Friday, August 05, 2016

Maybe he was right after all, he's not really sure

And just to prove we're keeping up to date here, Donald Trump now re-tweets a link to this Daily Mail article, which says in pertinent part (as the lawyers say):

The Iranian video was aired February 15 on the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting television network, as part of a documentary called 'Rules of the Game.'

A narrator, speaking in Persian, describes a money-for-hostages transaction over video clips of a plane on an airport tarmac in the dead of night and a photo of a giant shipping pallet stacked with what appear to be banknotes.

The federal government shipped what many are calling a ransom payment in Euros and other non-U.S. currencies.

The copy of the documentary footage DailyMail.com obtained is not of high enough quality to determine which nation's banknotes are depicted.

None of the footage is stamped with a date or time, making it impossible to know when it was shot.
And the broadcaster blurred out one portion of the screen, covering up something resting on top of the mountain of money.

But the documentary begins with a narration saying: 'In the early morning hours of January 17, 2016 at Mehrabad Airport, $400 million in cash was transported to Iran on an airplane.'

The film describes the Obama administration's prisoner swap and Iran's cash windfall from Tehran's point of view as 'a win-lose deal that benefits the Islamic Republic of Iran and hurts the United States,' according to two English-language translations DailyMail.com obtained.

So, let's see:  can't tell what kind of money it is (if it is money), can't tell when it was shot (except it aired in February), can't tell what's resting on top of the "money," but the narration, for a documentary made for the Iran Broadcasting network, says it was "$400 million transported to Iran on an airplane."

The date sounds right, but that's actually the date CNN reported on the payment, and explained what it was for.  The CNN report sounds like the payment is due soon, not that it was made that Sunday last January.  So most likely this film took that date as "verified" and declared it the delivery date.  Which immediately calls into question the veracity of this "documentary."  A "documentary" which even the headline at the Daily Mail calls a "propaganda film."  Besides, it describes the deal in terms most favorable to the Iranian government; gee, I wonder why?

So, what do we know?  We know this money transfer was reported on in January by CNN (at least).  We know the film was made for the Iranian government, so clearly it's propaganda.  We know all details that could verify this film have been removed or covered up.

And apparently we know that Donald Trump was watching Iran Broadcasting in February of this year, but just remembered what he saw this week.

Or maybe he never saw it; he's not too sure.

Well, that clears that up.

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