Tag: Iraq

AI, Geopolitics, Middle East

Iraqi Banks Used U.S.-Created System to Funnel Funds to Iran

Colin Henderson

New York Fed’s process to move Baghdad’s oil earnings lacked key money-laundering safeguards, resulting in illicit transfers that financed terrorist groups for years David S. CloudSept. 8, 2024 at 9:00 pm ET His three Baghdad banks wired tens of billions of dollars in that time outside the country, ostensibly for car parts, furniture and other imports. He was one of the biggest operators in an ad hoc banking system set up around two decades ago under the U.S. occupation that gave the Federal Reserve Bank of New York a key role in processing Iraq’s international transactions.  Years later, when the … Continue reading Iraqi Banks Used U.S.-Created System to Funnel Funds to Iran

Middle East

Iraqi Special Forces during an operation against ISIS fighters in the desert of Anbar, Iraq, in 2022.Credit…Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters

Colin Henderson

By Eric Schmitt Eric Schmitt covers U.S. national security issues, including military affairs and counterterrorism. Sept. 3, 2024Updated 6:51 p.m. ET American and Iraqi commandos raided several Islamic State hide-outs in western Iraq last week, killing at least 14 ISIS fighters in one of the most sweeping counterterrorism missions in the country in recent years. Seven U.S. soldiers were injured as more than 200 troops from both countries, including backup forces, hunted down fighters in bunkers over miles of remote terrain, U.S. and Iraqi officials said, adding that the size, scope and focus of the mission underscored the terrorist organization’s resurgence in … Continue reading Iraqi Special Forces during an operation against ISIS fighters in the desert of Anbar, Iraq, in 2022.Credit…Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters