Iraq’s New Premier Shakes Up Military
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraq’s new prime minister scrapped a top military office and ordered two senior commanders into retirement, in a major move aimed at restructuring a failed army that is having to fight the Islamic State (IS) forces.
The changes follow another defeat by the Iraqi army against IS forces.
Haidar al-Abadi discarded the office of the Adjutant General of the Armed Forces, set up by his predecessor Nouri al-Maliki, who was accused of trying to concentrate power in his own hands.
The premier “canceled” the position, which was inside the prime minister’s own office, said a statement posted on the Iraqi defense ministry’s website on Tuesday.
Maliki set up the position in 2006 to oversee the key defense and interior ministries, appointing Lt. General Farouk al-Araji as its head, who would report directly to the premier.
The move had drawn a barrage of criticism from the Kurds and Sunni blocs, who viewed it as a move by the Shiite premier to consolidate greater power.
Abadi, who stepped into office last month after Maliki was forced down from a decision to run for a third term, also ordered two top commanders into retirement – both Shiites who were in Mosul when Iraq’s second-largest city fell to the IS without much resistance.
Abadi, "the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces ordered to retire Deputy Chief of Army Staff for Operations Lt. Gen. Abboud Qanbar and Lt. Gen. Ali Ghaidan Majeed," the statement said.
The retirement of the top general comes just days after another setback by the Iraqi army in the western Anbar province, where officials have confirmed 300 troops killed and about 500 unaccounted for after an IS attack on a military camp.
Backed by a US-led coalition of some 40 countries, the Iraqi army and the autonomous northern Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga forces are fighting IS armies that have taken over about a third of Iraq.
Early Tuesday, a US-led force that included five Arab countries carried out the first air strikes against the militants in Syria.