The US Government seized control last Wednesday of a New York City office building partially owned by a company with ties to the Iranian government. The Treasury and Justice Departments move is aimed to end a flow of cash used to help Iran’s program of nuclear weapons. The seizure is raising troubling questions.
The tower, situated on New York’s Fifth Avenue, was built by an Iranian non-profit group in the 1970s. Federal officials say that the ownership of the building has evolved in an attempt to hide the stake held by an Iranian state-owned bank. The US alleges that Assa Corporation, which owns the building, is a front for Bank Melli, which facilitates the funding of nuclear materials for the Iranian regime. US authorities say that Bank Melli is involved in the Assa Corp. management of the Fifth Avenue facility. According to reports, rental income was sent back to Iran. But the designation does not interfere with the business and other activities of the tenants of 650 Fifth Avenue. In 2007, the Bush Administration froze Bank Melli’s assets in the United States. The FBI seized two Assa’s bank accounts holding $3.1 million.
According to Government sources Bank Melli handles funds for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (Pasdaran) and its Qods Forces, which in turn fund Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad as well as some activities of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Why aren’t we seeing this in the other MSM reports? Oh, yeah… Dick Cheney’s dis of Joe Biden is more important. And don’t forget, the ever-crucial report from the NYT that the housing failure is ALL Bush’s fault.
Krugman, Carlson, and Behar were talking about the Iranian threat on Real Time last night. First question: Name me one thing Joy Behar understands about foreign relations. Oh, heck…never mind…. back to the segment.
Krugman and Carlson got into it over the threat of Iran, and incredibly Krugman offered this less-than-educated opinion:
Krugman: You’ve got all these Republicans talking about how Iran might establish a Caliphate and rule the world. You know this is not the poorest country in the world, but it’s pretty poor. It’s a small country. How did we get so frightened of a handful of Persians out there in the Middle East?
Oh, really? I guess Brigitte Gabriel, Walid Phares, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and many other noted scholars are wrong about the nuclear threat of Iran. And WTF is this about “a handful of Persians”? Also, who does NOT know of Ahmadinejad’s desires to establish a Caliphate in the world, and have everyone convert to Islam? Krugman is obviously another mental midget; that, or he’s just a shill for the Democrats. Either way, he’s severely misguided.
This item broke originally about 3PM EST, but I’m sure that the outrage over this caused it to crash very quickly. Conservative bloggers went nuts at the idea in general, and I’m one of them.
Showing off his ‘nuclear payload’
Apparently not only Americans were outraged, but some American Iranian scholars were flummoxed, as well. According to the latest from The Sun:
Condemnation of the idea is not restricted to the Jewish community, however, and came quickly and spiritedly from several quarters. A prominent Iranian scholar and founder of the American Iranian Council, Hooshang Amirahmadi, said the plan illustrated Mr. Ahmadinejad’s naiveté and misunderstanding of the American people.
“He doesn’t understand how America works. He doesn’t understand the depths of the problems with the U.S.,” Mr. Amirahmadi said. “Somebody may have told him that ground zero is very symbolic to Americans, and that visiting there and saying something would help —the problem is that everybody around him is stupid.”
Yeah, stupid describes it. But the fact that Bloomberg ever considered it in the first place is beyond me. Those who take this mantle as a cause, as well as the go-for-the-throat reactions to what will surely occur after the U.N. appearances of both Aqwavelvajad and Chavez, should fare very well with the public in this election season. Amazing that those on the left who refused to decry MoveOn.org’s ad, but will come out and pounce on this, is just unbelievable. They should have been ticked at both for the same reasons - both acts were reprehensible and offensive to the majority of Americans who are true patriots.
Update: Michelle Malkin has more information as it’s available. It ain’t over ’til it’s over. Follow Michelle for the latest and best news coverage of this. I myself am sick of OJ, and it seems the bloggers are doing the work of the true journalists. There’s nothing newsworthy of a thug being a thug.
For the news on Aquavelvajhad, I just say, Hooray Michelle!
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