Iraqi MPs Vote To Bring Men Who Failed Mosul To Justice

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Iraqi MPs have voted to refer to the judiciary a report holding top officials, including former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, responsible for the fall of the country’s second city, Mosul, the parliamentary speaker has said. Politician Mohamed al-Karbouli said Monday’s vote in parliament was taken by a show of hands and passed by a majority.

He said the report was now due to go to the public prosecutor and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who has the right to refer officers for court martial. Maliki was the most senior and controversial of those named responsible in a parliamentary committee report on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL) takeover of Nineveh province capital Mosul in 2014, which was released on Sunday.

The panel’s report, the most drastic step yet taken by Baghdad to provide accountability for the loss of nearly a third of the country’s territory to ISIL fighters, alleges that Maliki had an inaccurate picture of the threat to the northern city because he chose commanders who engaged in corruption and failed to hold them accountable.

The findings also placed responsibility for the fall of the city on Mosul Governor Atheel al-Nujaifi, former acting defence minister Sadoun al-Dulaimi, former army chief General Babakir Zebari and Lieutenant General Mahdi al-Gharrawi, former operational commander of Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital.

Aljazeera.