Ex-PM Maliki is blamed along with 35 officials for last year's fall of the city of Mosul to ISIL militants.
ADVERTISEMENTIraq’s former prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki has been blamed for last year’s fall of the northern city of Mosul to ISIL militants.
In 2014, Iraq’s army retreated in the face of the advancing extremists, abandoning their positions .
An Iraqi parliamentary panel now calling for the ex-leader along with dozens of top officials and military commanders to stand trial.
Sectarian tensions
Maliki who is a Shia, is seen as having fanned sectarian tensions, leading to a growth of discontent in the mainly Sunni Arab areas including the key northern city captured by the Islamic militants.
The panel’s findings allege that Maliki had an inaccurate picture of the threat to Mosul because he chose commanders who engaged in corruption and failed to hold them accountable.
A Reuters investigation has shown how troop shortages in the city and infighting among top officers and Iraqi political leaders played into ISIL hands and fueled the panic that led to the city’s abandonment.
Anti-corruption reforms
The allegations come a week after Iraq’s current prime minister, Haider al-Abadi launched a wide-raging campaign to reform the governing system. It’s seen as being riddled with corruption and sectarian party patronage.
On Sunday, Abadi announced he was cutting 11 ministerial posts, reducing the size of the cabinet by a third.
ISIL’s seizure of Iraq’s second city Mosul as it swept across the Syrian border and declared a modern “caliphate” exposed the brokenness of the system left in place by the 2003- 2011 US occupation.