(Politico) Josh Meyer - The U.S. launched Project Cassandra in 2008 after the Drug Enforcement Administration amassed evidence that Hizbullah had transformed itself into an international crime syndicate collecting $1 billion a year from drug and weapons trafficking, money laundering and other criminal activities. Over the next eight years, DEA agents used wiretaps, undercover operations and informants to map Hizbullah's illicit networks, with the help of 30 U.S. and foreign security agencies. The agents traced the conspiracy to the innermost circle of Hizbullah and its state sponsors in Iran. But when Project Cassandra leaders sought approval for some significant investigations, prosecutions, arrests and financial sanctions, Obama administration officials at the Justice and Treasury departments delayed, hindered or rejected their requests. Former Treasury official Katherine Bauer told the House Committee on Foreign Affairs last February that "under the Obama administration...these [Hizbullah-related] investigations were tamped down for fear of rocking the boat with Iran and jeopardizing the nuclear deal."
2017-12-18 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive