Iraq may need three years to restructure and rebuild military: PM
Iraq may need three years to rebuild and restructure its military, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Sunday, as the country battles Islamic State militants who pose the biggest threat to its security since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. The ultra-hardline militant group seeking to redraw the map of the Middle East swept through […]Malak Ghobrial reports for Reuters :
Iraq may need three years to rebuild and restructure its military, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Sunday, as the country battles Islamic State militants who pose the biggest threat to its security since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. The ultra-hardline militant group seeking to redraw the map of the Middle East swept through the north last June virtually unopposed by the army, raising alarm bells among Baghdad's Western allies and in Arab capitals.
Corruption is widely blamed for the near collapse of the army, which received billions of dollars in support from the United States during the American occupation but has failed to stabilize Iraq, a major OPEC oil producer.
