Iraq saw no development since Saddam’s regime fall, says top lawmaker
A statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled in Firdaus Square, downtown Bagdhad, on 9 April 2003
Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – Iraq saw no touchable development nor reconstruction processes since the fall of the regime of late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in 2003, the Iraqi parliament speaker said on Monday.
In an interview with Jordan’s Al Ghad newspaper, MP Salim al-Jabouri blamed the war against terrorism and corruption for the delayed development process in the country.
Jabouri admitted that, “It is difficult to achieve national reconciliation in Iraq at this time in light of the presence of armed militias that operate outside the state’s control.”
The top lawmaker stressed that it is necessary now to “unify the security and strategic decision, and strengthen military and security institutions.”
“Al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) fighters played a vital role in confronting Daesh (Islamic State) and they accomplished their mission very well, but now they ought to choose either to hand over their weapons to the government or be part of the Iraqi military,” Jabouri added.
Saddam was captured by U.S. soldiers in a raid on December 13, 2003, while hiding in an underground rudimentally ventilated “spider hole,” about six-to-eight feet deep. Then, he was remanded in custody by United States forces at Camp Cropper in Baghdad, along with eleven senior Ba’athist officials.
On 5 November 2006, Saddam was sentenced to death by hanging, and in the following month, his appeal was rejected and the death sentence was upheld. Hussein was executed by hanging on 30 December 2006.