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Kellyanne Conway creates fake Bowling Green massacre story

The terror attack in western Kentucky never happened

Justin Carissimo
New York
Friday 03 February 2017 05:19 GMT
Kellyanne Conway refers to fictitious 'Bowling Green massacre' to justify refugee ban

In a puzzling interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, Kellyanne Conway, President Trump’s top counselor, said that two Iraqi refugees were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre, without citing any evidence of her findings because the fictional terror attack doesn’t exist.

"President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalised and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre," she said. "Most people don’t know that because it didn’t get covered."

Unfortunately, viewers tuning into Hardball who are unfamiliar with the third-most populous city in Kentucky likely have no idea the event never happened because Matthews didn’t question Conway about her story.

The Daily Beast points out that Conway was likely referencing the 2011 incident where two Iraqi nationals were arrested for allegedly having ties to an improvised explosive device used against US troops in Iraq.

According to a 2013 news release from the Department of Justice, 25-year-old Mohanad Shareef Hammadi was sentenced to life in a federal prison while 31-year-old Waad Ramadan Alwan received 40-years. Both men were living in Bowling Green and admitted to using the devices against soldiers in Iraq, in addition to sending weapons and money to Al-Qaeda.

Still, there’s currently no evidence of either men carrying out any violent acts in western Kentucky.

In the interview, Conway defends the Trump administration’s recent immigration order that recently banned travel to and from seven majority Muslim countries. She provides a superficial comparison to former President Obama’s actions following the 2011 indictments. In reality, the Obama administration never banned refugees but pledged a new, extensive vetting process for Iraqi refugees while reviewing 58,000 visas of immigrants who were already settled in the country.

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