Sayyid Ammar Al-Hakim: interrogating the Minister of Defense at time of war demonstrates the weakness in evaluating national interests 

 Sayyid Ammar Al-Hakim , chairman of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, expressed his astonishment on insisting to interrogating the Minister of Defence amid a vicious war with terrorism, and while preparing for the decisive battle of Mosul, considering this insistence as unjustified, although interrogation or summoning officials is the core of democracy process and the fundamental function of the regulatory authority, \"but there are many lagging and desolated details in Government of Iraq in terms of functioning, and there are plenty of reformist attitudes that are talked about through many of parties but has not been followed up.\" Wondering, \"Is it logical to leave all this behind and insist on interrogating the minister of defense whilst the Iraqi military is achieving victories, and soldiers are engaged in battles and we are in the middle of a war?\", describing this by weakness in understanding the priorities and evaluating the national interest, noting that interrogation became a means of extortion, and if the \"allegations\" are true, this is the source of corruption, which requires everyone to stand against these deviant practices.

This took place in the weekly cultural forum on Wednesday 3/8/2016

We emphasize on taking what was stated during the interrogation session of the Minister of Defence with the highest level of seriousness

His Eminence expressed his objection on disclosing names involved to the public without providing evidence and documentations, because it creates projection and defamation without sound justifications, and this practice extracts trust and credibility among the political level of the inquirer and the enquired, and among the people, calling those who have facts to document and submit these facts to the competent authorities to take the appropriate action on them in accordance with the constitutional and legal contexts, emphasizing to follow-up to what has been stated in the last session of parliament and with the highest level of seriousness, because of being considerable words and accusations that impacting the core of the political process in Iraq and the rights of the Iraqi people and the military establishment.

Restructuring the popular forces within the security system, is a step in the right direction

His Eminence described the popular forces as the basic element in the military system of state of Iraq, and by saying \"state\" the popular forces should be under the actual specifications in building that country that everyone seek, drawing the attention the fight of sons of the popular forces who fought with courage and sincerity, were the best support to the army and security forces, presented great sacrifices, endured, and had struggle and triumphed by the grace of God, considering restructuring the popular forces as part of the national security system with setting guidelines and instructions a big step in the right direction, noting that this step will transform the popular forces from the spontaneous enthusiastic state to the organized military and security state maintaining the spirit of sacrifice and patriotism among the affiliates of the popular forces, this is from one aspect, and on the other hand this will preserve their rights and continuity within the official and legitimate state structure, emphasizing to invest the increased experience of the popular forces, the solidification of national sentiment and dogmatic sacrifices as an ideal way to protect the popular forces, calling to support the process to actual and practical integration into the official state structures in order to be one of the cornerstones of the security system.

Battle of Mosul requires moving away from deficient calculations and vision

His Eminence praised the victories achieved by \"Our army , popular forces , our federal police and ardent tribes on the battlefield against the dark terrorism,\" noting that “Iraqis surprised the world with their original strength and authentic Iraqi courage when they liberated Fallujah in a record time and with the least losses possible”, pointing that some speculated a long and complicated battle , but Iraq has proved his capability to achieve victory when realizing the potentials of Iraq\'s will, when being united to one heart, one mind and one mettle at the battlefield, noting that the victory in Mosul mean clearing the land of Iraq from the defiled disease that devastated Iraq, the region and the world, expressing that Iraqis feel proud to fight the Takfiri terrorism, on behalf of the world for more than ten years, despite what they have suffered from injustice, accusations and presented thousands of innocent victims and cried for human conscience, but unfortunately the voice of Iraq was not heard or understood until this monstrous terrorism had reached everyone, his eminence affirmed the victory of Iraqis in the majority of the war and will complete their victory and fold the page of terror and darkness, considering Mosul as the title of \"liberation\" from one of the worst phases in the history of Mosul and the history of Iraq, the region and the world, therefore Mosul is not just an usurped and occupied Iraqi city, from this grounds all honorable must be part in this epic historical battle, the battle of homeland and the existence, not the battle of the armies and the borders, stressing the need to eliminate shortsighted calculations, inadequate long term vision, and politics, to further patriotism and making the winner is Iraq.

The resolution of proxy management is a priority measuring the government\'s seriousness in conducting reforms

His eminence considered continuing to ignore resolving proxy management is weakening the grounds of partnership and destabilizing the rules of trust, and opens a large window of doubting the of government seriousness to reformation, noting that \"it is illogical that the government is unable to address a congested file with suspicions of major corruption like the proxy management, It is illogical also that the government ignores all the appeals regarding this matter, a matter demanding the government to close this case, and since two years ago, wondering “ How a government, required to control corruption and increase its performance efficiency, is able to function fluidly with the presence of dozens sensitive positions managed by proxy and unorganized?, Indicating that some proxy appointed individuals were employed through nepotism and by the influence of parties, noting that the deadline set by the National Reform agreement had ended , yet procrastination still occur in this important and sensitive case, stressing that the Al-Mihrab Martyr Movement will raise his voice higher and will continue its actions regarding this case, for it is a priority that measures the government\'s seriousness in conducting reforms and correcting the function of institutions and to eliminate corruption in dozens of important and sensitive positions in the state of Iraq.

Filling vacancies in ministries will contribute to strengthening the Council of Ministers and the development of government performance

Chairman of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq called to settle the vacant ministries in the Iraqi government, this solution will contribute to the strengthening of the Council of Ministers and develop government performance, pointing out that the Al-Muwatin bloc insists to accept the resignation of ministers who forwarded their resignations, yet the decision is delayed, stressing to resolve this matter as soon as possible, noting that Al-Muwatin bloc submitted candidates , a number of competent ministers who are well known at their ministries, noting that reform and construction process require confident, quick and decisive steps, the routine pace in some of the actions cause loss of decisions’ practical value and contributes to the lack of drive in conducting effective reforms, resulting in frustration to the public, considering management of ministerial positions by proxy an unhealthy case in a country seeking to overcome the ordeals and challenges, wishing if the reforms had took place along with victories achieved by the heroic armed forces which will make a significant impact and increased trust if presented concurrently.

Revision of electoral law and reducing the number of members of provincial councils

His Eminence stated that the political process in Iraq is a process based on the democratic elections and the basis of the electoral process is the electoral law, therefore determining electoral law is a cornerstone of restructuring the electoral process and to correcting the political process, calling for considering law and make the necessary adjustments, and most importantly, reducing the number of members of the provincial councils, promoting the level of education of its members and to ensure that elections guarantees real representation and demands of voters, adding that a good law is a contribution to form good local councils which in turn contributes to the production of effective local governments away from bargaining, conflicts and the weakness of self-interest and expediency alliances, and protect executives from falling under the pressure of bargaining and extortion, describing the multiple electoral practices an expression of the vitality of the democratic system in Iraq, adding, but this multiplicity in the practice is exhausting to Iraqi budget and have significant costs, extends the life of rivalry and disagreeing between rival political forces, calling to study the possibility of making the elections of provincial councils and the House of Representatives at the same time and settle elections of district councils and precinct councils.

A call to region countries to dialogue among each other and reconsider their policies

His eminence reiterated his view that the region is on the threshold of a rapid and unexpected variables, Iraq must be prepared for these changes, because it will be directly affected by it, pointing out that the democratic experiment in our region still in its early stages and its mechanisms are still incomplete, therefore the majority of region countries suffer from occasional unexpected strong shocks, plus the war in the region and in more than one place, in which many of the countries in the region are involved directly or indirectly, stressing that the region countries need to dialogue among each other, reconsider their policies and discuss all contentious issues at once, addressing countries in the region, \"No matter how long wars are and how complicated crises are, eventually rivals will sit at the same table to talk, bone breaking policy will only bring more pains and woes.\"