[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 174 (Friday, October 26, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1468]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            STATE DEPARTMENT IS COVERING FOR IRAN'S PROXIES

                                  _____
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 26, 2018

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Iran's network of terrorist proxies 
continues to expand across the Middle East. Wherever there is conflict 
and division, a militant group backed by Iran can be found. They have 
become powerful political and military actors in weak states because 
Tehran provides the money and weapons for them to murder and intimidate 
their way into power.
  But what are we, the United States of America, doing about it? For 
one thing, we have finally re-applied sanctions on Iran after the 
terrible nuclear deal allowed these proxies to go well-funded and 
unchallenged. This allows us to target finances of the primary patron 
for chaos in the Middle East: Iran. But on the local level, in the 
multiple arenas where Tehran and its proxies are battling for control 
we are doing very little. Our own State Department has blocked any 
aggressive effort that would target some of Iran's most capable 
proxies. Why?
  One of the most important arenas for competing against Iran's growing 
influence is in Iraq. That nation has seen nearly two decades of war, 
most recently with the fight against ISIS. Iran has exploited Iraq's 
chaos to raise several proxies that have killed Americans and Iraqis. 
While one of Tehran's earliest Iraqi proxies, Kataib Hezbollah, was 
designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 2009, others have 
operated with impunity. This includes two of the Iran's most powerful 
proxies: Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) and Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba (HHN). 
In recent years these two militias have been the vanguard of Iran's 
activities in the region, including sowing sectarian division in Iraq 
and fighting on behalf of the butcher Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
  Yet when I introduced legislation that would designate AAH and HHN 
for terrorism--which nearly every expert agrees they are complicate 
in--the State Department has worked to shield these groups. U.S. 
Embassy staff in Baghdad was very dismissive of this legislation and 
ridiculed it. It seems to me that the embassy is ignorant of the threat 
of these groups that have American blood on their hands. Even one of 
these terrorist groups attacked the embassy after the embassy opposed 
the terrorist designation. Meanwhile, these groups have seized 15 seats 
in Iraq's parliament. So what has the state department accomplished 
other than obstruct Congressional lawmaking? Iraq is closer to being an 
Iranian client-state than ever before. The State Department should not 
join in with Iran and oppose this legislation.
  President Trump has made clear that confronting Iranian expansionism 
is a key priority of his administration. But the State Department has 
instead adopted a strategy to protect Iran's proxies and undermine the 
American legislative process. We need our diplomats to be sending a 
strong signal that terrorist militias acting on behalf of Iran must not 
be taking power in Iraq. Now is a critical time in that country, with 
the Iraqi people in the streets demanding Iran out of their country. 
America should be standing with them, not with the Mullahs and their 
thugs.
  And that's just the way it is.

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