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The Last Thing Iraq Needs is More Maliki


Butifldrm
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Displaced Iraqis flee their homes during a battle with Islamic State militants walk past Iraqi flag in Albu Saif, south-west Mosul, Iraq, February 25, 2017. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

The Last Thing Iraq Needs is More Maliki

A return to power by Maliki and his bloc would usher in a return to the corruption and mismanagement that plagued Iraq during his initial tenure.

January 22, 2018

One month after formally declaring victory over the Islamic State, Iraq now turns its attention to its upcoming parliamentary elections, which will play a significant role in shaping the future of a country long plagued by civil war and sectarian strife. These elections, currently scheduled for May 12, will determine which coalition controls Iraq’s parliamentary Council of Representatives, and in turn, from which coalition the prime minister will be selected. Among the challengers to sitting Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s “Victory Alliance” coalition is his predecessor, Nouri al-Maliki, whose State of Law Coalition is seen by many as the most likely to wrestle control of the government away from Abadi. Such a scenario would be disastrous for Iraq, as the return to power of Maliki would undermine the fragile stability of the Iraqi peace and threaten to inflame the underlying sectarian divisions that nearly drove the country apart.

While Maliki’s prior stint as prime minister is largely viewed as a failure, his initial ascension to power in 2006 was greeted with a great deal of optimism. Tapped by the Americans as a replacement to the ineffective Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the former ex-patriot dissident Maliki was hailed as a Shia leader with enough credibility to cooperate with Sunni moderates to weed out the insurgency plaguing the newly-formed democracy. While Maliki was able to work effectively alongside the United States to disrupt Al Qaeda’s operations in Iraq, his failure to manage the ensuing peace and to adequately prevent the rise of ISIS led to his ousting in 2014 in favor of Abadi, and saw him relegated to the largely ceremonial position of vice president.

Despite both being members of the Islamic Dawa Party, Maliki has long desired to regain control over both the party and government from his successor. While Abadi has received significant credit for his role in defeating the Islamic State, he has largely failed in his effort to court stable political allies, as evidenced by the withdrawal of a number of Shia militias from his coalition on January 16. Meanwhile, Maliki has begun actively courting alliances with Iraq’s Kurdish politicians in hopes of bolstering his already significant base of support. Maliki’s ability to form a rival coalition independent of Abadi’s bloc has left the prime minister scrambling for support, and greatly increases the likelihood that a change of power will occur.

Unfortunately, a return to power by Maliki and his bloc would also usher in a return to the corruption and mismanagement that plagued Iraq during his initial tenure. To observe the impact this negligence had on Iraq, one need look no further than the degradation of the Iraqi military that occurred on his watch. Maliki used his capacity as commander-in-chief of the armed forces to appoint himself as minister of defense, which gave him almost unilateral control of the armed forces. This allowed him to politicize appointments to high-ranking defense positions and deploy a personal security brigade to harass his political rivals. Despite receiving billions of dollars in aid and years of training from the United States, the Iraqi military was beset with incompetent leadership, staffed by “ghost soldiers” who received government salaries despite never reporting for duty, prepared for battle through training exercises that, “were financed on paper but never took place in practice,” and devastated by low morale.

Equally dangerous to Iraq’s stability were Maliki’s policies targeting the Sunni minority that had previously held power under Saddam Hussein. Under the guise of “de-Baathification” Maliki sought not only to remove the vestiges of Hussein’s Baath Party from positions of power, but also to purge the bureaucracy of Sunni representation. Sunni Arab politicians quickly found themselves expelled from the government, while Sunni activists and community leaders were often harassed by the Iraqi security apparatus and rounded up on nebulous charges of supporting terrorism. Meanwhile, the Sunni militias who had been instrumental in helping to defeat Al Qaeda years earlier were not meaningfully integrated into the Maliki government, even as Maliki gave carte-blanche to Iranian-backed Shia militias operating in Iraq. To the Sunni Iraqis who make up approximately 46 percent of the country’s population, their status as second-class citizens under the Maliki regime was abundantly clear.

These failures came to head with the ascension of ISIS in 2014. Many disaffected Sunnis viewed the Islamic State as the lesser of two evils compared to the increasingly hostile Maliki government, and the woefully mismanaged Iraqi military rolled over as ISIS captured Mosul and Tikrit within a matter of days. Autopsies of the Maliki regime have largely placed the blame for the rise of ISIS at the feet of the former prime minister, citing his blatant stroking of ethno-sectarian tensions and his inability to mount a meaningful military defense against the extremist group.

While Abadi has sought to address the conditions that enabled ISIS to emerge in Iraq, many of these issues continue to exist under the surface and could be easily exacerbated by Maliki’s return to power. The majority of the fighting against ISIS occurred in Sunni-dominated areas, which caused the already marginalized group to bear the brunt of the human and economic costs of the war. Additionally, the majority of the three million internally displaced Iraqis are Sunnis, which has greatly increased the Sunni population’s dependence on assistance from their local and federal governments. While 51 percent of Sunni Arabs now approve of the direction of the federal government, 61 percent of them believe that the Islamic State may yet return to threaten their homes, indicating that there is a persistent degree of apprehension regarding the stability of the status quo.

A return to power by Maliki, a leader so prone to discrimination against Sunni Iraqis that many willingly sided with the Islamic State over his rule, would immediately erode any goodwill felt by the Sunni Arab community towards the central government. Not only would Iraqi Sunnis rightly fear a return of Maliki’s politics of intimidation, but their vulnerability in the wake of the Islamic State’s defeat would serve to compound the effects of any government-sanctioned discrimination or withholding of aid to their communities. Additionally, while Abadi has actively pursued stronger relations with Sunni states such as Saudi Arabia, Maliki’s longstanding ties to Iran could easily create a sense of worry surrounding the presence of Iranian-backed Shia militias in predominantly Sunni regions. Even if Maliki legitimately desires to improve his relations with Arab Sunnis (and there is little reason to believe this is the case), his legacy of hostility towards them would guarantee that a Maliki victory would cause many Sunnis to once again embrace anti-government religious extremism in the same way they embraced ISIS in 2014.

Furthermore, the re-election of Maliki would threaten to stop Abadi’s efforts to root out government corruption. Not only did Maliki fire anti-corruption watchdogs while staffing his government with loyalists, but a 2015 parliamentary panel accused the former prime minister of failing to discipline the corrupt military officials that bungled Iraq’s pitiful defense of Mosul a year earlier. Maliki’s willingness to tolerate corruption and incompetence in the Iraqi military led to its decisive defeat at the hands of ISIS, but it was his intentional undermining of the institutions designed to constrain his executive power that allowed such mistakes to occur at all. The fall of ISIS provides Iraq with a second chance to strengthen these institutions and strike back against the corruption that has long plagued them, and a second Maliki administration would likely result in this opportunity being squandered.

While there are still months to go before the Iraqi people cast their vote, there are plenty of reasons to be concerned with the recently announced candidacy of Nouri al-Maliki and his State of Law bloc. Maliki’s poor leadership, willingness to antagonize Iraq’s Sunni population, and history of enabling systemic government corruption would risk returning Iraq to the period of chaos and sectarian strife from which it has only recently escaped. In the interest of finally achieving some sense of stability in the wake of defeating ISIS, Iraq would be best served by keeping Nouri al-Maliki as far from the prime minister’s office as possible.

Matt Reisener is a program associate at the Center for the National Interest.

Image: Displaced Iraqis flee their homes during a battle with Islamic State militants walk past Iraqi flag in Albu Saif, south-west Mosul, Iraq, February 25, 2017. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
 
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Thanks Buti.........How about Maliki hanging from a tree?  

 

Iraq cannot take another Maliki and cronies dictatorship, I would think that every country or banking establishment that has given them money (US included), provided boots on the ground, would not allow this to happen.  :pirateship:

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14 minutes ago, boosterbglee said:

Thanks Buti.........How about Maliki hanging from a tree?  

 

Iraq cannot take another Maliki and cronies dictatorship, I would think that every country or banking establishment that has given them money (US included), provided boots on the ground, would not allow this to happen.  :pirateship:

 Exactly... geesh...enough is enough...hang him and his cronies.  It's a no brainer.

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That’s not going to happen. To put it into perspective would the US hang Ex President Bush or Obama for whatever they did wrong while in office.  Especially Obama since he is campaigning against Trump and his policies.  See it sounds ridiculous doesn’t it. Never going to happen, at best they exile him to another country. Politics is a nasty business 

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26 minutes ago, Pitcher said:

Especially Obama since he is campaigning against Trump and his policies.

 

If Barry's birth is conclusively demonstrated/proven as being outside a US State or Territory at the time of Barry's birth..................................................

 

Then, legally, was ANYTHING Barry did "serving" in the capacity of the United States Of America President legal and/or legitimate???!!!

 

I think the implications of Barry NOT being born a US Citizen, if conclusively proven, will have extremely dire consequences where Barry would be stripped of ANY immunity and experience prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.

 

Hey, Ole Donald could revise HIS assessment publicly if and when the conclusive evidence is provided. The production of this evidence that Barry was NOT legally born in a US State or Territory would be a far greater issue, if real, than the FISA and associated scandal.

 

Maybe once Billy and Hilly are effectively dealt with, Barry may get served HIS JUST desserts!!!

 

Just some more big rat killin' (high level corruption removal) as the US Swamp is DRAINED!!!

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Ironically, I see Maliki getting killed by Iraqis for sure if he were to get re-elected. We all know it would be a corrupt election that would put him back in the saddle again. Not even Satan could save his dirty carcus at that point. Pretty sure Iraq as a whole would go after him and make an example of how corruption will be dealt with. If not lawfully, then unlawfully. Neither Iran or his party are backing him. The only ones that would at this point are the ones getting paid to back him. 

:banhammer:

Edited by jcfrag
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1 hour ago, jcfrag said:

Ironically, I see Maliki getting killed by Iraqis for sure if he were to get re-elected. We all know it would be a corrupt election that would put him back in the saddle again. Not even Satan could save his dirty carcus at that point. Pretty sure Iraq as a whole would go after him and make an example of how corruption will be dealt with. If not lawfully, then unlawfully. Neither Iran or his party are backing him. The only ones that would at this point are the ones getting paid to back him. 

:banhammer:

 

You just might be right jcfrag! I don’t think the Iraqi people are as squeamish about that sort of thing the way we are here in the US. 

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Aliens have abducting Earth People for thousands of years. How is it they manage to keep flying right by Maliki & Cronies ? I can't think of anyone MORE DESERVING of some very lengthy DEEP probeing in his End Zone !

 

i could have said anal, but that's to unhygienic  B)

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36 minutes ago, 10 YEARS LATER said:

Aliens have abducting Earth People for thousands of years. How is it they manage to keep flying right by Maliki & Cronies ? I can't think of anyone MORE DESERVING of some very lengthy DEEP probeing in his End Zone !

 

i could have said anal, but that's to unhygienic  B)

 

 

345FB0D8-B0F7-48CE-BE00-F52FD88BED73.jpeg

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of a Qatari minister holds Iraq's Shiite rulers responsible for the "development" of al-Qaeda

Qatari minister holds Iraqi Shiite rulers responsible for al-Qaeda's "development" for Daish
 
 Twilight News    
 
 8 hours ago
 

 

The deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Qatar, Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani, has attributed the development of al-Qaeda in Iraq to a "marginalization" of the Shi'ites who are in power in Baghdad for "certain groups" in reference to Sunnis.

Al-Thani said during his participation in a session entitled "Common vision of the Arab world" at the Davos World Economic Forum, that violent extremist groups are growing in the areas of political turmoil, social disintegration, poverty and economic problems.

 He said that only dealing with extremist groups on the security aspects would lead to the disappearance of terrorism for a short period and pave the way for the growth of new extremist groups.

He pointed out that the organization of the Islamic state is only an evolution of al-Qaeda in Iraq, pointing out that the state organization did not start in Syria, but in Iraq, because of the political vacuum and the marginalization of certain groups, adding that the organization found an ideal place for growth in Syria after the chaos that Created by the system.

 
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17 hours ago, 10 YEARS LATER said:

Aliens have abducting Earth People for thousands of years. How is it they manage to keep flying right by Maliki & Cronies ? I can't think of anyone MORE DESERVING of some very lengthy DEEP probeing in his End Zone !

 

i could have said anal, but that's to unhygienic  B)

The real question here is why did they bring you back?:P:P:P

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Warning of a "catastrophic scenario" in Iraq "if Maliki won" in the elections

 

36 minutes ago

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Warning from

 

BAGHDAD / NRT 
A month after declaring victory over a supporter, Iraq is turning its attention to the upcoming parliamentary elections, which will play a prominent role in shaping the future of a country plagued by civil war and sectarian strife, according to an American author.

"These elections, scheduled for May 12, will determine which alliance will control the next parliament," said Matt Resner, a political writer at National Interest in a NRT Arabiya report today (January 24, 2018) And therefore who will choose the prime minister, "noting that" among the rival Haider Abadi, the current Prime Minister, his predecessor Nuri al-Maliki, which many see that his coalition (state law) candidate to take power from Abadi.

"Such a scenario would be catastrophic for Iraq, because Maliki's return to power would undermine fragile stability, yes Iraq finally, and threaten to ignite underlying sectarian divisions that are about to divide the country," Resner said.

The writer draws attention to what is considered by a number of observers, "Maliki's failure to prevent the emergence of Da'ash in Iraq, which led to his removal in 2014 in favor of Abadi, and to assign him to the position of honorary Vice-President." 
"Although Abadi and Maliki are members of the Dawa party, the latter has long sought to regain control of both the party and the government," Risner said. "While Abadi was highly regarded for his role in the defeat of Badash, he failed to win over political allies, as was proved on January 16, when a number of Shiite militias withdrew from his coalition," he said. At the same time, "Maliki began to engage in alliances with politicians in response to the hope of strengthening the political base, which presages a change in the Iraqi authority."

"Unfortunately, the return of Maliki and his bloc to power paves the way for renewed corruption and mismanagement that prevailed in Iraq under his rule," according to the writer, who says that "Maliki worked to humiliate the Iraqi army, and used his authority as commander of the armed forces to appoint himself to the post of Minister of Defense, Which enabled him to take full control of the army Maliki also sought to politicize appointments in high positions in the army, and the deployment of a personal security brigade to pursue his political opponents.

Rissner says that although the Iraqi army has received billions of dollars in US aid, it has suffered a failed leadership. The so-called "ghosts of soldiers" received salaries without participating in their military duty or in training and maneuvers, which shattered the morale of the rest of the Iraqi military.

In the same context, the writer mentions "Maliki's policies in targeting the Sunni minority that controlled power throughout Saddam Hussein's rule." Under the guise of eliminating the Baath Party, Maliki sought not only to exclude senior Baathists from their positions of power, .

"Iraqi Sunni politicians themselves were quickly expelled from the government, while Sunni activists and tribal leaders were prosecuted on charges of supporting terrorism, with Iranian-backed militias free to work in Iraq." "Sunnis, who make up about 46 percent of Iraq's population, have realized that their status as second-class citizens is very clear," he said.

The author points out that "Abadi attempts to address the conditions that enabled the emergence of a da'eef in Iraq, especially since a number of these cases are still under the surface and may be easily exacerbated by the return of al-Maliki to power and the elimination of any good intentions felt by the Iraqi Sunnis towards the central government in Baghdad "He said.

 

http://www.nrttv.com/AR/Detail.aspx?Jimare=68753

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