The leader of the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was photographed in the Oval Office with President Obama in 2011 during a visit timed with the drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq, according to the Daily Mail and Fox News.
Hadi al-Amiri was Iraq’s minister of transport under then-Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and stood in the Oval Office as part of Maliki’s delegation on a visit to the White House in December 2011.
On Tuesday, al-Amiri was among those leading the charge against the US embassy in Baghdad when it was stormed and set alight by pro-Iran militants. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shared a photograph of Amiri amid the rioters, condemning him as an ‘Iranian proxy,’ and calling those shoulder-to-shoulder with him ‘terrorists.’
In a post on Twitter Tuesday, Pompeo identified Amiri, writing, “The attack today was orchestrated by terrorists–Abu Mahdi al Muhandis and Qays al-Khazali – and abetted by Iranian proxies – Hadi al Amari and Faleh al-Fayyad. All are pictured below outside our embassy.”
The attack today was orchestrated by terrorists – Abu Mahdi al Muhandis and Qays al-Khazali – and abetted by Iranian proxies – Hadi al Amari and Faleh al-Fayyad. All are pictured below outside our embassy. pic.twitter.com/2QfGGrfmDd
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) December 31, 2019
Amiri was a former guerrilla fighter who fought for Tehran during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980’s and has been accused of terrorism against the United States and of helping Iran ship weapons to Syrain leader Bashar al-Assad.
Fox News notes that Amiri’s attendance at the White House “raised eyebrows” due to his ties to Iran. When Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq, Amiri also served as commander of the Badr Corps which was the military arm of the Supreme Council of Iraq.
During today’s podcast, Dan addressed the story, saying, “nobody is surprised by this. Nobody. This is disgusting. The “Death to America” crowd we paid $150 billion in random payments under the Obama Administration are now leading attacks on our embassy.”
Watch Dan address the story surrounding this shocking photograph below:
