24 November 2014
Some weapons supplied by the US have already ended up on the black market and in the hands of the Islamic State fighters. The US government insisted that the Iraqi military act as the conduit for the new aid for the Iraqi army and money and arms to the tribal fighters who are willing to push the extremists out of Iraq.
The tribal leaders claim that they did not get any arm or money from the army because of the corruption in the army. Therefore Sunni tribal leaders want the arms and money given to them direct.
Shiite-dominated government says that any attempt by US to give money or arms to the tribes would undermine the sovereignty of Iraq.
Veterans of the past US operations in Iraq say that by working closely with the Iraqi battalion, the corruption of inflated payrolls and kickbacks could be minimized. The US officials in Iraq say that it is not their role to reduce corruption because they are only advisors to the Iraqi army.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is trying to implement a scheme under which each tribal member will sign for the serial number of any new weapon handed to them. But the army is not implementing this scheme. Al-Abadi purged 36 top officers recently for corruption and unprofessionalism. Al-Abadi is consolidating his power. It was claimed by some sources that the purged officers were loyal to his predecessor and rival, Nouri al-Maliki. Instead of getting parliamentary approval, al-Abadi named his own new generals, in violation of the constitution.
Therefore it is not clear whether Al-Abadi is genuinely interested in routing out corruption in the system.
Even though perception of corruption in Iraq has gone up higher, Iraqi lawyers say that that very few charges have been brought against any Iraqi officer over the last 11 years
In its 2015 budget, the Pentagon has requested $1.3 billion to provide weapons for the government forces and $24.1 million intended for the tribes.
