May 16, 2014 | Quote

Hillary Revising History of Her Iran Sanctions Role, Senator Claims

One Republican senator accused Hillary Clinton of exaggerating her role in imposing sanctions on Iran when she was Secretary of State, calling some of Clinton’s recent comments on the topic a “blatant revision of history.”

Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., made the accusation a day after Clinton told the American Jewish Committee Wednesday night about her efforts to get U.N. sanctions on Iran in response to Iran’s nuclear program.

“I worked for months to round-up the votes [in the UN Security Council],” Clinton said. “In the end we were successful… And then building on the framework established by the Security Council, with the help of Congress, the Obama administration imposed some of the most stringent, crippling sanctions on top of the international ones.”

Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, noted that the primary objections to more sanctions came from the White House, not the State or Treasury departments tasked with implementing its policies. And, he added, Clinton’s State Department does deserve credit for getting the United Nations Security Council on board with tough sanctions.

But she isn’t giving Congress enough credit for its work, Dubowitz said.

“It significantly understates the pivotal role that Congress played in originating and passing some of the most effective energy and financial sanctions,” he said of Clinton’s comments.

Dubowitz said he hoped that over time, recognition for the Iran sanctions will also go to “unsung heroes” like Stuart Levy, the first Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the Treasury Department, as well as others in the State Department and on Capitol Hill.

“When the history of Iran sanctions is written, I hope it actually also gives credit to many of the people whose names we don’t know or who are not as famous as Hillary Clinton,” he said.

Read the full article here.

Issues:

Iran Iran Sanctions