In response to Couldn't Obama have asked Iran to release its American hostages before he capitulated on nukes?:
If there's one thing worse than appeasement, it's lazy appeasement. It's an absolute disgrace that Barack Obama and John Kerry didn't insist on the release of all American hostages held by Iran as a Step 1 precondition for any proposed deal. That should have been the condition for opening negotiations, but somehow they forgot to even bring it up as part of the capitulation that will guarantee Iran gets its long-desired nuclear bomb, along with looser sanctions and $7 billion in up-front cash rewards.
I don't think anyone is surprised with this move by Obama, because getting Iran to release the Pastor, would infuriate Muslims around the world that have showed support for his presidency.
For those of you have have had your heads stuck in the sand, Abedini was sentenced to eight years in an Iranian prison, after he was accused of trying to establish home churches, a move Iranians believe would undermine their government and national security.
Both President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, requested that Iran release Abedini, but nothing came of it. But according to recent reports, while Obama and Kerry were calling for his release, they were secretly negotiating with the Iranians over their nuclear program.
Abedini is in jail because he is a Christian. With all of the leverage President Obama had in the negotiations with Iran, if he were to have authorized the negotiation for Abedini's release be thrown into the mix, many believe that the Iranians would have released Abedini, just to be able to get what they wanted.
The long-standing State Department policy that the U.S. does not negotiate with terrorists, especially with prisoner exchanges and releases, is thrown right out the window, as Obama's nuke deal with the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism tramples all over that.
http://www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2013/11/26/Obama-Just-Flat-Out-Didn-t-Want-American-Hostage-Released?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter