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Iraqis angry with tactics to delay reform: Pundit

Monday, 02 May 2016 3:46 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 02 May 2016 3:43 AM ]

Iraqi security forces try to prevent people from entering Baghdad's heavily fortified "Green Zone" the day after angry protesters broke into the area on May 1, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Press TV has conducted an interview with Zayd al-Isa, a Middle East expert from London, and Nabil Mikhail, a George Washington University professor from Washington, to discuss the current political crisis in Iraq.

Isa criticizes the Iraqi parliament for utilizing the “delaying tactics” for months despite demands by protesters that political reforms and cabinet reshuffle be implemented as soon as possible.

The Middle East expert goes on to say the Iraqi people called for a “comprehensive, sweeping, genuine and tangible change of the entire line-up of the cabinet,” but the current trend at the parliament has fallen well short of a reshuffle of the cabinet members.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he points to the interference of the White House in Iraqi internal affairs, saying the US has been seeking a weak and ineffective government in Iraq since 2003. The American officials have attempted to install weak political figures to safeguard their interests in the war-torn Arab nation, he adds.

Mikhail, for his part, believes Iraq’s dilemma has been going on for many years; so, the time factor is insignificant “because of the fragmentation of the political order, because of the national security crisis mounting, because of the Syria situation which distracted the whole world from Iraq for a while and because of the Kurdish question.”

Pointing to the root causes of the crisis in Iraq, he says many political factions inside Iraq are not willing to reconcile differences, adding that “there is no sincere effort to target corruption” and there has not been any serious reform.

He asks, how can the Iraqi authorities strike a balance between external challenges such as the threat of the Daesh Takfiri terrorists and internal challenges like social, economic and political issues, when they are engaged in political turmoil?

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