President Barack Obama signed the newly released 2011 Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime on July 19th. Strategically, this plan appears appropriate considering the gravity of transnational organized criminal activity around the world. Unlike the 2011 National Strategy for Counter Terrorism which completely left out terrorist entities and rogue regimes operating inside South and Central America, this newly released strategy appears impressive until one observes recent U.S. activities which counters everything written within.
A sound and executable plan is critical in deterring, detecting, and destroying these heinous criminal enterprises. Transnational Organized Criminals (TOC’s) are often interlinked with terrorist organizations and at times joined by enemy nation states like Iran and Venezuela. How many of these groups could be linked either actively or passively to the United States based off American financial and or logistical support?
The Obama Administration has arguably assisted America’s enemies more than any other presidency—surpassing even the Carter Administration. While assisting our enemies, who in part constitute transnational organized criminals, this administration has jeopardized our economy, national security, and ruined the livelihoods of numerous patriotic American citizens.
In only a few short weeks, reports have unfolded exemplifying how the United States assisted some of America’s most notorious enemies. Some organizations mentioned in the July 19th strategy have recently received U.S. support through financial aid or logistics. Has the United States turned into an enabler for these criminals?
Operation Fast and Furious remains a complete mystery for politicians and the American people who patiently wait for someone to be held responsible and accountable for its fiasco which left U.S. federally employed persons dead. This is the operation which the Department of Justice illegally disseminated weapons into the hands of Mexican transnational organized criminals like Los Zetas—a program costing more than $50 million in U.S. taxpayers’ dollars.
Just this past week, we have learned that the United States poorly mismanaged U.S. tax payer funds in Afghanistan. These funds have inevitably landed in the hands of the Taliban, local Afghan militias, and or even Iranian sleeper cells operating in Afghanistan—to what extent no one knows.
On July 26th, the Palestinian Media Watch released an incredibly disturbing report which demonstrates a very unique alignment between the Palestinian Authority and the Obama Administration. The report proves that millions of U.S. dollars have contributed to the financial assistance of terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah—two terrorist organizations fully supported by Iran. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that she was “pleased to announce that the United States has transferred an additional $150 million in direct assistance to the Palestinian Authority. This brings our direct budget assistance to a total of $225 million for the year and our overall support and investment to nearly $600 million this year.”
Most recently, news has unfolded demonstrating the current administration’s willingness to support Libyan rebels with the release of $30 billion in frozen assets. But who are these rebels? Libyan rebel hierarchy mostly constitutes members from the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group—a terrorist organization on the U.S. State Department list of Foreign Terrorists since 2004.
Combine Operation Fast and Furious, the Palestinian fiasco, and financial support to the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and monetarily speaking, the United States has wasted through supporting transnational organized criminal networks approximately $30,650,000,000.00. Let’s not forget that no one knows how much money actually went into the hands of the Taliban due to lacking quality management within this administration—those figures could also be in the millions if not billions. With all this, it’s no wonder the United States faces serious budget crisis.
It is apparent that not only will a new strategic plan in combating transnational organized criminals fail with this administration; some members will actually counter such initiative by taking matters into their own hands with illegal operations. Unfortunately, this administration has done little to protect and defend against all enemies foreign and domestic. They have literally gotten away with murder, depleted our economy, and jeopardized our security– it is unlikely that they will ever be held accountable and this new strategy to defeat some of our nation’s enemies could arguably be construed as worthless.
Kerry Patton is the Co-Founder of the National Security Leadership Foundation, a non-profit organization pending 501c (3) status. He has worked in South America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe, focusing on intelligence and security interviewing current and former terrorists, including members of the Taliban. He is the author of “Sociocultural Intelligence: The New Discipline of Intelligence Studies” and the children’s book “American Patriotism.” You can follow him on Facebook.
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