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Former Iraqi Vice-President Tareq Al-Hashimi said, in a recent TV interview, that Iraq was a "sick state" with eroded military capabilities and that Iran's presence in the Iraqi scene was "unprecedented." He said that the Iraqi Shiite militias could not be an auxiliary force of the army, because they follow the Jurisprudent Ruler Khamenei, and that "they are killing our people and bolstering the position of the tyrant of Damascus." In the interview, which aired on the Saudi 4Shbab TV interview on December 30, 2016, Al-Hashimi further said that Iran was "using the lives of our Shiite youth," enticing them with money and sending them to fight, without training.
Tariq Al-Hashimi: Iraq is a sick state today. One of the symptoms of Iraq's illness is that militias bear arms, in violation of the constitution. Even though Iraq has armed forces, all the support goes to the Popular Mobilization Units [PMU], while the capabilities and reputation of the Iraqi army, which was rebuilt since 1923, have eroded.
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In the entire region, Iran alone is divided between the state and the non-state - the state is the military establishment and the non-state are the militias. Iraq has emulated this model.
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Will these militias really constitute - as stated by the law - an auxiliary force for the Iraqi army? The answer is "no." The reason has to do, first and foremost, with the source of authority that these groups follow. The PMU commanders themselves say: Our source of authority is the Jurisprudent Ruler [Khamenei], and we will follow his orders.
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[Akram] Al-Kaabi and his Al-Nujabaa [militia] are in Syria now. They say: Our plan is global. Al-Nujabaa are part of the PMU. They are registered as one of the 67 groups forming the PMU. If these groups and organizations are Iraqi, what are they doing in Syria? They are killing our people and bolstering the position of the tyrant of Damascus. What are they doing there? The Asaeb Ahl Al-Haq group is saying: We will continue this fighting until the appearance of the Mahdi. They say: We will fight in Mosul, because the people of Mosul are the descendants of the killers of Hussein.
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Iran enjoys an unprecedented influence in Iraq today. There are terrorist leaders known to all who are loyal to Iran. Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis and his ilk are loyal to Iran. I do not even consider them to be Iraqis. Ali Al-Sistani has no control over these people.
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Today, Iran is not sending the IRGC or the Al-Quds Force to fight. It sends "advisors." Most of the wars in the region are proxy wars. So today, Iran is using the lives of our [Iraqi] Shiite youth. It intices these poor and unemployed youth with money, and then it sends them to fight, even without any training.
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