BAGHDAD, Aug. 18 (UPI) — Former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said there was “no value” in a parliamentary report alleging he and other officials were to blame for last year’s fall of Mosul to the Islamic State.
The report, compiled by Iraq’s Parliamentary Committee for Security and Defense, has not been released publicly. After being presented to the speaker of parliament, it was passed on to the judicial branch for consideration of legal action.
In June 2014, 800 IS fighters, surging from the Syrian border, sent 30,000 Iraqi soldiers defending the northern city of Mosul into retreat.
The Sunni extremist group has held Mosul ever since and is reported to have destroyed ancient artifacts, seized up to $425 million in Mosul’s central bank, executed several people and engaged in sexual assault.
Maliki received heavy criticism at the time for monopolizing power in the hand of Shia Muslims and marginalizing Sunni populations, causing anger that IS forces were able to exploit when moving into the country.
“There is no value in the report of the parliamentary investigation panel on the fall of Mosul, as the panel was dominated with political differences and its findings were not objective,” Maliki, who is reportedly in Iran, said on his Facebook page, adding, “What happened in Mosul was a conspiracy planned in Ankara, then the conspiracy moved to Irbil,” referring to the capitals of Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan.
Iraqi parliament reportedly passed the report onto the judiciary without reading it in session due to tensions between political blocs and to avoid defaming the names mentioned therein.
At least 35 political and security officials are implicated in the report, including former Mosul governor Atheel al-Nujaifi, former acting defense minister Sadoun al-Dulaimi, former army chief of staff Gen. Babakir Zebari, former commander of provincial operations Lt. Gen. Mahdi al-Gharrawi, and former governor of Nineveh province, Atheel al-Nujaifi.
Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jubouri released a statement Monday, saying, “the report about the fall of Mosul will be presented at the next session of the Council of Representatives, which will be in public, and no one is above the law.”
The report comes after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, following weeks of nationwide protest, announced a reform package aimed at reducing spending and fighting corruption. Among other things, the reforms would re-open graft prosecution against suspected government officials and eliminate the positions of vice-president and deputy prime minister, of which Iraq has three each.
Last week, Iraqi parliament unanimously approved the package. In a statement, Abadi promised “to continue the way of reform even if costs me my life.”
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