Since the U.S. military withdrew from Iraq in December 2011, Iran has moved in and now dominates the nation's government.
It's not an exaggeration to say that Iraq is Iran's obedient puppet. The reason is two-fold: Iranian-backed armed militias keep the politicians in line while Tehran decides who serves in high offices.
In recent years, Iraq has funded several Iranian-backed militias that have attacked Americans hundreds of times. Whether Iraq had foreknowledge of these attacks is irrelevant. The attacks are planned and launched on Iraqi soil where the militias operate. Since the Israel-Hamas war began, those attacks have increased dramatically.
On Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Shia Al-Sudani paid a visit to Joe Biden in the White House. Republicans strenuously objected in a letter.
"As members of the Republican Study Committee, we write to express our deep concern with your decision to host Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani to the White House and your overall Iraqi policy," the letter reads. "Despite hundreds of billions of dollars spent in Iraq over two decades and countless American treasure, Iraq is now solidly in Iran’s hands."
Blame for that is spread across two decades of failed American policy. But Biden didn't have to fete the leader of a government that funds terrorist groups and is joined at the hip to a bitter American enemy.
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), RNC National Security Task Force Chair, and Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) signed the letter, which points out that Iraq joined Iran in the attack on Israel on Saturday and that the militias being backed by Iran and Iraq have attacked Americans 180 times since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.
"The Iraqi federal budget last year also passed massive funding for the Iranian-backed militias’ financial arm, the Muhandis General Company, which gives the IRGC and Iraqi militias almost unlimited access to terrorist threat funding and land grants – the last one of which was half the size of Lebanon, in the exact area from which the same militias launched drones at Saudi Arabia," the letter continues. "The [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp’s] influence is also now extending to Iraq’s judiciary which has spearheaded the campaign against American interests, most notably in the Kurdistan Region."
Some members of the terrorist groups are members of the Iraqi parliament.
The letter to Biden claimed Al-Sudani’s cabinet supports terrorism and the country’s security forces have been infiltrated by IRGC-backed militias, which include members of designated terrorist groups.
Additionally, Hern and Wilson told the president that the U.S. Treasury Department continues to allow U.S. money to go to Iraq’s Central Bank, which is ultimately funneled to terrorist groups and Iranian-backed militias.
Also, the minister of oil oversees the second-largest OPEC producer in the world, and the oil that comes out of Iraq is largely controlled by the militias. The oil is then exported by Iran as unsanctioned Iraqi oil, the two told the president.
"These are the officials you have determined are worthy to visit the White House. Furthermore, China and Russia have exploited U.S. investments in Iraq, such that China now operates more than 50% of Iraq’s oil fields and the Iraqi Oil Ministry now turns to Russia and China for the bulk of its sales and investments," the letter states. "In essence, the U.S. has effectively overseen China, Russia, and Iran dominate Iraq, despite our overwhelming financial and human commitment to Iraq’s latest chapter."
Just because the United States has to maintain relations with Iraq for the stability of the Middle East doesn't mean that the leader of a state that sponsors terrorist groups and is in the hip pocket of a mortal enemy should receive the honors and recognition associated with an Oval Office visit with the president.
The Iraqi prime minister's White House visit sends a terrible message to Iran: that the U.S. acknowledges its domination of Iraq and acquiesces in the terrorist control of Iraqi assets.
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