Kellyanne Conway has taken "alternative facts" to a new level.
During a Thursday interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, the counselor to the president defended President Trump’s travel ban related to seven majority-Muslim countries. At one point, Conway made a reference to two Iraqi refugees whom she described as the masterminds behind "the Bowling Green Massacre."
"Most people don’t know that because it didn’t get covered," Conway said.
The Bowling Green Massacre didn’t get covered because it didn’t happen. There has never been a terrorist attack in Bowling Green, Kentucky, carried out by Iraqi refugees or anyone else.
Conway was likely referring to two Iraqi citizens living in Bowling Green who were arrested in 2011 and eventually sentenced to federal prison for attempting to send weapons and money to al-Qaida in Iraq for the purpose of killing U.S. soldiers, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.
Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, 25, was sentenced to life in federal prison, and Waad Ramadan Alwan, 31 to 40 years in federal prison, followed by a life term of supervised release.
Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway calls incorrect White House claims ‘alternative facts’ Tribune news services
President Donald Trump’s senior advisers defended White House attacks on the news media and incorrect claims about the size of the crowd at his inauguration, accusing news organizations Sunday of trying to undermine Trump’s legitimacy.The pushback came a day after White House press Secretary Sean…
President Donald Trump’s senior advisers defended White House attacks on the news media and incorrect claims about the size of the crowd at his inauguration, accusing news organizations Sunday of trying to undermine Trump’s legitimacy.The pushback came a day after White House press Secretary Sean…
(Tribune news services)
Both men admitted having taken part in attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq, not in Bowling Green or anywhere else on U.S. soil.
Alwan participated in ten operations to send weapons and money that he believed were destined for terrorists in Iraq and recruited Hammadi, a fellow Iraqi national living in Bowling Green, to assist in these material support operations, according to the FBI. Alwan also drew diagrams of IEDs and instructed a confidential source working for the FBI how to make them.
Conway reiterated claims from Trump that his refugee policy is similar to "what President Obama did in 2011 when he banned visas for refugees from Iraq for six months." Conway said it was "brand new information" to people that Obama enacted a "six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program." Breitbart also reported earlier this week that "Obama suspended Iraq refugee program for six months over terrorism fears in 2011."
As The Washington Post reported, this was not the case. Obama administration officials told The Post that there was never a point when Iraqi resettlement was stopped or banned. In the aftermath of the arrests of the two Iraqis living in Kentucky, the Obama administration imposed more extensive background checks on Iraqi refugees, and the new screening procedures created a dramatic slowdown in visa approvals.
State Department records show there was a significant drop in refugee arrivals from Iraq in 2011. There were 18,251 in 2010, 6,339 in 2011 and 16,369 in 2012. One news report said the "pace of visa approvals having slowed to a crawl," indicating some were still being approved.
Conway’s interview was by no means the first time the arrests of the two Iraqis in Bowling Green have been introduced as support for blocking refugees from reaching the United States. In December 2015, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., released a dramatic campaign video ad featuring images and video footage of the two Iraqi nationals, while criticizing then-presidential rivals Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. In the 90-second-long ad, the faces of Waad Ramadan Alwan and Mohanad Shareef Hammadi are featured with pounding, dismal music, establishing that the men were "welcomed into America, given public housing, and public assistance — as refugees."
After Conway’s comments, "Bowling Green Massacre" was the number-one topic trending on Twitter, and Conway’s interview prompted many to share memories of where they were "when the Bowling Green Massacre didn’t happen."
Washington Post
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