The Long War Journal

 

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The US Treasury Department has designated five individuals involved in an alleged plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the US, including Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF). Soleimani "oversees the IRGC-QF officers who were involved in this plot," according to Treasury.

 

Another of the five is Abdul Reza Shahlai, an IRGC-QF officer who planned the Jan. 20, 2007 attack on US soldiers stationed in Karbala, Iraq. That attack left five US soldiers dead and wounded three others.

 

Shahlai, according to the Treasury Department, "coordinated the plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States Adel Al-Jubeir, while he was in the United States and to carry out follow-on attacks against other countries' interests inside the United States and in another country."

 

Shahlai was previously designated by the Treasury Department in Sept. 2008. At the time, Treasury noted that he was a "deputy commander" in the IRGC-QF and planned "Jaysh al-Mahdi (JAM) Special Groups attacks against Coalition Forces in Iraq." One of the attacks he "planned" was the 2007 raid in Karbala, a daring and sophisticated operation in which Iranian-trained terrorists posed as American soldiers during an assault on the Provincial Joint Coordination Center. The assault team was reportedly trained in a mock-up of the center that was built in Iran.

 

In 2009, the Obama administration released two of the Iranian-backed terrorists involved in the Karbala operation. The brothers, Qais and Layith Khazali, were freed even though they were directly implicated in the attack. The release of the Khazalis was said to be part of a reconciliation effort inside Iraq.

 

However, US military officials told The Long War Journal that the Khazalis' release was really part of a negotiation to free British hostages who had been kidnapped by Iranian proxies. Statements made by an Iraqi spokesman and other press reporting confirmed these suspicions.

 

In the summer of 2009, prior to Qais Khazali's release but after Layith Khazali's release, two Republican Senators questioned the administration's policy. In a letter to President Obama dated July 1, 2009, Senators Jeff Sessions and Jon Kyl said they were "deeply concerned by recent news reports that suggest your administration may be negotiating directly or indirectly with terrorist organizations for the release of dangerous terrorist detainees." The Senators argued that such negotiations were inconsistent with longstanding US policy, which prohibited negotiations with terrorists.

 

Qais Khazali was released several months later. The same day Khazali was released, on Dec. 30, 2009, British hostage Peter Moore was freed by Khazali's Iranian-backed network.

 

Another senior Iranian-backed terrorist who was captured with Qais Khazali, Ali Musa Daqduq, remains in military custody in Iraq. Daqduq, a longtime member of Hezbollah, was tasked with organizing Iranian proxies in Iraq similar to the way Hezbollah operates in Lebanon. The Obama administration is reportedly weighing its options for trying Daqduq.

 

And Shahlai, who "planned" the Karbala attack, according to Treasury's 2008 designation, has now allegedly plotted other major terrorist attacks. This time Shahlai's plots were intended to be executed on American soil.

 

In orchestrating the putative plot against the Saudi ambassador, Shahlai relied on his cousin, Manssor Arbabsiar, who was arrested by US officials in September. Arbabsiar also worked with another IRGC-QF officer, Ali Gholan Shakuri, who is Shahlai's "deputy." Shakuri, who was one of the five Iranians designated by the Treasury Department this week, helped arrange funding for the plot and also "met with Arbabsiar several times to discuss the planned assassination and other attacks."

 

Arbabsiar tried to hire members of a Mexican drug cartel to carry out the assassination plot. Arbabsiar unwittingly contacted a DEA informant who he thought was a member of the cartel, but instead was working for US authorities. The informant helped authorities unravel the IRGC-QF's plans. After Arbabsiar was arrested, authorities had him make several telephone calls to Shakuri, who repeatedly urged Arbabsiar to move forward with the planned attack.

 

According to the Treasury Department's new designation, "Shahlai approved financial allotments to Arbabsiar to help recruit other individuals for the plot, approving $5 million dollars as payment for all of the operations discussed." $1.5 million was allocated for the plot against the Saudi ambassador, leaving the bulk of the IRGC-QF's funds for the remaining operations.

 

Press reports offer differing versions of just what these other operations may have entailed, including possible attacks on the Saudi and Israeli embassies either in the US or abroad.

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  • so .. what you think ... another false flag ... be edumacated ,,,, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eey81ORUt-g
  • I know this is going to come across as far out to some, but I just don't get why we're so incensed about an assasination plot against a Saudi when we don't seem to get all bent out of shape at the fact that we have a President in this Country who has done everything he can to undermine our Constitutional Republic and, in doing so, bows to Principals in the country this guy represents.  A country which, from the standpoint of human rights, is barely out of the bronze age.  I'm sorry, but I just can't get all torqued up about Saudi Arabia's Ambassador and I think the priorities of those who do are, to put it mildly, askew. 
    • It's not so much that we need to be "torqued up" about the attempt by Muslims on the Saudi ambassador, as the fact that that would be a wonderful propaganda tool for them to use against us for allowing his murder in our national capital, as well as proof our nation is NOT secure against our enemies.  That's the part to be "torqued up" over.  Frankly, if they want to kill each other off, fine with me.  BUT what that would give in terms of an "announcement" to the world and the propaganda value of it are disturbing.
      • I realize they said they'd been watching these people since Sep. but I still say the timing of these arrests are just Tooooooo convenient. The timing: Issa had to delay his subpoena for 24 hrs. so Holder could look so majestic making this announcement.
    • If they were attempting to Assasinate a Saudi on Saudi soil, there wouldn't be much reason for us to be concerned, However, this is an assinatinon ON AMERICAN SOIL. There are American citizens at risk if something happens to anyone among our population.  Also, if murder is a crime according to American law, to have a Foreign Government conspiring to murder ANYONE IS AN ASSAULT ON OUR SOVEREIGNITY!
  • I have to agree with you Clarence, they are reacting as if the plot was to take out an American politician or the American President himself.  There are a lot of facts that may have been conveiniently left out, when was the attack to take place?  Next month, next year?  And the timing of this announcement is so suspect, had it been the previous administration all hell would have broke out.  The bottom line is that we must remain focused and dedicated to the mission at hand and not allow ourselves to be distracted.  We must, I will say, stay informed on all of these events.

     

    • Also to DISCREDIT Ron Paul who I do not support but has many followers who are Constitutionalists and that is something the current Administration hates.  Ron Paul "Iran is not a threat to the U.S., Islam is not a threat to the U.S."
  • Holder wants out of the "Lime Light" fast and furiously.
    • Yeah, that too.
    • LOL. @ Gringo, you got that right!  He's fast and Obama's furious!

       

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