Republicans express deep concern over Iraqi PM visit to White House, connections to terrorist orgs
Fox News
Ahead of Iraqi Prime Minister Shia Al-Sudani’s visit to the White House, members of the Republican Party expressed their concerns over the hundreds of billions of dollars sent to the country, and its ties to groups on the list of U.S.-designated terrorist groups in a letter to President Biden.
The letter, which was signed by RNC National Security Task Force Chair Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., and Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern, was sent to Biden on Monday.
“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.”
The letter notes that Iraq joined Iran in the attack on Israel on Saturday, adding that Al-Sudani leads a government that funds Iran-backed militias with about $2.7 billion a year.
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Three of the militias were designated by the U.S. as terrorist groups, Wilson and Hern explained, and those groups have attacked Americans at least 180 times since Hamas-led terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing three Americans and injuring over 100 others.
“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 read. “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.”
Members of the terrorist groups, according to the Republican lawmakers, are members of Iraq’s parliament and the Finance Committee, which authorizes funding for U.S.-designated terrorist groups while also blocking the funding for the Kurdistan Regional Government, which is an ally with the U.S.
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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.
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“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 Russian and China for the bulk of its sales and investments,” the letter reads. “In essence, the US has effectively overseen China, Russia and Iran dominate Iraq, despite our overwhelming financial and human commitment to Iraq’s latest chapter.”
To make matters worse, they added, Iraq, which is supported by Iran, has turned on the Kurds and has refused to allocate the Kurdistan Region its full Constitutional Budget.
Ahead of the meeting, the lawmakers requested answers to several questions, including whether the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury can certify that no U.S. money is transferred to Iraq’s Central Bank and being used to fund Iran or its proxies in Iraq.
Wilson and Hern also asked why the Treasury Department continues to support money transfers to Iraq when the funds are used by U.S.-designated terrorist groups, and how the State Department is addressing the Iraqi government’s blockade on U.S. Congress appropriated military equipment to the Kurdistan Region.
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the letter.