Iraq’s new government comes under attack

Mohamed Shaath 

Hours after he was constitutionally sworn in as Iraqi Prime Minister, Adel Abdul-Mahdi has come under heavy attack. Iraqi political analysts and observers maintained that they had had suspicions about the integrity of the veteran Shiite’s politician when he launched a website to allow Iraqis to apply for ministerial positions in his new cabinet. In a statement on his personal Facebook account, Abdul Mahdi invited “those with expertise, specialisation and practical experience” to come forward.

Abdul-Mahdi was tasked with the formation of a new government five months ago by Iraq’s President Barham Salih, a Kurdish politician who was elected in a parliamentary vote.  Under an unofficial agreement dating back to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, Iraq’s presidency — a largely ceremonial role — is held by a Kurd, while the prime minister is Shiite and the parliament speaker is Sunni.

Writer Abdul-Jabar al-Jabouri said that the new government had disappointed the expectations of the Iraqi people. Elaborating, Al-Jabouri said: “Although about 35,000 people responded to Abdul-Mahdi’s invitation online and applied for ministerial posts, none of them was selected.”  Al-Jabouri, who is an outspoken politician, had suspicions that Abdul-Mahdi had given in to Teheran’s pressure and reappointed ‘corrupt ministers linked to the Iranian regime’.

Abdul-Mahdi is viewed as an independent who previously served as vice president, oil minister and finance minister. He is not allied with either of the two Shiite-led blocs that each claim to have the most support after May’s elections, in which no party won an outright majority. He was previously a member of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, a large Shiite party with close ties to Iran.

Al-Jabouri said that Abdul-Mahdi had selected unqualified ministers. “The new Prime Minister’s picks are serving the Iranian interests and policies in Iraq,” the politicians said. He alleged that Qassem Soleimani, Commander of Al-Quds Force, dictated to the Prime Minister the names of the ministers for strategic portfolios, such as Oil Ministry, Transportation and Communication. “Qassem Soleimani wants to control these money-spinning strategic sectors to help break the US sanctions on Iran,” Al-Jabouri said.

Thamir Ghadhban was elected as Minister of Oil, Fuad Hussein was approved as Minister of Finance, Naim al-Rubaye was elected Communication Minster; and Abdullah Luaibi was elected Transport Minister.

Al-Jabouri said that Abdul-Mahdi’s Cabinet substantiated concerns that Teheran wanted to restore the heavy presence it lost in Iraq as a result of the violent protests in the city of Basra, which is home to Sunni Iraqis. “The Iranian influence in Iraq waned alarmingly in the wake of the protests launched by the Iraqi [Sunni] people in Basra,” said Al-Jabouri. “Boiling anger overwhelmed the Iraqis after the Iranians decided to cut the water supply,” he added. During the protests in Basra, the Iranian consulate was torched. “Iraqi parties linked to Iran are now attempting to revive Teheran’s influence on the political process,” al-Jabouri regretted. But he  noted that as a result of the U.S. heavy sanctions, Teheran had lost its grip on Iraq. The Iraqi politician said: “Despite the presence of Iran-linked ministers in Abdul-Mahdi’s Cabinet, Teheran will no longer be the key player of politics in Iraq.”

Al-Jabouri’s vision of the political future in Iraq is held by political analyst Faras Elias. In a statement to The Reference, Elias said: “The government formed by Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi did not live up to the expectation of the Iraqi people.” The political analyst also confessed to The Reference that Abdul-Mahdi’s picks were disappointing. Although he had reservations over premature judgement, Ilias admitted that the new government displayed the conflict of interests between Washington and Teheran in Iraq.