One of the people accused of abetting this week's attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad made an appearance at a 2011 Oval Office meeting with President Barack Obama.
Hadi al-Amiri is a member of the Iraqi Parliament but is viewed as Iran's conduit into Iraq via his post as the head of the Badr Organization, which has roots as an Iranian military group. He was spotted outside the U.S. Embassy as Iraqi Shiite militiamen and others staged a violent protest and breached the compound's outer walls on Tuesday and Wednesday, The Washington Post reported.
According to multiple media reports from 2011, al-Amiri joined then-Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for a White House visit. At the time, al-Amiri was serving as Iraq's minister for transport.
That Oval Office meeting included a discussion about Iran's influence in Iraq, the Washington Examiner reported at the time. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a Tuesday tweet the embassy siege was "orchestrated by terrorists — Abu Mahdi al Muhandis and Qays al-Khazali — and abetted by Iranian proxies — Hadi al Amari and Faleh al-Fayyad." The tweet included photos of the men outside the embassy walls.
The Examiner reported after the Dec. 12, 2011, meeting that the White House would not confirm al-Amiri's presence there. But the news outlet claimed that the office for al-Maliki said al-Amiri was in the delegation visiting the Obama White House.
According to a Fox News report in 2011, al-Amiri once commanded the Badr Corps, which has ties to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The IRGC has been suspected in multiple attacks on Western targets over the years.
The embassy siege ended Wednesday when the militiamen withdrew.
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