Appeasing Iran Ignores the Lessons of History

 Expect a Nobel Peace Prize for Secretary of State John Kerry now, followed by Chamberlain-like infamy later.

The now-concluded Iran nuclear negotiations predictably reflect ancient truths of

 While members of the Obama administration are high-fiving each other over a deal with the Iranian theocracy, they should remember unchanging laws that will surely haunt the United States later on. 

First, appeasement always brings short-term jubilation at the expense of long-term security. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was a beloved peacemaker after the Munich Agreement of 1938 with Adolf Hitler but derided as a conceited fool and naif by May 1940. 

A few years from now – after Iran has used its negotiated breathing space to rearm, ratchet up its terrorist operations, and eventually gain a bomb to blackmail its neighbors – the current deal will be deeply regretted. Expect a Nobel Peace Prize for Secretary of State John Kerry now, followed by Chamberlain-like infamy later. 

Second, the appeasement of autocrats always pulls the rug out from under domestic reformers and idealists. After the Western capitulation at Munich, no dissenter in Germany dared to question the ascendant dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. 

RELATED: Is the Iran Deal the Worst Political Blunder of All Time? Until last week, Iranian dissidents and reformers had blamed the theocracy for earning Iran pariah status abroad and economic ruin at home. Not now. The haughty ayatollahs are bragging that they faced down the West and will restore the economy – as they wink to applauding crowds that Iran will soon be nuclear and dictate its terms to the Middle East. 

Third, appeasers always wrongly insist that the only alternative to their foolish concessions is war. Just the opposite is true.

Via: National Review

Continue Reading....

[VIDEO] McFarland on Kerry’s Iran Inspections Claim: ‘It’s A Lie’

KT McFarland offered a blunt appraisal Monday of Secretary of State John Kerry’s claim that the United States had never sought “anytime, anywhere” inspections of Iran’s suspected nuclear sites.

“It’s a lie,” McFarland, a former State Department official for Ronald Reagan, said. “The reason anytime, anyplace inspections are crucial is because Iran in the past has cheated, so you really need ironclad inspections.”

“You think he was lying?” Fox News host Bill Hemmer asked.

“I think he wants this deal so badly he’s willing to stretch the truth around this,” McFarland responded.

Several of Kerry’s close confidants during the Iran negotiations, including Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, are on record earlier in the year assuring reporters that the United States would insist on “anytime, anywhere” inspections as part of any deal.

McFarland said the inspections process that the United States ultimately agreed to gives Iran the ability to stall inspectors for almost a month before they can visit a suspicious site.

“When the president said that we have 24-hour access to key nuclear installations, no you don’t—you have a 24-day period to request to look inside, and Iran has 24 days to say yes you can or no you can’t,” McFarland said.

Observers have expressed grave concern about the complicated bureaucratic mechanism that the United States will have to fight through at the United Nations to gain approval for an IAEA inspection.

By the time inspectors reach a suspected site, they may find only “elaborate cleanup efforts” like those that have been found at Iran’s Parchin military complex during past inspections.

This entry was posted in National Security and tagged Fox News, Iran Nuclear Deal, Nuclear Iran. Bookmark the permalink.

Via: WFB

Continue Reading.....

Lies, Damn Lies and John Kerry

Benjamin NetanyahuVerified account‏@netanyahu

Today: • Khamenei tweeted video calling for Israel's destruction • UN voted to lift sanctions on Iran Says it all. https://youtu.be/cMJinyFFmsw 

Just to bring you up to date in the ongoing efforts of the Obama administration to provide Iran with $150 billion and the ability to make a nuclear weapon. These are developments over the weekend:

Via Washington Examiner

Secretary of State John Kerry deflected bipartisan criticism of the Obama administration’s move to take the Iran nuclear deal to the United Nations before the U.S. Congress has the opportunity to vote on it, saying the U.N. has a right to go first and to suggest otherwise was “presumptuous.”

Obama had previously signed legislation that would give Congress 60 days to review and vote on the deal struck over Iran’s nuclear program. But since agreeing on the deal with the other world powers, the administration has announced its intention to bring the deal to the United Nations first.

Thus, by the time Congress votes, the administration will argue that were the body to reject the deal, they’d be blowing up a U.N.-approved agreement.

What this means is that by the time Congress gets around to voting on the deal, international sanctions on Iran will have been lifted. The only remaining sanctions are those which Obama has the authority to modify. While there remains the theoretical possibility of ‘snap back’ sanctions if Iran breaches the agreement (this, by the way, is virtually certain as they are already in violation of the interim agreement), for this to happen would require an affirmative vote of the UN Security Council. Russia and China are Iran’s allies. Both have veto authority.

One is left to wonder what in the hell Congress is voting on.

It is Bush’s fault.

CNN State of the UnionQUESTION: I’ve spoken to a lot of experts, ones who wanted this deal to be good, who were rooting for you. And they say the best case scenario is that over the next 15 years… the Iranians will be closer to the capacity to build a nuclear weapon… and they’ll have done it all under the guise of international law.
KERRY: … Guess what, my friend: Iran had 12,000 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, and that’s enough if they enriched it further for 10 to 12 bombs. They had it. That’s what Barack Obama was dealt as a hand when he came in: 19,000 centrifuges already spinning; a country that had already mastered the fuel cycle; a country that already was threshold in the sense that they are only two months away from breakout.

Fox News SundayQUESTION: Secretary Moniz… why didn’t [President Obama] keep his pledge to the American people that we would end Iran’s program?
MONIZ: Well, first of all, the issue of Iran having a nuclear program was already established in the previous administration.

My gosh, when will this excuse ever wear out.

When he took office the Iranians had less than 4,000 centrifuges spinning and experts were still arguing over whether they had enough uranium for a bomb. He almost immediately began to reach out to the Iranians with confidence-building measures. They also didn’t have “19,000 centrifuges already spinning” they had 3,936 centrifuges spinning. And they were not 2 months away from breakout but instead were just getting around to stockpiling enough uranium for a single bomb [e].

In short, every thing Kerry and Moniz said was a lie and they knew it was a lie.

The administration is lying about Iran’s break out time.

Fox News Sunday
QUESTION: But the President said in April:
OBAMA: In year 13, 14, 15, they have advanced centrifuges, they can enrich uranium fairly rapidly, and at that point the breakout times would have shrunk almost down to zero.
QUESTION: That’s not ending the program.
MONIZ: The breakout time, in fact, will not be going to zero at that time.
QUESTION: So the President was –
MONIZ: The – I’m just telling you we have the agreement has – the final agreement has the one-year breakout time securely for 10 years and then there will be a soft landing after that for several years.
QUESTION: Right. So by year 13, 14 it’s –
KERRY: It never, ever goes to zero. Ever.
MONIZ: No, it will never go to zero.

This is balderdash translated into gibberish then blown out of Kerry’s ass. Back in April, the administration said the break out time was two months. Now it is a year. Logic tells you that this can’t be true. Assuming that break out time is a year, it means that Iran will have a nuke within a year because there is no mechanism available to monitor their progress or curb their development.

Anytime-anywhere inspections are dead.

Iran has already said that it will not allow inspections of military nuclear facilities and it will not allow US inspectors on the IAEA teams. Without unannounced inspections we are back to playing a shell game. Kerry is trying to gaslight everyone by claiming there is no such thing as ‘anytime-anywhere’ inspections because that isn’t an official term.

CBS Face the NationKERRY: There’s no such thing in arms control as anytime, anywhere. There isn’t any nation in the world – none – that has an anytime, anywhere.

Fox News SundayKERRY: The fact is that in arms control there is no country anywhere on this planet that has anywhere, anytime. There is no such standard within arms control inspections… we never, ever had a discussion about anywhere, anytime. It’s called managed access. It’s under the IAEA. Everybody understands it.

This is actually a lie. Everyone knows what the term means and the administration has guaranteed Congress that it will have that access.

The arms embargo is dead.

ABC This Week
KERRY: The United Nations resolution which brought about the sanctions in the first place said that if Iran will suspend its enrichment and come to negotiations, all the sanctions would be lifted. Now, they’ve done more than just come to negotiations. They’ve actually negotiated a deal. And three of the seven nations thought they shouldn’t therefore be held to any kind of restraint. We prevailed and insisted, no, they have to be.

CBS Face the Nation
KERRY: … [T]he reason that we were only able to limit them to the five and eight, which is quite extraordinary that we got that, was that three of the nations negotiating thought they shouldn’t have any and were ready to hold out to do that. And we said under no circumstances, we have to have those…

Fox News Sunday
KERRY: This is a nuclear negotiation about a nuclear program. The United Nations, when they passed the resolution, contemplated that if Iran came to the negotiation and they ponied up, all the sanctions would be lifted. We didn’t lift all the sanctions. We left in place despite the fact that three out of seven countries negotiating wanted to do away with them altogether. We won the five years for the arms and eight years for the missiles.

A majority of the negotiators wanted to retain an arms embargo. He refers to seven countries but keep in mind one of those is Iran. The US caved on this. If the US had stood with Britain and France and Germany it would have put Iran in the position of sacrificing everything for the sake of ending the arms embargo.

Summary.

John Kerry is a liar. He’s not a particularly skilled one… I don’t know whether this is good or bad, I rather think it is bad because he practices the skill regularly but never improves. The US position on the Iran negotiations is on our hands and knees squealing like a pig.

Via: Red State

Continue Reading....

[VIDEO] ‘19,000 Centrifuges Already Spinning’: Kerry Implies Iran’s Enrichment Capacity Grew Mostly Under Bush

(CNSNews.com) – Secretary of State John Kerry said in a television interview screened Sunday that when President Obama came into office he was “dealt … a hand” of “19,000 [Iranian] centrifuges already spinning.”

In fact, most of the increase in Iran’s centrifuge numbers occurred under the current administration.  And under the just-completed Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreement, Iran will have the international community’s blessing to keep more centrifuges than it had when Obama entered the White House.

In one of a series of interviews taped Friday as part of the administration’s effort to sell the Iran nuclear deal to the American people and Congress, Kerry told CNN’s State of the Union that Iran has “12,000 kilograms of highly-enriched uranium, and that’s enough if they enriched it further for 10 to 12 bombs.” (Iran in fact has 12,000 kg of low-enriched uranium).

“They had it,” Kerry continued. “That’s what Barack Obama was dealt as a hand when he came in: 19,000 centrifuges already spinning; a country that had already mastered the fuel cycle; a country that already was threshold in the sense that they are only two months away from breakout.”

Kerry’s claim does not align with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) data. Its regular Iran “safeguards reports” show that most of the growth in the number of first-generation IR-1 centrifuges at Iran’s main fuel enrichment plant at Natanz occurred after January 2009, when Obama took office.

Centrifuges spin at high speeds to enrich uranium to varying degrees, providing fuel for nuclear reactors or, in the case of very high levels of enrichment, producing a key ingredient for an atomic bomb.

According to IAEA reports, the number of IR-1 centrifuges at Natanz – including those installed but not operating and those installed and being fed with uranium hexafluoride

 (UF6) – did climb significantly during the George W. Bush administration, reaching 2,132 in May 2007, and then 5,537 by the time Obama arrived at the White House in early 2009.

But within months they had increased to 7,216, and by the end of that year reached 8,692.

By Feb. 2012 the IAEA was reporting 9,156 IR-1 centrifuges at Natanz and by Nov. 2012, 10,414.

By mid-2013 the number had shot up to 15,416, and from May last year until the most recent report, in May 2015, the IAEA has reported an unchanged total of 15,420.

In addition to those centrifuges, Iran has also installed – during the Obama administration years – second generation IR-2m centrifuges at Natanz. It had 180 in place in early 2013, and expanded that quantity to 1,008 by Aug. 2013, the same number it has today.

And at the Fordow enrichment plant, the covertly-built underground facility first made public in the fall of 2009, Iran has installed 2,710 more IR-1 centrifuges, according to the IAEA.

Via: CNS News

Continue Reading.....

House Republicans introduce resolution to block Obama's Iran deal

More than two-thirds of all House Republicans have signed onto a resolution disapproving of the Iran nuclear agreement, language that is likely to get a vote in early September after members spend weeks pouring over the deal.

The resolution from Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., has the potential to block the deal that most Republicans oppose, but only if it can pass the House and Senate, and then if both chambers can override an expected veto from President Obama.

Roskam's resolution was introduced Thursday with 171 House Republican cosponsors, and was expected to be supported by nearly every House Republican once it gets a vote. No Democrats are on the bill.

The resolution argued that Iran has been trying since the 1980s to acquire a nuclear weapon, and that the United Nations has adopted several resolutions demanding Iran lower its ambition in this area.

It also argued that "Secretary of State John Kerry has publicly stated that the United States does not recognize Iran's self-proclaimed right to enrich uranium," and says the Iran nuclear deal fails in several areas to rein in Iran.

But the final deal announced this week "fails to require Iran to fully dismantle its nuclear program" and allows "key restraints on Iran's nuclear program to expire within 10 to 15 years," according to Roskam's resolution.

The deal also allows international sanctions on conventional and ballistic missiles to be lifted, and doesn't address Iran's broader terrorist activities.

"[T]he Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action fails to address Iran's egregious human rights record, Iran's role as the world's leading state-sponsor of international terrorism and Iran's unjust imprisonment of innocent United States citizens," the resolution said.

The measure ended by saying the House "expresses its firm disapproval" of the deal, and "reaffirms its commitment to prevent Iran from ever acquiring a nuclear weapons capability."

Via: Washington Examiner

Continue Reading....

Iran Deal: Andrea Mitchell's Mushy Softball to Kerry About Vietnam

Andrea Mitchell had the chance to ask John Kerry, on live national TV, any question she wanted about the Iran deal. She could, for example, have confronted him over the lifting of the conventional arms and ballistic missile embargoes that were included as a nice little parting gift to Iran. Instead, in a moment of media malpractice, Mitchell lobbed up the mushiest of softballs on today's Morning Joe, asking Kerry "what that moment meant to you" when at the final negotiation meeting, he reminisced about going to Vietnam as a 22-year old "and that you never wanted to go to war without having exhausted the diplomacy."  A shame Andrea and John weren't in the same room so they could have exchanged a heartfelt hug.

Note that Kerry, so diplomatic with his Iranians friends, didn't hesitate in the course of responding to take a gratuitous swipe at George W. Bush regarding Iraq.

ANDREA MITCHELL:  Mr. Secretary, there were so many ups and downs, emotional roller coaster and the 18. 19 days were. There are reports that at that final meeting on Tuesday of all the ministers, they went around the table. And when they came you to, you talked about being a 22-year old going to Vietnam and that you never wanted to go to war without having exhausted the diplomacy. Can you speak to that, to what that moment meant to you? 

JOHN KERRY: Andrea, I believe that the alternative to what we are trying to do here is conflict. If we are not able to hold on to this, then the Iranians will say, well, the United States can't be trusted. You can't negotiate with the United States. And they will feel free to go forward with their program. I can hear everybody clamoring. So what you are going to do now? If they start to enrich, you know that every presidential candidate appearing on your show WILL say it's time for President Obama to show how tough he is and bomb there. There will be no alternative and the president said it the other day. This is a choice between diplomatic solution and war. And military action.

And so, yes, I did talk about the lesson I learned, before you sebd people off to put their lives on the line, you need to exhaust all of the remedies available you to. George Bush promised that there would be a last resort of war in Iraq. And obviously it didn't turn out that way. People are bitter about that. So I really believe that is an imperative of diplomacy and public life and I vowed when I came back and opposed the war that if I ever had an opportunity to be in a position of responsibility, I would fight for that principle.

Via: Newsbusters

Continue Reading....

State Department Hid Clinton Aide’s Special Job Status, Grassley Charges

State Department officials “failed to disclose” a special employment status granted to Cheryl Mills who was former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff, according to Sen. Charles Grassley.

Mills was designated a “Special Government Employee,” and may have “abused her access” for the benefit of former President Clinton and the Clinton family’s foundation, Grassley, the Iowa Republican, charged Tuesday in a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry.

Grassley is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Special government employee status allowed Mills to be paid simultaneously for several months in 2009 as Clinton’s chief of staff at the State Department and as a member of the board of directors for the Clinton Foundation

The SGE designation also exempted Mills from certain criminal and civil conflict-of-interest ethics laws that usually cover federal employees, as well as from other regulations governing outside income and affiliations while on the government payroll.

As chief of staff, Mills was one of a small circle of State Department officials who reviewed the former chief executive’s proposed speeches and business arrangements to prevent conflicts of interest with Mrs. Clinton’s duties as secretary of state.

Clinton was paid millions of dollars for the speeches by foreign governments, individuals, foundations and corporations.

The Grassley charges widen the group of State Department employees who received the special designation during Clinton’s tenure as the country’s chief diplomat.

Via: Daily Caller

Continue Reading.....

[EDITORIAL] Washington Times: Obama's Red Lines and Big Lies

President Obama warned in August 2012 that Syria must not cross his “red line” against using chemical weapons against the rebels — or else. President Bashar Assad has continued to cross Mr. Obama’s red line, and we’re still waiting to see the “else.”

What is plain to see is a heavy rain of chemical weapons on rebel fighters in Syria, in 29 incidents this spring alone. The Washington Times reported Wednesday that the deal Mr. Obama made last year with the government in Damascus “left chlorine on the table as a weapon.” Barrel bombs filled with weaponized chlorine do deadly work.

To add insult to incompetent negotiating, Mr. Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry continue to embrace the lie that the United States has succeeded in getting “all the chemical weapons out of Syria.”

Mr. Obama clearly understands the consequences of doing nothing. In 2012, he said that “the point … made about chemical and biological weapons is critical. That’s an issue that doesn’t just concern Syria. It concerns our close allies in the region, including Israel. It concerns us. We cannot have a situation where chemical or biological weapons are falling into the hands of the wrong people.

“We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is [when] we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation.”

Or he can just change his story. Our reporter Guy Taylor reports that “House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce plans on Wednesday to highlight how claims by the administration and the United Nations to have successfully rid Syria of chemical weapons have fallen far short — leaving the regime with a deadly arsenal of barrel bombs filled with weaponized chlorine.”

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/17/editorial-obama-must-deal-with-syrias-chemical-wea/#ixzz3dRvuHPA6 
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

[SPECIAL REPORT] A Bicycle, an Infection, and a Lie

“Land of Song!” said the warrior bard,
“Tho’ all the world betrays thee,
One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard,
One faithful harp shall praise thee!”
— “The Minstrel Boy” by Thomas Moore

The last two weeks have seen a surprising sequence of events surrounding the Iran nuclear weapons talks. It all started on the night of Friday, May 29 when John Kerry arrived in Geneva for an all-day talk scheduled for the following day, Saturday, May 30. The talks did not go well. A senior administration official described them as “intense,” which is diplomatic-speak for “nasty.” There had been plans to continue the next day, but the Iranians mysteriously hightailed it out of Dodge City that night.

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. As he had a free morning on Sunday, Kerry decided to go biking in the French Alps. He’s an experienced cyclist and had brought his bicycle along. And so he set off, riding his orange trail bike, which matched the orange of his helmet. His cycling suit was an elegant black, except for some white markings and a blue band around the bottom of the shorts he wore over his tights. And his bright yellow arm-warmers provided just the right pop of color.

Alas, man proposes and God disposes. Shortly after he set out, we’re told that he hit a curb and fell off his bicycle, breaking his right femur. How that happened isn’t clear. The press wasn’t notified of the accident for some 90 minutes. Local officials said that he was “traveling at a slow speed, on flat ground.” There is a 40 second video where you can see your Secretary of State maneuver his bike, weaving through the other cyclists who were riding with him. They look like bodyguards, and for some reason they keep getting in his way. Riding with guys like this, no wonder he took a fall. You can see it here, but it doesn’t actually show Kerry hit the curb and fall.

Did Kerry’s elegant outfit get mussed up? We’ll never know. For the camera cuts away and we’re taken on what seems to be a ride backwards in time to where Kerry has not yet gotten on to his bicycle. The scene is surreal. There are lots of cars and security personnel aimlessly milling about and then, on the left side of the frame, Kerry can be seen walking out from behind some tall bushes, holding what might be a white folder in his left hand and his cell phone to his ear with his right. He turns and stares directly into the camera, in case we’ve not noticed him. We are perhaps meant to understand that our Secretary of State is not just a pretty face and a fashion plate. He is always working hard on our behalf. Right up until the moment he gets onto his bicycle he will be attending to his duties.

Kerry is flown back to Geneva where he spends the night in a hospital. On the following day, June 1, he is flown to Boston and taken to Massachusetts General Hospital where he apparently undergoes a four-hour surgery under a regional anesthetic. By Tuesday, his doctor says that he’s been fixed. He can walk and is starting physio.

The world breathes a collective sigh of relief, because now the nuke talks can go on. Kerry will continue to hold our side. Only no one hears from him for 10 days. “Ten days later, why no pictures of John Kerry?” asks the Washington Examiner.

Via: American Spectator

Continue Reading.....

100 Days: State Dept. Sets Record for Violating Deadline for Human Rights Reports

(CNSNews.com) – The U.S. State Department has set an all-time record this year in the duration of its failure to comply with the legal deadline for submitting its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices to Congress.

Current law requires the department to submit the reports by Feb. 25. Today, June 5, is the 100th day past that deadline, and the State Department still has not presented the reports.

Prior to this year, 89 days was the longest the department went past the legal deadline before releasing the reports. The 89-day delay took place in 2012, when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state.

As the post-deadline delay in the release of the human rights reports hit its 100th day today, the State Department was finding time to celebrate an event it billed as "Pride at State."

That event, scheduled for 2:00 p.m., will feature remarks by Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Heather Higginbottom and has been jointly organized by the department itself and GLIFAA, which State says is "the officially recognized employee affinity group representing LGBTI employees at the Department of State, USAID and foreign affairs agencies."

When the department does release the overdue human rights reports, they will include details of human rights abuses in, among other nations, Iran, Cuba, Malaysia and Vietnam. The administration is currently in the final phases of negotiating a nuclear agreement with Iran, has recently re-established diplomatic relations with Cuba and is planning to include Malaysia and Vietnam in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

The annual reports were first published in 1977, under a legal mandate included in the 1976 International Security and Arms Export Control Act. According to the law as originally enacted, the reports were supposed to detail the human rights abuses in nations receiving security assistance from the United States so that members of Congress would be better informed about the nature of the governments that were receiving this type of aid.

Via: CNS News

Continue Reading....

Judicial Watch Files Lawsuit against Secretary of State John Kerry to Force Action on Clinton Emails

Seeks to compel compliance with Federal Records Act provision requiring agency heads to account for official records

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State John Kerry in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to compel Secretary Kerry’s compliance with the Federal Records Act and challenge “the failure of Defendant Kerry to take any action to recover emails of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton” and other U.S. Department of State employees unlawfully removed from the agency (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. John F. Kerry (No. 1:15-cv-00785)).

Kerry’s predecessor at the State Department, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, conducted official government business using a secret, unsecured email server and email accounts. Her top aides and advisors also used non-“state.gov” email accounts to conduct official business.

In 2014, Clinton “unilaterally determined which of her emails were official government records and, in December 2014, returned at least a portion of these public records – as many as 55,000 pages of records – to the State Department.”

In the lawsuit, Judicial Watch argues the following:

The Clinton emails are agency records subject to the [Federal Records Act (FRA)] and the State Department’s failure to retain, manage, and search these agency records has compromised the Department’s retention of records that concern or relate to Secretary Clinton and other high level State Department officials who used non-“state.gov” email addresses.

As noted by Judicial Watch, the Federal Records Act stipulates:

Agencies may only dispose of records on terms approved by the Archivist of the United States, who is head of the National Archives and Records Administration (“NARA”). … This process is the exclusive procedure by which all federal records may be disposed of or destroyed. …

The FRA imposes a direct responsibility on an agency head to take steps to recover any records unlawfully removed.

On April 30, 2015, Judicial Watch sent a letter to Kerry “notifying him of the unlawful removal of the Clinton emails and requesting that he initiate enforcement action pursuant to the FRA,” including working through the Attorney General to recover the emails.

Patrick Kennedy, under secretary of state for management, responded on Secretary Kerry’s behalf on May 14.  The letter ignored Judicial Watch’s demands that the Secretary comply with the FRA.

Judicial Watch alleges Kerry’s actions represent “an abuse of discretion” that has led to the continued withholding of official government records from the American people.

“Secretary Kerry is in cover-up mode for Hillary Clinton. While John Kerry may have replaced Hillary Clinton at the State Department, he has proven that when it comes to complying with federal records and disclosure laws, he and Clinton are cut from the same corrupted cloth,” stated Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch president. “Secretary Kerry is in a position to provide the transparency and accountability his predecessor so casually dismissed. However, those in the Obama administration will do whatever they can, including ignoring the law, to protect Clinton, her ‘legacy’ and her 2016 presidential prospects. What a sad state of affairs it is when we must petition the courts to remind our leaders what the law is and that they are obligated to follow it.”

Via: Judicial Watch

Continue Reading....

Air Force for one: Massive military transport plane that usually carries 100 troops picks up US Secretary of State John Kerry to bring him home after he breaks his leg cycling

A US military C-17 transport aircraft that usually carries at least 100 troops flew to Geneva Airport to pick up Secretary of State John Kerry and fly him to Boston where he'll be treated for a broken leg.

The Air Force plane touched down in Switzerland on Monday after taking off from a US base in Ramstein, Germany, and then heading to Massachusetts after collecting the 71-year-old politician.

Kerry tweeted out 'big thanks' to his well-wishers and said he looked forward to getting his leg set and getting back to work at the State Department. 

Scroll down for video 

+12

An Air Force C-17 transport aircraft carrying US Secretary of State John Kerry took off from Geneva on Monday

+12

 The C-17 (seen right) was carrying 'additional military medical personnel in keeping with standard practice'

+12

Kerry, 71, was carried out of a medical helicopter (left) to board on the C-17 at Geneva Airport in Switzerland

Via: Daily Mail

Continue Reading....

Kerry's Broken Leg Comes as Iran Talks Heat Up

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry cut short a trip to Europe to return home to Boston after breaking his right thigh bone in a bicycling accident Sunday in eastern France.

The accident came as the U.S. -- led by Kerry -- five other world powers and Iran have resumed efforts to reach a nuclear accord before a June 30 deadline. It is unclear whether the accident will affect those talks. The accord would curb Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for an easing of economic sanctions.

The top U.S. diplomat met with his Iranian counterpart, Javed Zarif, for about six hours in Geneva on Saturday. The pair’s next meeting was expected to be in about two weeks, which would give Kerry some time to recovery from his injury. Technical experts will hold meetings in the meantime, starting in Vienna within a few days.

Special: Validate Real Organic Products From a USDA List

Latest News Update

Get Newsmax TV At Home »

Kerry fell from his bike, apparently after hitting a curb along the roadside near the town of Scionzier, a State Department official said on condition of not being further identified. Kerry, 71, was transported about 40 kilometers (25 miles) by medical helicopter to University Hospital in Geneva, where his injury was evaluated.

“Given the injury is near the site of his prior hip surgery, he will return to Boston today to seek treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital with his doctor who did the prior surgery,” John Kirby, a State Department spokesman, said in a statement. “The secretary is stable and never lost consciousness, his injury is not life-threatening, and he is expected to make a full recovery.”
Thigh Bone

Kirby confirmed that Kerry broke his “right femur.” The bone is commonly referred to as a thigh bone.

Via: Newsmax

Continue Reading....