Iraqi PM Trims Cabinet As Predecessor Blamed For ISIS Rise

In the panel’s report, seen by Reuters and confirmed as accurate by three of its members, the committee also placed responsibility for the June 2014 defeat with former Mosul Governor Atheel al-Nujaifi, former acting defence 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. “The judiciary will punish perpetrators and delinquents”. In response, al-Abadi proposed the first round of reforms targeting reckless spending on government officials.

Iraq has its hands full as it continues to fend off attacks from ISIS across the country.

Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has lent his support to demands for reform, and parliament unanimously approved the wider reform package last week in a dramatic show of unity for a country riven with sectarian and political rivalries.

“Islamic State” (IS) militants launched an offensive on Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city on June 9 of last year and overran it a day later. Parliament has already given those reforms the OK.

Four suicide attackers drove explosives-laden military vehicles into government barricades outside the city west of Baghdad, setting off heavy clashes, a police officer and an army officer said.

The report detailing findings of the investigation, which has yet to be publicly released, has been presented to parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi, who said it will be sent to the prosecutor general for legal action.

The fall of Fallujah in January 2014 started the Islamic State group’s dramatic blitz across Iraq.

The news comes the same day that Maliki’s successor, Haider al-Abadi, approved an investigative commission’s recommendation that commanders face military justice and probable trial for withdrawing from Ramadi in mid-May without orders.

ISIL seized Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, in May, after government forces had held out against the fighters there for more than a year.

Those include “referring a number of the leaders to the military judiciary for leaving their positions without orders and contrary to instructions (and) despite the issuance of a number of orders not to withdraw”, it said.

The ministries of defense and interior will form investigative boards to look into why troops abandoned their weapons and equipment while fleeing, the statement added.

Adhal al-Fahdawi, a member of Anbar’s local council, also said Iraqi security forces have fully purged al-Maziq district, located nine kilometers (5.5 miles) east of Ramadi, of Daesh terrorists and wrested complete control over the area.