Senior U.S. State Department officials spoke at the same conference as Qais al Khazali, a known Shia terrorist who is responsible for arming, training and forming the deadly Iranian-backed militias that are known to have killed hundreds of U.S. troops in Iraq. Khazali is listed by the U.S. State Department as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and his group, Asiab Ahl al Haq or the League of the Righteous, is listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
Instead of boycotting the event, Alina Romanowski, the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, and Barbara Leaf, the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, attended and spoke at the Iraq Forum, which Khazali participated as a “keynote speaker,” according to Iraqi Qahwa. Romanowski and Leaf were photographed smiling with three other women as the the logo of the Iraq Forum is in the background.
Khazali has a long history of supporting and directing the Iranian-backed Shia militias. Before Khazali and his brother, Laith, along with a senior Hezbollah military commander known as Musa Ali Daqduq, were captured by British forces in March 2007 and transferred into U.S. custody, they played a significant role in forming what U.S. military commanders called the Mahdi Army Special Groups.
Daqduq, who had served as the commander of Hezbollah’s special forces, was tasked by Quds Force to organize, train, and advise the Mahdi Army Special Groups. These Special Groups were established as an analogue to Lebanese Hezbollah, Iran’s premier proxy in the Middle East. Daqduq worked closely with the Khazali brothers.
