ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A prominent Iraqi Sunni cleric on Thursday blamed former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki for allowing ISIS to take over Mosul and accused him of now following an “outside” agenda.
Dr. Rafi Rofaai said that Maliki, a Shiite backed by Iran, there was not a party in Iraq that that the former prime minister had not criticized, including his own Dawa party. The mufti, or cleric, accused him of bearing a grudge against the country’s Kurds and Sunnis.
“Maliki is a shedder of blood and a dictator who is promoting sectarianism and holding grudges against every party, including his own,” Rofaai said in an interview with Rudaw.
He noted that when Kurdish President Masoud Barzani “defends the national rights of the Kurdish nation, Maliki opposes that. When Sunnis defend themselves, he also opposes them.”
Tensions between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi government under Maliki peaked in February 2014 as Baghdad froze the Kurdish share of the national budget.
The KRG has since struggled to finance its staggering public servant salaries and the war against ISIS through international loans, austerity measures and its own oil exports.
Responding to a question about whether Kurds can have their own state, Maliki had stated: “No one has the constitutional right to exit Iraq.”
Rofaai said, “There is no party in Iraq that Maliki has not attacked.” He accused him of “implementing an outside agenda,” a reference to neighboring Iran, which wields immense power in Iraq.
He said there are even “people within the Dawa party and State of Law coalition who are attacked by Maliki. So for the time being he does not have a clear and good agenda.”
Referring to comments Maliki has persistently made in support of the Iranian-backed Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitary forces that are fighting alongside Iraqi Army in the battle for Mosul, Rofaai said it was under Maliki’s own premiership that ISIS – or Daesh in Arabic – had taken over Mosul.
“Maliki is saying that he fights Daesh with Hashd al-Shaabi forces. Who brought Daesh into Mosul? Maliki and his men pulled out a number of terrorists from prisons and sent them to Mosul,” Rofaai charged.
In June 2014, Iraqi forces turned and fled – leaving massive caches of arms that were taken by ISIS – when the militants stormed across Iraq and took over Mosul without much of a fight.
sTATE
Dr. Rafi Rofaai said that Maliki, a Shiite backed by Iran, there was not a party in Iraq that that the former prime minister had not criticized, including his own Dawa party. The mufti, or cleric, accused him of bearing a grudge against the country’s Kurds and Sunnis.
“Maliki is a shedder of blood and a dictator who is promoting sectarianism and holding grudges against every party, including his own,” Rofaai said in an interview with Rudaw.
He noted that when Kurdish President Masoud Barzani “defends the national rights of the Kurdish nation, Maliki opposes that. When Sunnis defend themselves, he also opposes them.”
Tensions between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi government under Maliki peaked in February 2014 as Baghdad froze the Kurdish share of the national budget.
The KRG has since struggled to finance its staggering public servant salaries and the war against ISIS through international loans, austerity measures and its own oil exports.
Responding to a question about whether Kurds can have their own state, Maliki had stated: “No one has the constitutional right to exit Iraq.”
Rofaai said, “There is no party in Iraq that Maliki has not attacked.” He accused him of “implementing an outside agenda,” a reference to neighboring Iran, which wields immense power in Iraq.
He said there are even “people within the Dawa party and State of Law coalition who are attacked by Maliki. So for the time being he does not have a clear and good agenda.”
Referring to comments Maliki has persistently made in support of the Iranian-backed Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitary forces that are fighting alongside Iraqi Army in the battle for Mosul, Rofaai said it was under Maliki’s own premiership that ISIS – or Daesh in Arabic – had taken over Mosul.
“Maliki is saying that he fights Daesh with Hashd al-Shaabi forces. Who brought Daesh into Mosul? Maliki and his men pulled out a number of terrorists from prisons and sent them to Mosul,” Rofaai charged.
In June 2014, Iraqi forces turned and fled – leaving massive caches of arms that were taken by ISIS – when the militants stormed across Iraq and took over Mosul without much of a fight.
sTATE
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