Iraq’s Maliki Rejects Blame for Fall of Mosul
Iraq’s former prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, yesterday denounced as worthless a parliamentary report which blamed him and others for the fall of Mosul to Islamic State last year and called for them to be referred to the judiciary.
“There is no value to the results that came out of the parliamentary investigation committee”, Maliki said on Facebook in his first public comments since the report was released on Sunday and referred to the public prosecutor on Monday.
Maliki, whose website says he has been in Iran since Friday, said political differences in the panel compromised its objectivity.
By seeking to provide accountability for the loss of majority-Sunni Mosul, the report could help restore confidence in the Shi’ite-led government, especially among Sunni Muslims marginalized by Maliki’s divisive politics.
It coincided with a campaign by Prime Minister Haider alAbadi to reduce Iraq’s patronage system, another move which could help rebuild a security apparatus riven with graft and mismanagement. But also risks further splits.
Abadi sacked a third of his cabinet on Sunday. Yesterday he ordered the positions of advisers hired as contractors in ministries to be eliminated and limited the number of advisers for himself, the president, and the parliamentary speaker to five each.
The reforms follow weeks of street protests in Baghdad and southern cities demanding better government services and a call by leading Shi’ite Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to “strike with an iron fist” against corruption.
They are the biggest move yet by Abadi to strengthen his hand, even as nearly a third of Iraq’s territory has fallen to Islamic State and the central government faces a financial crisis from the collapsing price of its oil exports.
The parliamentary report alleged that Maliki had an inaccurate picture of the threat to Mosul because he chose corrupt commanders and failed to hold them accountable.
Maliki, who had previously accused unnamed countries, commanders and rival politicians of plotting the city’s fall, on Tuesday blamed Turkish and Iraqi Kurdish leaders.