Iraq

For the first time since 2005, Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has no clear political role and no formal road map to get back into politics until elections are held again in 2025. So where does this leave him and the Sadrist movement?

With the Al-Faw Grand Port and broader “Dry Canal” corridor project, Iraq aims to become a transportation hub between Asia and Europe. However, formidable political, security, financing, and feasibility challenges make for a rocky road.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein’s public outreach and official meetings seem to have put Iraq back on the policy agenda in Washington. But both sides will need to take further steps to sustain the positive momentum.

The judiciary, reflecting the lack of security and pervasive corruption in all branches of the Iraqi government, has become a tool in the hands of criminal elements and political players, often cooperating with militia elements, intent on gaining greater power wealth rather than advancing the rule of law.

On December 14, AGSIW hosted a virtual roundtable discussion with Alina L. Romanowski, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq.

The inefficiencies and corruption rife in Iraq’s ethno-sectarian quota system are substantial, but the country’s highly fragmented society has deeply entrenched the system in ways that make it difficult to reform. 

Bargaining over the resources of the government is set to remain just one expression of the struggle for authority in Iraq. Actual sovereignty is likely to continue to be a coercive negotiation backed by various substate militias’ force of arms and financial interests.

Iraq finally has a president, and the political parties understand that at this juncture, they don’t have the luxury of time for negotiations over government formation.