Source says reported letter from Obama to Ayatollah ‘f***s up everything'

[bemildred]

President Obama reportedly penned a secret letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last month discussing their shared interest in fighting the Islamic State -- a development one congressional source told Fox News "f***s up everything."

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that, according to people briefed on the letter, Obama wrote to Khamenei in the middle of last month and stressed that any cooperation on dealing with the Islamic State, or ISIS, was tied to Iran striking a deal over its nuclear program. The U.S., Iran and other negotiators are facing a Nov. 24 deadline for such a deal.

A senior congressional source told Fox News that there is not anything definitive as to whether the letter even exists. But the source indicated they don't doubt that it's true because "we've seen [the president] do it before, so there is [a] precedent."

According to the Journal, Obama has written to Khamenei four times now since taking office.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/11/06/source-says-reported-letter-from-obama-to-ayatollah-fs-up-everything/

A couple of comments:

1.) You have to remember, these guys WANT Obama to fail, so they don't want to do things that will work, hence the "Sunni League".

2.) The problem with their plan being that the "Sunni League" is not worth a bucket of warm spit when it comes to fighting, they will cave just as fast as the Iraqi Army did, and for much the same reasons. The competent military forces in the region are Israel, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and a few militias and small powers like Hezbollah and the Kurds.

3.) Congress ought not EVER mess with foreign affairs except in coordination with the executive branch. We don't need a bunch of little tin-pot diplomats conducting our foreign policy. Their role is to affirm or deny consent and oversee. They are not doing that job well as it is.

4.) They really do hate Obama don't they? And it is race, isn't it? I mean they are completely off the deep end.

[blm]

1. Diplomacy and negotiations with Iran fvcks up the neocons' plan to invade Iran

This president and SecofState know what they are doing and are doing it - Republicans and neocon Dems can go to hell.

[bemildred]

2. +1.

Annoyed as I get with Obama, I have to admit when I think about it that he has done a good, and at times clever, job of thwarting the Neocons more ludicrous plans.

[still_one]

3. I don't buy it. "A source says", and it is reported on fox. That does not mean that there is not a

dialog going on with Iran, but I believe it isn't in the way the good ole boys at fox are saying

[bemildred]

4. They are saying he, the President, should not be talking to Iran, because it fucks up their plans.

Chutzpah.

[still_one]

5. I understand, and if the President thought he could further efforts whether peace or a common goal,

I have no doubt he would do so. I just don't believe this leak unless the WH or a reputable source confirms it

[mehrrh]

11. diplomacy isn't in the GOP lexicon

It was OK when, before he was president, Reagan secretly (yet illegally) communicated with Iran to free the hostages -- but for Obama, as president, to try to broker a deal with Iran that could halt their nuclear program is indication that he is a traitor to the nation?
Perish the thought that before he leaves office, we might see some kind of mutually beneficial relationship with Iran -- added to all the domestic issues that have improved under Obama -- his legacy would be viewed favorably by historians, and that would be anathema to Republicans -- they must see that Obama's legacy is denied, curtailed, diminished, and disregarded -they won't accept that George Bush will be regarded as a failure and Obama as a success.

[Progressive dog]

6. I would think Fox would be happy

After all, Reagan secretly sent a cake and a team of diplomats to convince the ayatollah to buy more weapons.

[bemildred]

7. +1. Priceless. nt

[glinda]

8. This might be the beginning of trying to oust him before his two years are up.

They see an opportunity to have total control of this Country in any bullying way they can. Any.

[Amonester]

19. Not that I don't think they won't try, but if they would and somehow "succeeded"

then they would have to start over with Joe Biden. Not sure if they'd be successful at trying to take down Joe too...

[hatrack]

9. Yes, how DARE the president practice foriegn policy?!??!! How DARE HE??!?!

[mopinko]

17. ^^^ yes

how dare he.
if he wrote it it is because the people with the actual info thought it would help. the white house counter terror people have deep knowledge and skill. this would not have been a unilateral decision.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

10. MCFARLANE TOOK CAKE AND BIBLE TO TEHERAN, EX-C.I.A. MAN SAYS

A retired Central Intelligence Agency official has confirmed to the Senate Intelligence Committee that on the secret mission to Teheran last May, Robert C. McFarlane and his party carried a Bible with a handwritten verse from President Reagan for Iranian leaders.

According to a person who has read the committee's draft report, the retired C.I.A. official, George W. Cave, an Iran expert who was part of the mission, said the group had 10 falsified passports, believed to be Irish, and a key-shaped cake to symbolize the anticipated ''opening'' to Iran.

These and other details of the secret American operation are discussed at length in the report, but much of the material has already appeared in public in the more than two months since the revelations began with publication of a story about the McFarlane mission in a small Beirut weekly. In effect, the report supplies a useful chronology of the events.

The rather bizarre details of the McFarlane mission were first made known by the Iranian Speaker of Parliament, Hojatolislam Hashemi Rafsanjani, on Nov. 4, when the secret operation first became known. Hojatolislam Rafsanjani also said that the Americans had been disguised and that they had carried sets of Colt pistols as gifts. But these details were not confirmed in the report.

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/11/us/mcfarlane-took-cake-and-bible-to-teheran-ex-cia-man-says.html

[Old Nick]

12. I've got $20 that says

the "senior congressional source" is a big fan of Bibi.

[bemildred]

13. Not a bad bet. nt

[progressoid]

14. "one congressional source told Fox News"

[Shemp Howard]

15. Reportedly...unnamed sources...

"there is not anything definitive as to whether the letter even exists..."

What kind of reporting is this anyway? (Yeah, I know, consider the source.)

Maybe I should send this story over to Fox, for immediate release: My neighbor told me that his barber said that John Boehner recently stabbed a dog with a knife. However, there is not anything definitive as to whether the knife or the dog even exists.

I wonder if Fox will print that story?

[wandy]

16. You have to love this. We have yet another "source"..................

Who no doubt wishes to remain unnamed for the protection of their family, Telling Fox Lies about something not anything definitive as to whether it even exists. Wow! Breaking news.
The sky is falling!
The sky is falling!
Impeach!
Impeach! The sky is falling!

Orwell missed his prediction on two counts.
He was 30 to 40 years too early.
In no way shape of form did he predict that the ministry of misinformation could do so much with so little effort.

[bemildred]

18. He was not cynical enough, Orwell. It's hard to be too cynical. nt

[Scuba]

20. Another scandal - Obama caught practicing diplomacy!!!