Iraq's Power Struggle-Power failure in Iraq as militias outgun state

by **Ponee** Sat Oct 31, 2015 10:46 am

Iraq's Power Struggle
Oct. 21, 2015

Power failure in Iraq as militias outgun state

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi came to office a year ago promising to rebuild his country. But the Iraqi state has grown weaker as power has leaked to Shi’ite militia leaders.

ERBIL, IRAQ – In April, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi sat at a conference table in his Baghdad office with almost two dozen men in combat fatigues. The men were not officers in the Iraqi Army, but representatives of the Shi’ite paramilitary groups that have led the fight against Islamic State.

Hadi al-Amiri, one of the most senior militia leaders, delivered a long and forceful monologue on his fighters’ recent victories. Abadi, in a blazer and tie, listened, occasionally jotting down notes, a video of the meeting shows. A few minutes later, Abadi himself praised the fighters.

The event was a sign of the delicate power balance in Iraq.

Abadi, a Shi’ite, came to office just over a year ago backed by both the United States and Iran. He promised to rebuild the fragmented country he inherited from his predecessor, Nuri al-Maliki, who was widely accused of fueling sectarian divisions. Since then, though, even more power has shifted from the government to the militia leaders.

Those leaders are friendly with Abadi. But the most influential describe themselves as loyal not only to Iraq but also to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Three big militias – Amiri’s Badr Organisation, Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Kataib Hezbollah – use the Iranian Shi’ite cleric’s image on either their posters or websites. Badr officials describe their relationship with Iran as good for Iraq’s national interests.

Initially, Abadi had little choice but to lean on the Shi’ite paramilitary forces. They grew in power after Sunni extremist group Islamic State captured large parts of northern Iraq in June last year and Iraq’s top Shi’ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, called for volunteers to fight Islamic State, which soon declared a caliphate straddling the border with neighbouring Syria.

As the Shi’ite militias’ popularity surged, Abadi publicly lamented the lack of Western support. He made plain his desperate desire for help earlier this month after Iran and Russia opened offensives against the group in Syria. The prime minister said he would welcome Russian air strikes in Iraq as well. Abadi is looking not just to hurt Islamic State but to bolster his own position in Iraq.

Over the past few months he has attempted to impose his authority on the militia commanders and their political allies, and remind Iraqis he is the country’s legitimate leader. That is stoking tensions around who controls Iraq.

Abadi’s resources remain limited. Iraq’s regular military has not recovered from last year’s defeat by Islamic State. Most young Shi’ite Iraqi men now prefer to join the paramilitary groups, which are seen as braver and less corrupt.

http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/iraq-abadi/

by **Terbo56** Sat Oct 31, 2015 11:33 am

The Iraqis need to put the firing pins back in the weapons that Obama took out of them to begin with, THEN, they might get somewhere-

Iraq's Power Struggle-Power failure in Iraq as militias outgun state

Iraq's Power Struggle-Power failure in Iraq as militias outgun state

Re: Iraq's Power Struggle-Power failure in Iraq as militias outgun state