Obama Lies to Sotloff Family About Murdered Hostages Exposed

By Michael Becker

President Obama has been caught lying again.  Yawn.  Crickets.  The family of murdered journalist Steven Sotloff, who was beheaded by ISIS about two weeks ago, is accusing the Obama administration of lying about the hostages.  We’d note they can get in line with the families of the men murdered in Benghazi, and we’ll see if they can keep this newest set of lies alive for two years.

“They’ve said that the families have been consistently and regularly informed. That is not true,” [Sotloff family spokesman Barak Barfi] claimed. “I speak now only from the Sotloff family. I can’t speak for the other families. They said that these hostages were moved frequently. We know that for most of the beginning of part of this year they were stationary. We know that the intelligence community and the White House are enmeshed in a larger game of bureaucratic infighting and [murdered journalist] Jim [Foley] and Steve are pawns in that game and that’s not fair.”

It appears that the Sotloff family has boots on the ground in Syria and they may have a compelling story of the dithering incompetence of the Obama administration and the President himself.  Assuming, of course, that the major media is willing to listen to them.  That’s a big assumption based on their non-performance with respect to covering the President over the last six years.

You’ll remember the Obama administration releasing information about how the President had sent a US military special ops group called the Nightstalkers on a rescue mission just before James Foley was murdered and how the hostages had “been moved.”  Well, it turns out that maybe a couple of rounds of golf may have gotten in the way of sending in the team soon enough to rescue Foley and Sotloff.

For President Barack Obama the decision to send in the Night Stalkers was an agonising one. The audacious bin Laden raid in Pakistan had been a success but also preying on his mind was the failed 1980 Delta Force operation to rescue American hostages in Tehran.

Sandstorms and mechanical troubles led the mission to be abandoned and eight American troops were killed when two aircraft collided. The debacle cast a shadow over Jimmy Carter’s presidency.

Pentagon sources said Foley and the others might well have been rescued but Obama, concerned about the ramifications of US troops being killed or captured in Syria, took too long to authorise the mission.

Anthony Shaffer, a former lieutenant-colonel in US military intelligence who worked on covert operations, said: “I’m told it was almost a 30-day delay from when they said they wanted to go to when he finally gave the green light. They were ready to go in June to grab the guy [Foley] and they weren’t permitted.”

Another US defence source said: “The White House constantly goes back and forth on these things. These people are a bunch of academics who endlessly analyse stuff and ordering up another deep-thinking paper but can’t decide what to order for lunch.”

This sounds familiar, Obama apparently dithered for months over sending in SEAL Team 6 to get bin Laden.  The second Pentagon source sounds right on the money with one small exception.  Obama wasn’t even a competent academic.  He was an affirmative action candidate who graduated from Columbia and was editor of the Harvard Law Review.  He couldn’t even land a full time associate professorship anywhere, let alone a tenure track position.  As an “academic” he was relegated to lowest rung on the academic ladder, visiting lecturer.  Part time, low pay, no benefits, no tenure.  A position befitting his ability and because the major media refused to do even a cursory examination of his past the US is suffering through what may turn out to be the longest eight years of our history.

This episode may not be over.

Barfi even threatened to reveal more damning information about the Obama administration’s handling of the situation if the administration didn’t stop leaking details of Sotloff’s captivity to the press.

“If there continues to be leaks, the Sotloff family will have to speak out to set the record straight,” he said.

“The relationship between the administration and the Sotloff family was very strained,” Barfi explained. “We do not believe that they gave us the cooperation that they need. Once Steve appeared in that video, the Sotloff family made one simple request of the administration and they were rebuffed on that.”

“I can’t say that because I have to think of protecting the other hostages inside,” Barfi said when asked to explain the request.

Ultimately, Barfi said the Obama administration treated Sotloff’s family inappropriately.

Assuming, once again, that anybody in the major media gives a damn about a couple of inconvenient murdered journalists.  Or a US ambassador, his aide, and two former SEALS who gave their lives to save over 30 others who were under attack.

Frankly, at this point, what difference does it make?