- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Ex US Protege Maliki Faces Criminal Charges in Iraq

© AFP 2023 / BRENDAN SMIALOWSKIAl-Maliki
Al-Maliki - Sputnik International
Subscribe
Iraq's parliament has called for the trial of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and dozens of other top officials in connection with the fall of Mosul to ISIL last year.

According to an Iraqi MP, Mohamed al-Karbouli, parliamentarians voted with a show of hands in favor of the motion.  

An Iraqi parliamentary panel has been investigating what had brought about the fall of Mosul to ISIL last year. The report will now go to the public prosecutor and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who has the right to refer officers for court martial. 

Nouri al-Maliki, currently one of the country's three vice presidents, is among dozens of officials named in a parliamentary report on why the city fell with so little resistance. He has been widely blamed for allowing corruption to thrive during his tenure as prime minister, including in Iraq's security forces. 

© AFP 2023 / ALI AL-SAADAfter taking office last year Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced that an initial investigation had discovered 55 thousand "ghost soldiers" in the army - those who were being paid but did not exist, with their salaries instead going into the pockets of officers.
After taking office last year Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced that an initial investigation had discovered 55 thousand ghost soldiers in the army - those who were being paid but did not exist, with their salaries instead going into the pockets of officers.   - Sputnik International
After taking office last year Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced that an initial investigation had discovered 55 thousand "ghost soldiers" in the army - those who were being paid but did not exist, with their salaries instead going into the pockets of officers.

Maliki is accused of appointing military chief on personal rather professional considerations, meaning that the army was underprepared for the conflict.  

When Islamic State fighters launched an assault on Mosul in June 2014, Iraq's army rapidly collapsed, and ISIL swiftly took control of more than a quarter of the country's territory, proclaiming a "caliphate" and threatening Baghdad. 

At the time Maliki accused unnamed countries, commanders and rival politicians of plotting the city's fall. 

Militants from the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) celebrate the group's declaration of an Islamic state, in Fallujah, (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq. (File) - Sputnik International
Islamic State Executes 2,000 People in Northern Iraqi City of Mosul

But the parliamentary report places responsibility on him as well as on Mosul Governor Atheel al-Nujaifi, former acting defense minister Sadoun al-Dulaimi, former army chief General Babakir Zebari and Lieutenant General Mahdi al-Gharrawi, former operational commander of Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital. 

Others accused include Nineveh police commander Major General Khalid Hamdani, former Deputy Interior Minister Adnan al-Assadi, former army intelligence chief Lieutenant General Hatam al-Magsousi and three other Kurdish members of the Iraqi security forces. 

The fall of Iraq's second largest city in June 2014 exposed the failings of a governing system defined largely by ethno-sectarian party patronage, with Maliki suppressing Sunni representation which in turn pushed the Sunnis into the hands of ISIL. 

Installed in 2006 with US backing, Maliki's first permitted US forces to pursue the Shia militia of Moqtada al-Sadr in Baghdad and later ordered his own forces to attack the militia in Basra. But when the Americans were leaving he arrested Sunni ex-insurgents who had agreed to fight al-Qaida, as well as top Sunnis in his government. As sectarian violence returned to Baghdad, Maliki came to be seen by Iraqis as a miniature Saddam Hussein. 

These days despite the renewed assistance and training from US advisers, the Iraqi army remains plagued with problems and has continued to lose territory to the Islamic State. There is a separate investigation into how the western city of Ramadi fell to the militants earlier this year. 

Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi during visit to Moscow on May 21, 2015. - Sputnik International
Iraq PM Dismisses Cabinet Secretary in First Wave of Gov't Reforms

Al-Maliki has already fought back by accusing foreign forces of trying to divide the country. 

On Sunday Maliki met with Iranian First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri in Tehran and said that "big plots" were being hatched in Iraq, and said the country must remain united in the face of its enemies. 

Whether he is tried or not Maliki stands to lose his vice-presidency as Prime Minister al-Abadi is trying to bring about sweeping changes to the country's political system to stamp out endemic corruption and reduce the cost of government. 

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала