“We have seen reports that some U.S.-origin military equipment is being operated by Iraqi militia units that are not the approved end-users,” said a spokesman for the White House National Security Council. “We urge the Government of Iraq to expeditiously return this equipment to the full control of the Iraqi Army.”
Yes, no doubt they’re going to get right on that.
“All recipients of U.S. security assistance are fully vetted and subject to end-use requirements,” the official said. “The United States has strict standards to avoid providing security assistance to designated terrorist organizations, units with close ties to Iran, or units under suspicion of committing gross violations of human rights.”
Vetted by a government that still does not officially recognize that there is even such a thing as Islamic jihad violence. Yeah, that’s going to be some efficient vetting.
“U.S. Admits Possible Role in Arming Iranian-Backed Militants in Iraq,” by Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon, November 13, 2017:
U.S. officials acknowledged Iranian-backed forces in Iraq could be using American-made arms, an admission that comes amid growing concern on Capitol Hill the U.S. government is quietly working with militia fighters in Iraq who are directly tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), according to multiple sources familiar with the situation.
U.S. lawmakers and military insiders are concerned by what they described as the American government’s continued arming and training of Iranian-backed fighters in Iraq, an ongoing policy that multiple sources described to the Washington Free Beacon as one of the U.S.’s chief foreign policy failures in the region.
Top lawmakers and others have begun to present evidence showing that the State Department continues to provide widespread support for Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, a program that first begun under the Obama administration.
This has helped solidify Iran’s presence in key Iraqi territories and appears to directly conflict with the Trump administration’s newly outlined push to combat the Islamic Republic’s regional military efforts, which have included targeting U.S. forces in Syria and other locations.
Multiple sources who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon both on and off the record accused the State Department of making “common cause” with the IRGC, which they say has benefited from ongoing American efforts to arm and train Iraqi militia groups, many of which have direct ties to Iran.
These sources pointed to the continued presence of senior Obama administration officials in government as one of the primary drivers of this ongoing policy.
Senior Trump administration officials acknowledged they have seen evidence that some Iraqi forces on its blacklist are using American arms.
“We have seen reports that some U.S.-origin military equipment is being operated by Iraqi militia units that are not the approved end-users,” said a spokesman for the White House National Security Council. “We urge the Government of Iraq to expeditiously return this equipment to the full control of the Iraqi Army.”
However, the official said the United States has strict policies in place to prevent Iranian-tied forces and other terrorist actors from benefitting from its military programs in Iraq.
“All recipients of U.S. security assistance are fully vetted and subject to end-use requirements,” the official said. “The United States has strict standards to avoid providing security assistance to designated terrorist organizations, units with close ties to Iran, or units under suspicion of committing gross violations of human rights.”
Leaders on Capitol Hill are currently pushing the Trump State Department to come clean about possible interactions with Iranian-tied forces in Iraq.
Rep. Ron DeSantis (R., Fla.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is one of several lawmakers who recently disclosed direct evidence of Iranian-backed fighters using American-made tanks and other military equipment in Iraq.
DeSantis told the Washington Free Beacon Congress is increasing pressure on the State Department to disclose currently withheld information on the relationship between the U.S. military and Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq.
“The State Department should not be making common cause with the IRGC, [Iranian commander] Qassem Soleimeni, the [Iranian] Quds Force or Shia militias,” DeSantis said, explaining that these groups have long worked to thwart U.S. operations in the region.
“These groups were responsible for killing hundreds of U.S. troops in Iraq during our operations there last decade,” DeSantis said. “Congress needs to get the facts about the relationship between our own State Department and these nefarious actors.”
Intelligence information circling around Capitol Hill and reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon shows that multiple IRGC proxy groups have been operating under the Iraqi Ministry of Interior (MOI), which coordinates and doles out U.S. funding and equipment to various militia groups.
Iranian-tied entities believed to be benefiting from U.S. programs include Kata’ib Hezbollah, an Iraqi Shia military group supported by Iran; and the Badr forces, an Iranian backed military group. At least four other Iranian-supported military groups also are said to have benefited from U.S. training programs, according to the intelligence information.
Photographs and other open-source intelligence information appear to show that Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is aware that Iran is cashing in on U.S. programs.
Al-Abadi’s government is believed, in part, to allocate funds to these Iranian forces via Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, a designated terrorist who leads Kata’ib Hezbollah, who then doles out U.S. funds to various Iranian-backed militia groups.
Kata’ib Hezbollah has been identified as receiving American funding, armor, and artillery via these programs.
Other photographic evidence in the possession of lawmakers appears to show various Iranian-backed militia fighters in Iraq using American-made M1A1 Abrams tanks, which require direct training from the United States to operate.
The State Department and Trump administration officials are said to be aware of this information, as well as other evidence, but stand accused of downplaying it so as not to interfere with the fight against ISIS in Iraq, which these Iranian militias have helped wage.
Bill Roggio, a veteran military analyst and editor of the Long War Journal, which chronicles U.S. military efforts, said the drive to defeat ISIS has pushed senior U.S. military and diplomatic officials to ignore Iran’s growing role in the Iraq.
“The U.S. military and government has been so desperate to defeat the Islamic State that it has consciously ignored that its allies in Iraq and Syria include Shia militias backed by Iran and the PKK [a Kurdish rebel group], which is designated by the U.S. government as foreign terrorist organization,” Roggio said….
Voytek Gagalka says
Are they idiots or they are asking for directions?
RichardL says
My enemy’ enemy is still my enemy. Very old lesson. Mattis knows it and should react fast now.
Malcolm (South Afric) says
Big mistake to arm or sell arms to muslims, eventually they will turn on you.
gravenimage says
God knows this is true.
Mark T says
Exactly!! ALL arms we provide to anyone other than Jews (and maybe Kurds) eventually end up in bad hands.
MFritz says
You only fight fire with fire in a forest fire. Everywhere else… you will BURN THE WHOLE PLACE TO THE GROUND.
Westman says
Why not just send the plans and specifications for our weapons directly to the Ayatollah? It would save all that time Iran will be spending to dissassemble and reverse-engineer these weapons that “fell” into their hands.
(sarc)
mortimer says
My blood boils every time I see photos of these backward, bronze-age savages holding American army weapons!
MFritz says
This whole mess started with the Alzheimers president arming the mujahedins in Afghanistan to give the Soviets their “Vietnam”. And he later armed Iran via Contragate. But nobody dare critisise the “gipper” in the US, that fucking idiot who almost started WW3 and gave islamists their arms.
gravenimage says
Its true that Reagan grasped the threat of Communism far better than he did the threat of Islam–but very few saw this wave of Jihad coming.
MFritz says
The only president of the late 20th century that actually “grasped” foreign politics was Nixon. He went out himself and successfully mediated treaties with the “godless” communists. Unfortunately, all of the presidents that followed did their VERY WORST to ruin what he had achieved. And worst among them was Reagan.
If you want to understand the Russians (and the Chinese) you have to learn about their history and mind set. And if you still underestimate them or call them “communists” or “Soviets” you’re a fucking idiot.
UNCLE VLADDI says
And let’s not forget Stalone’s RAMBO III – where Rambo helps the “noble” Taliban Mujihadeens!
Great propaganda for us to help “the marginalized minority of muslim good guys” against the big bad Christian Russian oppressors!
underbed cat says
And driving all the nice vehicles…..anyway this is the problem when the enemy is not identified and you get orders to train them….and hope while you are doing so they don’t turn the weapon on the trainer This is such a different type of warfare that a soldier would be lucky to even know that was possible.. When did the sharia constitution get written…in Iraq. And who was the Iraqi ? What did he follow, why was he fighting? From what I have understood, Iran is the Islamic Republic of Iran. Isis is Islamic and to differentiate who is who would be difficult. And in Iraq they have the same sharia law….turn over the weapons? They will get them from the next weapons dealer. that comes along. The numbers are against us, the truth about the doctrine is against the islamic terrorist. The contolling ummah is very large and like a boomerang their aggression in their mind is fighting terror.
Doug P says
Remnants of the obama administration, That says it all. If they refuse to return those weapons they should be melted down/destroyed – right where they are. Daisycutters Inbound !!!
R Russell says
Iran is building a military base in Syria, 31 miles from the border with Israel. These weapons will be of a great advantage to them – or are they with Hezbollah? Pretty much the same outcome.
We could hope that the Sunni-Shia divide will escalate with Yemen having fired an Iranian missile at Saudi airport.and the proxy war with the Houthis, perhaps it wont be long till war breaks out and the threat lost to the war.
johan elzinga says
So, there you go. It has been proven and admitted that mr Erdogan of Turkey sold weapons to Isis groups. In the recent past, under Obama, the US gave weapons to anti Assad groups, most of those groups being militant muslim extremists. And now this, Iraqi isis groups are provided with weapons by the Iraqi government. This is how and why there is an ongoing war in the middle East. Sorry to say this, but it now happens under Trump who just signed a weapons export deal with extremist muslim Saoudi Arabia, fot zillions of dollars, weapons that in a near future will also be used undoubtedly against civilians and US soldiers.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
The evil United States is the mentor of all terrorist groups through evil wahhabists headed by evil Saudi Royal family. So, it is not accidental to find evil American weapons in the hands of Iraqi terrorists or anywhere else. Idiots!!
I wonder about leftists says
Governments are so stupid. They all wheal and deal with terrorists, and that makes them trust unworthy.
And we, are doing everything possible to create a better world, I sometimes ask myself why.
US, You let all your enemies study in your own land, like Osama ben Laden, and what they learn, and learn from American people how they function, you provide them with wapens, and it all will turn against you in the end. And Obama gave all that money to Iran? Why?
Politics and leftists and universities are shady businesses. Most humans are shady people, I find that out day by day more. Like I read yesterday from people(women mostly) that they are getting so sick and sometimes angry, I was happy,, I sometimes get really angry about so much violation and lying, bu I was happy in that sense that more people have that feeling. And I will go on !
UNCLE VLADDI says
“Hey – hey you kids! Stop that! Stop it right now! I’m warning you! Hey! Put those back! Don’t touch those! Hey! I really mean it this time!”
Pathetic!