Iranian militia leader Hadi al-Amiri, one of several identified as leading an attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday, reportedly visited the White House in 2011 during the presidency of Barack Obama.
On Tuesday, a mob in Baghdad attacked the U.S. embassy in retaliation against last weekend’s U.S. airstrikes against the Iran-backed Shiite militia Kataib Hezbollah (KH), responsible for killing an American civilian contractor. KH is one of a number of pro-Iran militias that make up the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF/PMU), which legally became a wing of the Iraqi military after fighting the Sunni Islamic State terrorist group.
President Donald Trump has since accused Iran of having “orchestrated” the embassy attack and stated that the government would be “held fully responsible.”
Breitbart News reporter John Hayward described the attack on the embassy, writing:
Hasan Piker, cowboys, Charlie Kirk, and more: Top six takeaways from Republican midterm convention Night 2
Vance describes his hopes for baby son as he lays down a marker for 2028 with the speech of his life
Charlie Kirk supporters return to site of assassination 1 year later: ‘We are still standing’
Crowd erupts as Vance smacks down protester waving Mexican flag: ‘Get your a– over there’
Juror on Lindsay Clancy trial says ‘we let down Lindsay’ following mistrial
Top GOP senator reveals what Dem colleagues are fretting about behind closed doors
Several People Who Were Fired Over Charlie Kirk Comments Got Big Payouts or Were Given Their Jobs Back
Vance declares Democrats ‘party of hatred,’ says party has moved beyond big government, censorship
JD Vance to invoke Charlie Kirk, family ‘birthright’ in fiery midterm keynote speech thrashing Dems
FBI Busts Scheme to Use Skid-Row Homeless to Steal Voters’ Identities for Ballot Petitions
Conservatives Accuse Netflix of ‘Subtly Mocking Charlie Kirk’s Assassination,’ Call for Mass Cancellation
Patriots Announcers in Disbelief as QB Throws Away Season Opener on Final Play: ‘What Was He Thinking?’
Report: Trump No Longer Weighing Vance Vs. Rubio for 2028 – Has Made Up His Mind on Who Will Be Nominee
Judge questions possible attorney conflict in DC pipe bomber case
Watch: Dozens of Riot Police, Anti-Trump Crowd Engage in Full-on Standoff Outside RNC – Arrests Made
The mob grew into thousands of people, led by openly identified KH supporters, some of them wearing uniforms and waving militia flags. The attack began after a funeral service for the 25 KH fighters killed by the U.S. airstrikes. Demonstrators marched through the streets of Baghdad carrying photos of the slain KH members and Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who condemned the American airstrikes.
KH vowed to seek revenge for the airstrikes on Monday. Both KH and the Iranian military unit that supports it, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), have been designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. government. The government of Saudi Arabia also described KH as one of several “terrorist militias supported by the Iranian establishment” in remarks on Tuesday condemning the assault on the U.S. embassy.
The attackers were able to smash open a gate and push into the embassy compound, lighting fires, smashing cameras, and painting messages such as “Closed in the name of resistance” on the walls. Gunshots were reportedly heard near the embassy, while tear gas and stun grenades were deployed by its defenders.
A uniformed militia fighter on the scene in Baghdad told Kurdish news service Rudaw that attacks were also planned against the U.S. consulates in Erbil and Basra, with the goal of destroying the consulates and killing everyone inside.
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that among those agitating protesters in Baghdad on Tuesday was Hadi al-Amiri, a former transportation minister with close ties to Iran who leads the Badr Corps, another PMF militia.
Hasan Piker, cowboys, Charlie Kirk, and more: Top six takeaways from Republican midterm convention Night 2
Vance describes his hopes for baby son as he lays down a marker for 2028 with the speech of his life
Charlie Kirk supporters return to site of assassination 1 year later: ‘We are still standing’
Crowd erupts as Vance smacks down protester waving Mexican flag: ‘Get your a– over there’
Juror on Lindsay Clancy trial says ‘we let down Lindsay’ following mistrial
Top GOP senator reveals what Dem colleagues are fretting about behind closed doors
Several People Who Were Fired Over Charlie Kirk Comments Got Big Payouts or Were Given Their Jobs Back
Vance declares Democrats ‘party of hatred,’ says party has moved beyond big government, censorship
JD Vance to invoke Charlie Kirk, family ‘birthright’ in fiery midterm keynote speech thrashing Dems
FBI Busts Scheme to Use Skid-Row Homeless to Steal Voters’ Identities for Ballot Petitions
Conservatives Accuse Netflix of ‘Subtly Mocking Charlie Kirk’s Assassination,’ Call for Mass Cancellation
Patriots Announcers in Disbelief as QB Throws Away Season Opener on Final Play: ‘What Was He Thinking?’
Report: Trump No Longer Weighing Vance Vs. Rubio for 2028 – Has Made Up His Mind on Who Will Be Nominee
Judge questions possible attorney conflict in DC pipe bomber case
Watch: Dozens of Riot Police, Anti-Trump Crowd Engage in Full-on Standoff Outside RNC – Arrests Made
In 2011, both Fox News and the Washington Times noted that then-Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki brought his transportation minister, al-Amiri, to a meeting at the White House. The Times noted that the White House did not confirm his attendance, but the official was on Iraq’s listed members of its delegation.
The al-Amiri accompanying al-Maliki, besides also being transportation minister, was identified at the time as a commander of the Badr organization, further indicating it was the same person. At the time, the outlets expressed concern that al-Amiri had ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which the FBI has stated played a role in a 1996 terrorist attack that killed 19 U.S. servicemen. President Donald Trump designated the IRGC a foreign terrorist organization, the first time an official arm of a foreign state received the designation.
Fox News’ Ed Henry questioned White House Press Secretary Jay Carney following the visit about the attendance of al-Amiri at the White House. Carney refused to answer and stating that he would need to investigate the issue. The full transcript from RealClearPolitics reads:
Ed Henry, FOX News: When Prime Minister Maliki was here this week there have been reports that a former commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which U.S. officials say played a role in a 1996 terrorist attack that killed 19 U.S. servicemen.
He was here at the White House with Prime Minister Maliki because he’s a transportation minister, yeah, transportation minister —
Jay Carney, WH: Who’s [sic] report is that?
Hasan Piker, cowboys, Charlie Kirk, and more: Top six takeaways from Republican midterm convention Night 2
Vance describes his hopes for baby son as he lays down a marker for 2028 with the speech of his life
Charlie Kirk supporters return to site of assassination 1 year later: ‘We are still standing’
Crowd erupts as Vance smacks down protester waving Mexican flag: ‘Get your a– over there’
Juror on Lindsay Clancy trial says ‘we let down Lindsay’ following mistrial
Top GOP senator reveals what Dem colleagues are fretting about behind closed doors
Several People Who Were Fired Over Charlie Kirk Comments Got Big Payouts or Were Given Their Jobs Back
Vance declares Democrats ‘party of hatred,’ says party has moved beyond big government, censorship
JD Vance to invoke Charlie Kirk, family ‘birthright’ in fiery midterm keynote speech thrashing Dems
FBI Busts Scheme to Use Skid-Row Homeless to Steal Voters’ Identities for Ballot Petitions
Conservatives Accuse Netflix of ‘Subtly Mocking Charlie Kirk’s Assassination,’ Call for Mass Cancellation
Patriots Announcers in Disbelief as QB Throws Away Season Opener on Final Play: ‘What Was He Thinking?’
Report: Trump No Longer Weighing Vance Vs. Rubio for 2028 – Has Made Up His Mind on Who Will Be Nominee
Judge questions possible attorney conflict in DC pipe bomber case
Watch: Dozens of Riot Police, Anti-Trump Crowd Engage in Full-on Standoff Outside RNC – Arrests Made
Henry: I believe the Washington Times has reported it. I think others have as well, but I think this is a Washington Times —
Carney: I have to take that question then, I’m not aware of it.
Henry: Can you just answer it later though, whether he was here and whether a background check had been done?
Carney: I’ll check on it for you.
Henry: Okay, thanks.
In 2016, Obama secured a deal with Iran which included a payment of $1.7 billion in cash. Breitbart News reporter John Hayward reported in September of 2016:
On Tuesday, the Obama administration finally admitted something its critics had long suspected: The entire $1.7 billion tribute paid to Iran was tendered in cash — not just the initial $400 million infamously shipped to the Iranians in a cargo plane — at the same moment four American hostages were released.
Hasan Piker, cowboys, Charlie Kirk, and more: Top six takeaways from Republican midterm convention Night 2
Vance describes his hopes for baby son as he lays down a marker for 2028 with the speech of his life
Charlie Kirk supporters return to site of assassination 1 year later: ‘We are still standing’
Crowd erupts as Vance smacks down protester waving Mexican flag: ‘Get your a– over there’
Juror on Lindsay Clancy trial says ‘we let down Lindsay’ following mistrial
Top GOP senator reveals what Dem colleagues are fretting about behind closed doors
Several People Who Were Fired Over Charlie Kirk Comments Got Big Payouts or Were Given Their Jobs Back
Vance declares Democrats ‘party of hatred,’ says party has moved beyond big government, censorship
JD Vance to invoke Charlie Kirk, family ‘birthright’ in fiery midterm keynote speech thrashing Dems
FBI Busts Scheme to Use Skid-Row Homeless to Steal Voters’ Identities for Ballot Petitions
Conservatives Accuse Netflix of ‘Subtly Mocking Charlie Kirk’s Assassination,’ Call for Mass Cancellation
Patriots Announcers in Disbelief as QB Throws Away Season Opener on Final Play: ‘What Was He Thinking?’
Report: Trump No Longer Weighing Vance Vs. Rubio for 2028 – Has Made Up His Mind on Who Will Be Nominee
Judge questions possible attorney conflict in DC pipe bomber case
Watch: Dozens of Riot Police, Anti-Trump Crowd Engage in Full-on Standoff Outside RNC – Arrests Made
“Treasury Department spokeswoman Dawn Selak said in a statement the cash payments were necessary because of the ‘effectiveness of U.S. and international sanctions,’ which isolated Iran from the international finance system,” said ABC News, relating what might be one of history’s strangest humblebrags. The sanctions Obama threw away were working so well that he had to satisfy Iran’s demands with cold, hard cash!
By the way, those sanctions were not entirely related to Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. As former prosecutor Andrew McCarthy pointed out at National Review last month, they date back to Iran’s seizure of hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, its support for “Hezbollah’s killing sprees,” and, most pertinently, Bill Clinton’s 1995 invocation of “federal laws that deal with national emergencies caused by foreign aggression,” by which he meant Iran’s support for international terrorism.
Former white house staffer during the Obama administration, Ben Rhodes, blamed President Trump’s policies for the Tuesday attack on the U.S. embassy.
Trump sanctions on Iran have done nothing to change Iranian behavior except make it worse. This is what happens when your foreign policy is based on Obama envy, domestic politics, Saudi interests, and magical right wing thinking. https://t.co/HDn0ywZnHu
— Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) December 31, 2019
Many have hit back at Rhodes for the accusations, including former CIA ops officer Bryan Dean Wright.
Hasan Piker, cowboys, Charlie Kirk, and more: Top six takeaways from Republican midterm convention Night 2
Vance describes his hopes for baby son as he lays down a marker for 2028 with the speech of his life
Charlie Kirk supporters return to site of assassination 1 year later: ‘We are still standing’
Crowd erupts as Vance smacks down protester waving Mexican flag: ‘Get your a– over there’
Juror on Lindsay Clancy trial says ‘we let down Lindsay’ following mistrial
Top GOP senator reveals what Dem colleagues are fretting about behind closed doors
Several People Who Were Fired Over Charlie Kirk Comments Got Big Payouts or Were Given Their Jobs Back
Vance declares Democrats ‘party of hatred,’ says party has moved beyond big government, censorship
JD Vance to invoke Charlie Kirk, family ‘birthright’ in fiery midterm keynote speech thrashing Dems
FBI Busts Scheme to Use Skid-Row Homeless to Steal Voters’ Identities for Ballot Petitions
Conservatives Accuse Netflix of ‘Subtly Mocking Charlie Kirk’s Assassination,’ Call for Mass Cancellation
Patriots Announcers in Disbelief as QB Throws Away Season Opener on Final Play: ‘What Was He Thinking?’
Report: Trump No Longer Weighing Vance Vs. Rubio for 2028 – Has Made Up His Mind on Who Will Be Nominee
Judge questions possible attorney conflict in DC pipe bomber case
Watch: Dozens of Riot Police, Anti-Trump Crowd Engage in Full-on Standoff Outside RNC – Arrests Made
As you attack Trump’s foreign policy, Iranian militia members are — at this very moment — attacking American soldiers using the $1.7B cash you and Team Obama sent to Tehran.
What a time to be self righteous. https://t.co/FUtg02WTwZ
— Bryan Dean Wright (@BryanDeanWright) December 31, 2019
No further information has been given about al-Amiri’s presence at the U.S. embassy raid on Tuesday. Read more about the attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad at Breitbart News here.
Story cited here.
