Following the Iraqi Parliament’s announcement of the appointment of Laith al-Khazali, brother of Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq leader Qais al-Khazali, as Deputy Prime Minister, Republican Congressman Joe Wilson made headlines with inflammatory remarks, describing the appointment as:

“Outrageous but not surprising.”

He added that al-Khazali is a

“designated terrorist and Iranian puppet whose militias have killed Americans and Iraqis.”

Laith al-Khazali was arrested by U.S. forces in 2007 over allegations of involvement in an attack in Karbala that killed five American soldiers. He was released in June 2009. The U.S. Treasury Department subsequently imposed sanctions on him in 2019, and he and his brother Qais were designated as “Specially Designated Global Terrorists” in January 2020.

Who Is Joe Wilson?

Addison Joe Graves Wilson is a real estate attorney and retired colonel who served for 31 years in the South Carolina National Guard.

He currently serves as an Assistant Majority Whip in the U.S. House of Representatives and sits on the House Armed Services Committee, where he chairs the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, as well as the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The Victory in Iraq Caucus

On June 30, 2005, Wilson and Congressman Mark Green announced the establishment of the “Victory in Iraq Caucus,” a congressional group intended to support American troops in Iraq and highlight what it described as progress being made there.

More than 100 members of Congress joined the caucus.

Wilson served as one of its co-chairs, describing the group as a “voice for victory” and a means of supporting American troops in their “war on terrorism.”

His Sons Served in Iraq

Wilson’s interest in Iraq is not merely theoretical.

In an interview with Rudaw, he explained that his particular interest in Iraq stemmed from the fact that two of his sons had served there in the U.S. military.

His eldest son, Captain Alan Wilson, served in Iraq for a year as an intelligence officer, while his second son, Addison Wilson, also served in the country.

Wilson has stated on several occasions that his son provided him with firsthand reports from southern Iraq and that his son's presence in Iraq influenced everything he did in politics.