U.S. orders probe into Obama government’s handling of Hezbollah drug initiative
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday ordered an investigation into allegations that the Obama administration undermined efforts to target drug trafficking by the militant Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran.
The announcement comes after Politico reported that the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) program known as Project Cassandra had been targeting the terrorist group’s trafficking of cocaine into the U.S. and abroad but was stymied by Obama officials.
At the time, the administration of President Barack Obama was eager to improve relations with Iran and stall its nuclear weapons program.
The review will “evaluate allegations that certain matters were not properly prosecuted and to ensure all matters are appropriately handled,” Sessions said in a statement.
“Operations designed to investigate and prosecute terrorist organizations that are also fueling that drug crisis must be paramount in this administration,” he said.
“While I am hopeful that there were no barriers constructed by the last administration to allowing DEA agents to fully bring all appropriate cases under Project Cassandra, this is a significant issue for the protection of Americans,” he added.
But Edward Price, a former CIA agent who served as spokesman for the National Security Council for the Obama administration, said: “The narrative presented in this report in no way resembles reality. The Obama administration said time and again that the nuclear negotiations with Iran were confined exclusively to that narrow issue. We did not make concessions in other arenas, and we most certainly did not curtail or attempt to influence any active investigations, including by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
“Any allegations to the contrary are false, and those reflected in the story appear to be from former low-level officials who have since gone on to work for organizations ideologically opposed to the Iran deal, something Politico failed to disclose.”
Trump has criticized the Iran nuclear agreement as “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.”
He refused to certify Iran’s compliance with the deal, but left its ultimate fate up to Congress.
