Desperate Iraqi Mokhabarat struggles to get to grips with extraordinary challenges

Ahmed Sami Abdel-Fatah

Chaotic political and tragic security changes Iraq has been put through since its occupation in 2003 have had a disastrous impact on its security and Mokhabarat (intelligence) services.  The security vacuum in the country encouraged two of the most notorious groups, Al-Qaeda and ISIS, to seize the Iraqi big cities and declare them the territory of the alleged Muslim Caliphate.

The disastrous collapse of the Iraqi Mokhabarat gave ISIS in June 2014 the opportunity to unfurl its black flag, encouraging different militant groups to do likewise and occupy larger parts of the Iraqi territory.

According to its history, the nucleus of the Iraqi Mokhabarat was a special unit opened at the headquarters of the nationalist Al-Baath Party. However, Saddam Hussein, a close aide to Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr in 1968, decided in 1968 to develop this unit to a properly-equipped intelligence service responsible for the regime’s security externally and locally.

In 1973, the intelligence service was named the Iraqi Mokhabarat; and was put under the direct control of Saddam Hussein, who was appointed the vice President of Iraq. Saddam Hussein maintained his authority over the Iraqi Mokhabarat after he seized power in the country.

In April 2003, Baghdad fell in the hands of the Americans. As a result, the Iraqi Mokhabarat collapsed catastrophically. Paul Bremer, who led the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), following the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the US, decided to form a new intelligence agency. According to Bremer’s most disastrous decisions ever made in the modern history of Iraq, the Iraqi army allegedly loyal to Al-Ba’ath was disbanded, Likewise, the Iraqi Mokhabarat was dismantled and its staff was dismissed.

Nonetheless, the new intelligence agency Bremer formed after a year of his appointment the ruler of Iraq did not manage to appreciate the extraordinary security dimensions in the post-Saddam Iraq. As a result, the war-ravaged country plunged into chaos so tragic that militant and Jihadist groups managed to tighten their grips on the country.

Thanks to logistic and financial help provided by the US-led alliance, Iraq managed to deal a deadly blow to ISIS and liberate the city of Mosul in July 2017. The crushing defeat ISIS received in Iraq gave rise to several questions about the role of the Iraqi Mokhabarat in dealing with the new threats Iraq is facing as follows:

First axis-new priorities

The civil war and violence, which hit hard Iraq from 2006 to 2008,  gave rise to extraordinary security challenges. As a result, the identity of the enemy and the threats Iraq was facing changed radically. Iran and the US, which used to be the chief threats to Iraq under Saddam Hussein, were replaced by Jihadist groups, such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda. Saddam Hussein’s Mokhabarat was also tasked with hunting Shi’a and Kurdish separatists and rebels.

For understandable reasons mainly associated with defusing resistance movements in the country, the reins of Iraqi Mokhabarat were given to the CIA. The powerful US intelligence agency encouraged cynical strategies, according to which the Iraqi Mokhabarat prioritized activities, which could deepen sectarianism to serve Teheran’s purposes.

Absence of independence

The Iraqi Mokhabarat lost its independence under the US occupation. It was the CIA, which planned and supervised training programmes and activities for its elements. The Iraqi Mokhabarat was not either allowed to keep confidential documents in its archives.  The impotency of the country’s intelligence agency prompted former Prime Minister Nour el-Malki to appeal to Washington to postpone the withdrawal of the US troops from Iraq until 2011.

Second axis-Security vacuum

Incapacities and the absence of independence the Iraqi Mokhabarat could not avoid created a security vacuum. As a result, terrorist groups entered the fray and deepened their presence in Iraq. In 2004, Abu-Mosaab el-Zarkawi grabbed the headlines after he declared the formation of the alleged Muslim caliphate in Syria and Iraq.  In the meantime, Al-Qaeda had the opportunity to remobilise its fighters and declare Jihad (the holy war) against the US occupation. It is noteworthy that in the 1980s, Al-Qaeda launched Jihad against the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan.

Third axis-Main challenges

Despite the ISIS’s defeat, the Iraqi Mokhabarat is facing challenges so enormous and extraordinary that they are posing a substantial threat to the future of Iraq. These challenges are identified as follows:

– Fugitive fighters: ISIS remains a potential threat to the Iraqi security and safety. Changing its tactics, the terrorist group is attempting to beat the security measures adopted by Baghdad-based government by kidnapping people and brutally killing them.  According to the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, ISIS had carried out 84 abductions in 2018.

– Sporadic attacks: In addition to ISIS, terrorist groups in Iraq planned sporadic fighting and attacks against specific targets and in different areas in Iraq. Infiltrators wearing explosive belts are sent to the barracks and checkpoints of the Iraqi security forces to claim bigger casualties.

• Hit and run: Due to its huge losses of its heavy weapons, ISIS refusing to give in are aiming its guns on military targets in liberated areas. For example, the terrorist group signaled to its hiding elements to attack the village of Tal Dhab in Kirkuk province on July 23 this year. The Saudi newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported that ISIS’s fighters are hiding in  several Iraqi provinces, such as Ninawa and Salaheddin.

–Conflicting estimates: ISIS’s fugitive elements have reportedly managed to disappear in residential areas in Iraq. They are said to be lying in ambush until they receive the signal to reappear and hit again.

The biggest riddle the Iraqi Mokhabarat appears to be the exact number of ISIS fighters hiding in Iraqi cities.  While the US reports maintained that the number of ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria decreased to 6000, the UN reports put the number of these terrorists at 30, 000. Accordingly, the Iraqi Mokhabarat has to make bigger efforts to collect substantial information; otherwise the incorrect and inaccurate assessment in this respect would embarrass measures adopted to eliminate the threat of this terrorist group.

– Al-Bughdadi’s mysterious disappearance:  The arrest of Abu-Bakr al-Bughadadi, who is the godfather of ISIS, will represent a blow so devastating that the terrorist organisation will no longer have the potentials to remobilize and redeploy its fugitives.  Conflicting reports about the final destination of al-Bughdadi after the defeat of his group increased the dilemma of Iraqi Mokhabarat. For example, Moscow announced in 2017 that al-Bughdadi was killed in an airstrike. However, an audio recording released in August this year has ridiculed the Russian story.

– Lost or stolen documents and files: The Iraqi Mokhabarat remains unable to know the final destination(s) documents and files lost or stolen after ISIS’s occupation of Iraqi cities has reached. Nor does the Iraqi Mokhabarat have access to ISIS-linked documents and files, which are reportedly in the possession of major international intelligence agencies active in Iraq.  The Iraqi news agency said that the Mokhabarat had recollected hardly more than 15, 000 files linked to ISIS, which were smuggled to the US.

– Foreign troops: The Iraqi Mokhabarat is deeply concerned that in its absence foreign counterparts in the country have built strong contacts with locals.

– The Iranian presence: The Iranian presence is viewed as a substantial threat to Iraq’s sovereignty and its territorial integrity. The Iraqi Mokhabarat is suspecting that the Iranians are having access to the labyrinths of Iraq’s decision-making. According to security reports, Teheran provided Shi’a armed militias with heavy weapons and rockets to challenge the national security forces.

• Intelligence services formed by armed militias: Teheran-controlled armed militias in Iraq formed their special intelligence units to collect information independently from the official Mokhabarat.

Despite these extraordinary challenges and hindrances, the political leadership in Iraq has the potentials to help the Iraqi Mokhabarat upgrade its performance and protect the country against local and external threat.