and to the Vatican.”

Via: Washington Times

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More than $150MILLION in U.S. contracts with Afghan companies have gone to groups that back anti-American terrorist attacks

A new investigation has revealed that the U.S. government has paid more than $150million to groups that fund terror attacks against American soldiers.

The findings have been reported by the Pentagon itself as the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction compiled a list of 43 such companies who are connected to Taliban leaders who have arranged bombs and attacks on American targets.

'It's like the United States government subsidizing the Taliban, al Qaeda, the Haqqani network, those groups that are trying to shoot and kill our soldiers,' New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen told ABC News.

Outrage: Senator Jeanne Shaheen spoke out after the report from the Pentagon revealed that 43 Afghan companies that the U.S. government awarded contracts to have connections to terrorist groups.

The Haqqani Network may be lesser known of those three groups, but they are familiar to security experts.

The group has been blamed for the attack on the American embassy in Kabul in 2011 that left 16 people dead.

 

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Rather than give money to the group directly, the way that American funds have made its way through to the organization is via a road construction company that is owned by the Haqqani Network.

The company is one of 43 such private companies that the government has given contracts to, and although they have denied the connection to the Haqqani Network, the Pentagon still listed them in the report.

Via Daily Mail

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