‘Ex-market sellers’ running Iraq’s security, says MP

Iraqi MP Amir al-Kanani has accused the leadership of Iraq’s security forces of corruption and of being connected to the former regime. The Liberal Bloc MP said the failure of these leaders was down to their lack of experience in military planning, describing them as former “market-stall holders” who have found themselves in charge of the security of the country. In a statement released on Saturday, Kanani said: “The spread of financial corruption in the security departments is a result of Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, [Prime Minister] Nouri al-Maliki, not allowing any monitoring authority – whether from the Parliament, the integrity commission or the General Inspector – to monitor the contracts and the expenditure of the security bodies, whose annual budget exceeds twenty billion dollars.” Kanani described military decision-makers and the office of the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces as corrupt and linked to the regime of former president Saddam Hussein, adding that some of them hold neither military ranks or university degrees. Some had average professions before the fall of the former regime, he said, while others were “market-stall holders”. The MP added: “The Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Nouri al-Maliki, doesn’t allow the military units to be informed about what happens in the headquarters of the teams, how the money and the expenses are spent, and how the aircrafts and weapons are bought.” His comments come as a wave of attacks across Baghdad and beyond left at least 55 dead and more than 200 wounded on Saturday.