Ex-PM in gun over army’s lack of fight in Mosul rout
Iraq’s former prime minister may face criminal charges for his role in the fall of Mosul to Islamic State (Isis) militants last summer after an investigation named him among officials responsible.
Nouri al Maliki, currently one of the country’s three vicepresidents, is among dozens of officials named in a parliamentary report on why the city fell with so little resistance, members of the investigation committee said yesterday.
He has been widely blamed for allowing corruption to thrive during his tenure as prime minister, including in Iraq’s security forces.
The report comes as Iraq’s current Prime Minister, Haider al Abadi, attempts to enact sweeping changes to the country’s political system to stamp out endemic graft and excessive government spending. Thousands have taken to the streets in recent weeks demanding better services and accusing state officials of siphoning off the country’s money.
Abadi yesterday axed 11 positions in his Cabinet, shrinking it by one-third, and said he would close four ministries and merge others.
‘‘No-one is above the law and the accountability of the people,’’ the Speaker of Iraq’s Parliament, Salim al Jabouri, said after receiving the report.
When Isis fighters launched an assault on Mosul in June 2014, Iraq’s army rapidly collapsed, and the militant group swiftly took control of more than a quarter of the country’s territory, pressuring the capital, Baghdad.
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 defence minister Sadoun al Dulaimi and former army chief General Babakir Zebari, two members of the investigation committee said.
The full report will be read in the next session of Parliament today ‘‘to inform the Iraqi people of the truth’’, Jabouri said.
‘‘The judiciary will those who are involved.’’
Maliki, who is on a visit to neighbouring Iran, may also lose his position as vice-president after Abadi said last week that the roles should be eliminated as part of his reform package.
Some Iraqi politicians have accused Abadi of using the reforms to sideline his political rival.
The vice-president roles were not mentioned as Abadi reduced his Cabinet on Sunday, however, with legal experts arguing that cutting all three positions would require a constitutional change.
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