Maliki to be blamed for fall of Mosul to ISIS

The Washington Post reports that an investigative committee of the Iraqi government is about to unveil a report to Iraq’s parliament that blames former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, among others, for the fall of the city of Mosul last year.

The text of the report is yet to be made public, but the names of those held responsible for the loss of Mosul include Atheel al-Nujaifi, the governor of Nineveh province, former acting defense minister Sadoun al-Dulaimi and former army chief Gen. Babakir Zebari, according to two members of the investigation committee.

The full report will be read in the next session of parliament on Monday “to inform the Iraqi people of the truth,” Jabouri said. “The judiciary will punish those who are involved.”

Now, I’m no fan of Maliki and he’s probably as much to blame for the rise of ISIS as the rest of the population of Iraq. Their problem is cultural, but, I suppose hanging another former leader will make them all feel clean again and restore some sort of Iraqi machismo to their heritage.

Abadi has also been attempting to overhaul the military. After taking office last year, he announced that an initial investigation had discovered 55,000 “ghost soldiers” in the army — soldiers who were being paid but did not exist, with those salaries instead going into the pockets of officers. More were expected to be uncovered, he said.

Despite assistance and training from U.S. advisers, the Iraqi army remains plagued with logistical and structural problems and has continued to lose territory to the Islamic State.

Yeah, I’d start fixing the problems before I start throwing fingers, fellas.

The Associated Press reports that the investigation didn’t stop with the politicians;

Abadi approved “decisions of the investigative commission on the withdrawal of the Anbar operations command and units attached to it from the city of Ramadi”, his office said in a statement.

Those include “referring a number of the leaders to the military judiciary for leaving their positions without orders and contrary to instructions (and) despite the issuance of a number of orders not to withdraw”, it said.

Category: Politics