Iran didn’t see this one coming: Nouri Maliki could face trial over fall of Mosul
Former Iraqi PM and now dismissed VP Nouri al-Maliki could face trial over fall to ISIS of Iraq second city of Mosul
Middle East • August 2015 • Views: 1,346
Iraqi Protesters against Nori Maliki
Former Iraqi prime minister - and now dismissed vice president - Nouri al-Maliki could face trial over the fall to ISIS of Iraq’s second city of Mosul, which led to the declaration of its caliphate last summer. While al-Maliki has so conveniently fled to Iran without hesitating at all, Tehran never saw this major blow coming. The proxy it invested in for 8 years in Iraq is now facing trial in recent developments described as a “political earthquake” by state-run in Iran.
Nori Maliki in Iran
Al-Maliki is one of around 30 senior officials named in a report that has been approved in parliament. It calls for Mr Maliki to face trial for what it says was negligence in choosing corrupt officers who failed to respond to the threat adequately.
“No one is above the law and accountability to the people,” said parliament speaker Salim al-Jaburi in a statement after receiving the report. “The judiciary will punish perpetrators and delinquents,” he added.
The report will now be given to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and the public prosecutor.
The release of the report comes amid growing public anger at government mismanagement and just days after Mr Abadi won support for a span of parliamentary reforms, including eliminating the country’s three deputy prime ministers and three vice-presidents.
Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei rushed his personal advisor, Ali Akbar Velayati, to Iraq in an attempt to win amnesty for al-Maliki or at least win Baghdad’s approval of leaving him to be as a neutral figure without any specific post. The mere fact that Maliki has gone to Iran speaks for the nature of the firm decision rightfully taken by Mr. Abadi to finally rid Iraq of the corruption it has been bleeding from.
Over the weekend Mr Abadi also approved the referral of military commanders who abandoned their posts in the city of Ramadi when it fell to ISIS earlier this year to a court martial, marking the first probes into the loss of more than a third of the country to the group which began with the fall of Mosul last year.
Experts say moves are a major shift and turning point for the country.
Recent protests have focused on political corruption and the failure of the state in providing basic services, sparked by power cuts in the middle of one of the country’s most brutal heatwaves in recent years. To many people the fall of Mosul on 10 June last year represented the worst consequences of the Iraqi government’s mismanagement and corruption, and laid bare the impotence of the Iraqi army.
Prime Minister currently enjoys the blessing of the Iraqi people, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and most definitely the support of Washington as the US State Department has expressed many times in its daily briefings.
Mr Maliki has been directly blamed for extending patronage along sectarian lines, contributing to a growing disenfranchisement among the Sunni-majority population of the Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital.
The fall of Mosul is seen as an indicator of Maliki’s failure and it is a shame for his premiership. The Iraqi people should continue with their brave movement and rid their nation of first Maliki, second all corrupt individuals, and third all loyal to the Iranian regime. Tehran has been behind all meddling in the land of Mesopotamia. Once and for it must be evicted to allow the Iraqi people, and as a result the nations of the entire Middle East, live in peace and prosperity.