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An Iraqi man who has been living legally in the United States since 2020 was arrested Tuesday and charged with plotting to kill former President George W. Bush to avenge the Iraq War.

Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab of Columbus, Ohio, was taken into custody by agents with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force on Tuesday morning, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Ohio said.

He was charged in federal court with attempting to illegally bring an individual into the United States, a federal crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and aiding and abetting the attempted murder of a former U.S. official, which carries a potential prison sentence of up to 20 years.

Shihab originally entered the United States in September 2020 on a visitor visa, according to officials, and filed a claim for asylum in March 2021, which is pending review.

According to a March 23 search warrant application unsealed Tuesday and published by Forbes, Shihab told an FBI informant that he wanted to smuggle four Iraqi nationals living in Iraq, Turkey, Egypt and Denmark into the United States through Mexico to help him carry out the assassination.

Bush announces the start of war between the United States and Iraq during a televised address from the Oval Office, March 19, 2003. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Shihab wished to kill former President Bush because [he] felt that he was responsible for killing many Iraqis and breaking apart the entire country of Iraq, FBI Special Agent John Ypsilantis, a member of the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Cincinnati, said in the filing.

According to the search warrant, Shihab asked the FBI informant for details about security operations at Bushs home in Dallas and ranch in Crawford, Texas, and even traveled there in February to do video surveillance. The informant picked up Shihab at the airport in Dallas and assisted him as he used his phone to record video of Bushs gated home as well as the library and offices at the George W. Bush Institute, according to the filing.

At no time was there a threat to Bush, who as a former president has round-the-clock Secret Service protection.

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While Shihab was not identified as a member of the Islamic State militant group by the FBI or Justice Department, the FBIs warrant described the smuggling plot as an attempt to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, specifically ISIS.

The front of Bush's home in Dallas. (Tom Pennington/Getty Images/File)

Federal authorities began their investigation as a potential immigration fraud case, when Shihab allegedly intended to help a person he thought was another Iraqi citizen enter the United States for a fee of $40,000 in August 2021.

In reality, the individual was fictitious, and the interaction was coordinated under the direction of the FBI, the U.S. attorneys office in Ohio said.

In November, the suspect revealed to the FBI informant that the plot to assassinate Bush would be in retaliation for Iraqi deaths during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In March of this year, Shihab allegedly met with others in a hotel room in Columbus to look at sample firearms and law enforcement uniforms.

According to the FBI, he told the informant that he wanted to be involved in the actual attack and assassination and that he did not care if he died as he would be proud to have been involved.

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Iraqi man living in U.S. charged in alleged plot to assassinate George ...

Iraq closed public buildings and temporarily shut airports on Monday as the ninth sandstorm since mid-April descended.

More than 1,000 people were hospitalised with respiratory problems, the health ministry said. Flights were also grounded in neighbouring Kuwait for a second time this month. The second heavy sandstorm in less than a week also descended on Saudi Arabias capital, Riyadh.

The Iraqi capital, Baghdad, was enveloped in dust cloud with usually traffic-choked streets largely deserted and bathed in orange light. South of the capital, near the Shia shrine city of Najaf, shepherds also found themselves shrouded in dust.

The Iraqi prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhemi, ordered all work to cease in state-run institutions except for health and security services, citing poor climatic conditions and the arrival of violent sandstorms.

Air traffic was suspended at the international airports in Baghdad, Arbil and Najaf, before flights resumed in the capital and Arbil.

Later on Monday evening, Arbils airport closed again due to thick dust, according to the state news agency INA.

Iraq is ranked as one of the worlds five most vulnerable nations to climate change and desertification.

The environment ministry has warned that over the next two decades Iraq could endure an average of 272 days of sandstorms a year, rising to above 300 by 2050.

Iraqs previous two sandstorms sent nearly 10,000 people to hospital with respiratory problems and killed one person.

With Agence France-Presse

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Ninth sandstorm in less than two months shuts down much of Iraq

(May 27, 2022 / JNS) Nearly 20 years after the overthrow of Saddam Husseins regime in a U.S.-led invasion, Iraq remains at war with Israel, as has been the situation since the foundation of the Jewish state in 1948. The question persists, however, as to whether Iraq will always be at war with Israel.

Ask the Iraqi parliament that question and you will receive an affirmative answer. Last Thursday, Iraqi legislators voted overwhelmingly in favor of a new law with the ominous title, Criminalizing Normalization and Establishment of Relations With the Zionist Entity. From now on, any Iraqi citizen who makes contact with anyone or anything originating from Israel could well face a lifetime prison sentence or even the death penalty.

In a statement issued following the bills passage, the Iraqi parliament declared that the legislation represents a true reflection of the will of the people, a brave national decision and a position that is the first of its kind in the world in terms of criminalizing the relationship with the Zionist entity. It called on parliaments elsewhere in the Arab and Islamic worlds to follow the Iraqi lead by passing similar legislation that meets the aspirations of our people.

Given the Middle Easts history of corruption, dictatorships, human-rights abuse and rigged elections, it is grimly amusing to learn that the aspirations of its constituent peoples are held sacred when it comes to confronting Israel. But does that aspiration really exist, or is it something manufactured from above?

Blaming Israel for domestic woes has long been a tactic of Middle Eastern regimes to divert attention from their failure to lift their nations out of poverty, provide jobs and education, and modernize their societies. It is a tactic held in esteem by much of the Western left, which also believes that Israels presence is the only stumbling block to peace and justice for the region. Yet that isnt a view shared by the demonstrators who have taken to the streets of Iran once again, angered by soaring prices of basic goods but evolving, as has happened before, into political protests. One of their chants, which was first heard during the historic protests of 2009, declares, Not for Gaza! Not for Lebanon! My life for Iran!a slogan that pithily exposes how official calls for solidarity with the Palestinians help to mask the misery of life on the inside.

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The Iraqi legislation purposefully goes against the trend in the broader region for peace agreements with Israel. Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority all signed agreements with Israel towards the end of the 20th century; the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan all signed up to peace treaties in the early part of the 21st, with the prospect that other Arab countries, among them Saudi Arabia, will still come into the fold. Iran and its allies in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq have been outliers in this regard in that not only do they shun relations with Israel, but they also seek to confront it in both official propaganda and through acts of terror and war.

On every such occasion, the message is the same: The destruction of Israel is the expression of the peoples will. But as one Middle East analyst pointed out to me, there is an absurdity about the Iraqi parliament invoking the peoples will on a subject like Israela subject utterly irrelevant to the daily grind of lives that will increasingly be governed by rising food prices and critical shortageswhen it has failed to form a government a full nine months after elections were held.

It would be mistaken to view the Iraqi legislation as purely symbolic. As well as being directed at neighboring countries entertaining the idea of peace with Israel, it is aimed even more at those inside Iraq who have advocated for that same goal.

The law will apply to the whole of Iraq, including the autonomous Kurdish region in the north, which has long engaged with Israel. After the Kurdish bid for independence was crushed in 2017 by Iranian-backed paramilitaries, the Iraqi parliament passed legislation banning the display of Zionist symbols in a furious riposte to the many Kurds who brandished Israeli flags at pro-independence rallies. But the desire for contact with Israel remains; last September, a historic gathering was held in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, at which Sunni and Shia leaders urged peace with Israel.

The audience in Erbil heard a remarkable speech from Sheikh Wissam al-Hardan, a leader of the Sunni Sons of Iraq movement. We see a glimmer of hope in the ability of some Iraqi Jews to rehabilitate their lives and to preserve their traditions through the generations, he said. Most of them are still close to us, and we see them, as neighbors, in Israel. We demand to establish a federal system in Iraq; and on the global front, we demand to join the Abraham Accords, and, in the words of those accords, to establish full diplomatic relations between the signatories and Israel.

Not surprisingly, Iraqs Islamist parties were livid when they saw the conference in Erbil. Just as predictably, al-Hardan was quickly hounded out of the Sons of Iraq movement, despite having issued what read as a forced apology: I read the statement that was written for me without knowing its content. I denounce the content of the final statement and what was stated in it. Less than a year later, the intention of the bill criminalizing contact with Israel is to end reconciliation efforts on the pain of death.

The Jews of Iraq mentioned in al-Hardans speech knew better than anyone the reality behind the threat of execution. In January 1969, nine Jews were among 14 alleged Israeli spies who were hanged in a public execution in Baghdads Tahrir (Liberation) Square. Almost 500,000 people came to witness this grotesque spectacle, having been urged by Iraqi radio to come and enjoy the feast. In August of the same year, three more Jews were executed for the same fabricated offense.

Reflecting on how the remnant of the once-proud Iraqi Jewish community was hounded by the Baath regime, the Iraqi writer Kanan Makiya observed that the significance of their plight lay in the fact that the persecution of every Iraqi under the Baath began with that of the most helpless among them. The Baath is no longer in power, but the tendency identified by Makiya is very much alive. And, as has always been the case, those who will pay the greatest price for these lurid calls for Israels elimination are exactly those in whose name this shameful war is being waged.

Ben Cohen is a New York City-based journalist and author who writes a weekly column on Jewish and international affairs for JNS.

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Iraq's blood-curdling bill targets Israel (and its own people) - JNS.org

A "disabled combat veteran" says that Amber Heard's PTSD score from her marriage to Johnny Depp is allegedly higher than his own.

The tweet, sent out by the account @KurtMyers1982, whose bio describes him as a "retired Army, homeschool dad" from Nebraska, went viral and caught the attention of thousands of people invested in the court case between Depp and Heard.

Depp and Heard are currently embroiled in a $50 million defamation suit which comes after Heard wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post in 2018, stating that she was the survivor of domestic violence. Heard has countersued her ex-husband for $100 million.

"I am a disabled combat veteran that lost a close friend in Iraq in 2005," he tweeted on Thursday. "Amber Heard scored much higher than me on her PTSD test, according to Dr. Hughes. Evidently, being married to Johnny Depp is far more traumatic than the Iraq War." The popular hashtag #JusticeForJohnnyDepp was included in the tweet.

The tongue-in-cheek comment references expert witness testimony given during the ongoing Depp and Heard defamation trial.

Dr. Dawn Hughes was the first witness called by Heard's legal team to testify on her behalf. The clinical and forensic psychologist diagnosed Heard with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and claimed it "interfered" with her work on the Aquaman sequel.

"Miss Heard demonstrated very clear psychological traumatic effects, or the exacerbation of trauma from those statements that Mr. Depp's attorneys made," Hughes said in court. She diagnosed Heard with PTSD allegedly caused by intimate partner violence from Depp.

The Twitter account belonging to Myers and many others in the comment section seemed to disagree with this assessment. Over 10,800 people liked Myers' dry take while 2,400 retweeted him, and hundreds of people replied. Responding to the people who interacted, Myers wrote, "Thank you all for the kind words, it was an honor to serve."

"Thank you for your service and I'm sorry for your loss and the effects you are still suffering," @Grethe1956 wrote, and added, "I'm pretty sure that Amber Heard does not have PTSD."

"It's impossible to reach her scores unless you are cheating the test. It's not designed to have a perfect score so if you score that high you cheated you are clearly faking it," another Twitter user @SchmoJosey wrote in response to Myers.

Not everyone backed the Iraq war veteran's take though.

"Sorry but no matter where you stand in this case, this is so irrelevant," @sparklinaway wrote. "Trauma is trauma. None is worse. Don't compare trauma just because you believe you had it worse. Serving in a war is super traumatic and I'm sorry about that. Thank you for your service but pls don't do this."

@code2high replied to Myers by asking, "Is it a competition? I wasn't aware of that. What my psychologist told me was that it comes down to that moment of terror. Five years is a lot of moments of terror. Being able to act, or not, also impacts outcomes. Maybe you didn't know this?"

The closing arguments in the trial are expected to take place on Friday before the jury is sent to decide their verdict. Follow the latest breaking news from the trial on Newsweek's live blog.

Newsweek reached out to Kurt Myers for further comment.

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Iraq War Veteran Compares His PTSD Score to Amber Heard's in Viral Tweet - Newsweek

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President Biden Friday again made an exaggeration about the number of times he's been to the Middle East, as he gave a commencement speech to U.S. Naval Academy graduates in Maryland.

"I've been in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan of over 40 I think 38 times," the president said.

That number was incorrect, however. A spokesperson for Biden's National Security Council (NSC) said Friday the correct number of times Biden visited Iraq and Afghanistan is 21.

U.S. President Joe Biden, March 31, 2022. Biden's White House has walked back several of the president's comments recently. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo)

BIDEN SAYS PUTIN NATO-IZED EUROPE WITH WAR IN UKRAINE

Biden made the Friday comment in the context of congratulating Naval Academy graduates of being, "members of the greatest fighting force in the history of the world." The president said that based on his visits to the Middle East, and his family's military service, he has firsthand knowledge of the quality of the U.S. armed forces.

"I've seen you in action, this is the finest military, not a joke, we have the finest military in the history of the world," Biden said.

Friday's statement was not the first time Biden's made a false claim about how often he's visited the Middle East. While running for president, Biden said at least once he'd been to Iraq and Afghanistan "over 30 times," according to the Washington Post.

President Biden spoke to graduates of the .U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., Friday. (iStock)

As a presidential candidate, Biden also told at least one "moving but false" war story, according to the Washington Post, which jumbled several events loosely together to create a narrative that "never happened."

UKRAINE NEEDS TO FACE REALITY TO END CONFLICT, TALK TO PUTIN: ZELENSKYY

Friday's clarification by the NSC is also just the latest of several recent comments from the president that his team needed to walk back.

Most recently, the White House was forced to clean up a comment Biden made which indicated the U.S. may defend Taiwan militarily if attacked by China.

Earlier this year, Biden made a gaffe saying the U.S. may not have a response to a "minor incursion" by Russia into Ukraine, which his staff walked back. And in Warsaw, Poland this year, Biden said, "this man cannot remain in power," referring to Putin. The White House quickly clarified that Biden was not calling for regime change in Russia.

President Joe Biden speaks in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, Tuesday, July 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Also during his speech to Naval Academy graduates, Biden touted his approach to U.S. foreign policy, including his emphasis on alliances. He also said Russian President Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine is backfiring as western nations' alliances get stronger.

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"The actions taken by Putin were an attempt, to use my phrase, to Finlandize all of Europe, make it all neutral," Biden said, using a term that refers to Finland's neutrality during the Cold War. "Instead, he NATOized all of Europe."

"Putin's brutal, brutal war in Ukraine, not only is he trying to take over Ukraine, he's really trying to wipe out the culture and identity of Ukrainian people," Biden also said, raising his voice in outrage. "Attacking schools, nurseries, hospitals, museums with no other purpose than eliminate a culture, a direct assault on the fundamental tenets of rule-based international order. That's what you're graduating into."

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Biden repeats false claim about trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, this time to graduating midshipmen - Fox News