Ministry of Defence (Iraq)
The Ministry of Defence is the Iraq government agency responsible for Defence of Iraq. It is also involved with internal security.
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[edit] Authority
The Ministry directs all the Iraqi Armed Forces, comprising a Joint Headquarters, the Iraqi Ground Forces Command (which controls the Army), the Iraqi Special Operations Forces, the Iraqi Army, the Iraqi Navy (including Marines), and the Iraqi Air Force.[1]
[edit] History
The Ministry was dissolved by Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 2 of mid 2003. It was formally re-established by CPA Order 61 of February 22, 2004. In the interim period, the CPA Office of Security Affairs served as the de facto Ministry of Defence.[2]
The Iraqi Counter Terrorism Bureau directs the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Command, which is a further military force answerable to the Prime Minister of Iraq directly. As of 30 June 2009, there had been legislation in progress for a year to make the Iraqi CTB a separate ministry.[3]
[edit] Minister of Defense
The position of Minister of Defense was left vacant in the current Iraqi cabinet, approved on 21 December 2010. While it is vacant, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki serves as the acting defense minister.
The previous Minister of Defense, Lieutenant General Abd al-Qadr Muhammed Jassim al-Obaidi, is a Sunni career military officer and political independent. He had limited experience and faced a number of hurdles impeding his effective governance. Some of the major problems included inheriting a staff that is notorious for favorism, corruption, and deeply divided along sectarian and ethnic lines. He was a rival of the former Minister of the Interior Jawad al-Bolani, National Security Advisor Muwafaq al-Rubai, and Minister of Staff for National Security Affairs Shirwan al-Waili. He has been criticized for not being able to stand up to the Badr Organization and Mehdi Army members which dominate his own party. In addition, as a Sunni he faced inherent challenges working within a Shiite-dominated government.
On September 19, 2005, The Independent reported that approximately one billion US dollars have been stolen by top ranking officials from the Ministry of Defense including Hazim al-Shaalan and Ziyad Cattan.[4]
Previous defence ministers under Saddam Hussein's regime included Ali Hassan al-Majid ('Chemical Ali'). Iraq's very first minister of defence was Jafar al-Askari (1920-1922).
[edit] Notes
- ^ United States Department of Defense, Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq, Report to Congress, June 2007, p.37
- ^ Rathmell, Andrew. Developing Iraq's security sector: the coalition provisional authority's experience. Rand Corporation. pp. 27. ISBN 0833038230.
- ^ Montrose Toast, Iraqi Counter Terrorism Bureau, 30 June 2009
- ^ Cockburn, Patrick (19 September 2005). "What has happened to Iraq's missing $1bn?". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/what-has-happened-to-iraqs-missing-1bn-507397.html. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
[edit] Further reading
- RAND, 'Developing Iraq's Security Sector: The Coalition Provisional Authority's Experience,' 2005, p.27-32
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