The Ministry of Defence ( ar, وزارة الدفاع العراقية) is the Iraqi government

agency Agency may refer to: Organizations * Institution, governmental or others ** Advertising agency or marketing agency, a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients ** Employment agency, a business that ...

responsible for

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. It is also involved with

internal security Internal security is the act of keeping peace within the borders of a sovereign state or other self-governing territories, generally by upholding the national law and defending against internal security threats. Responsibility for internal secu ...

Authority

The Ministry directs all the

Iraqi Armed Forces The Iraqi Armed Forces ( ar, القوات المسلحة العراقية romanized: ''Al-Quwwat Al-Musallahah Al-Iraqiyyah'') ( Kurdish: هێزە چەکدارەکانی عێراق) are the military forces of the Republic of Iraq. They consist ...

, comprising a Joint Headquarters, the Iraqi Ground Forces Command (which controls the Army), the Iraqi Special Operations Forces, the

Iraqi Army The Iraqi Ground Forces (Arabic: القوات البرية العراقية), or the Iraqi Army (Arabic: الجيش العراقي), is the ground force component of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It was known as the Royal Iraqi Army up until the coup ...

, the Iraqi Navy (including Marines), and the Iraqi Air Force.

History

The Ministry was dissolved by

Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 2 Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 2: Dissolution of Entities signed by Coalition Provisional Authority on 23 May 2003, disbanded the Iraqi military, security, and intelligence infrastructure of President Saddam Hussein. It has since bec ...

of mid-2003. It was formally re-established by CPA Order 67 of 21 March 2004. In the interim period, the CPA Office of Security Affairs served as the

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with '' de jure'' ("by l ...

Ministry of Defence. The Iraqi Counter Terrorism Bureau directs the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Command, which is a further military force answerable to the

Prime Minister of Iraq The prime minister of Iraq is the head of government of Iraq. On 27 October 2022, Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani became the incumbent prime minister. History The prime minister was originally an appointed office, subsidiary to the head of state, a ...

directly. As of 30 June 2009, there had been legislation in progress for a year to make the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Bureau a separate ministry.

Minister of Defence

The position of Minister of Defence became vacant in the previous Iraqi cabinet, approved on 21 December 2010. While it was vacant, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki served as the acting defence minister. Saadoun al-Dulaimi later served as Minister of Defence from 2011 to 2014. Khaled al-Obaidi served as defence minister in the Iraqi cabinet of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. Juma Inad served as defense minister from May 2020 to October of 2022 under the caretaker government of

Mustafa al-Kadhimi Mustafa Abdul Latif Mishatat ( ar, مصطفى عبد اللطيف مشتت; born 5 July 1967), known as Mustafa al-Kadhimi, alternatively spelt Mustafa al-Kadhimy, is an Iraqi politician, lawyer and bureaucrat and former intelligence officer who ...

. Thabet Muhammad Al-Abasi serves as the current minister of defense as of 2022. The previous Minister of Defence, Lieutenant General Abd al-Qadr Muhammed Jassim al-Obaidi, is a

Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a dis ...

career military officer and political independent. He had limited experience and faced a number of hurdles impeding his effective governance. Some of the major problems included inheriting a staff that is notorious for favorism, corruption, and deeply divided along sectarian and ethnic lines. He was a rival of the former Minister of the Interior Jawad al-Bolani,

National Security Advisor A national security advisor serves as the chief advisor to a national government on matters of security. The advisor is not usually a member of the government's cabinet but is usually a member of various military or security councils. National sec ...

Muwafaq al-Rubai, and Minister of Staff for National Security Affairs Shirwan al-Waili. He has been criticized for not being able to stand up to the

Badr Organization The Badr Organization ( ar, منظمة بدر ''Munaẓẓama Badr''), previously known as the Badr Brigades or Badr Corps, is an Iraqi Shia Islam, Shia Islamism, Islamist political party and military organization headed by Hadi Al-Amiri. The Bad ...

and Mehdi Army members which dominate his own party. In addition, as a Sunni he faced inherent challenges working within a Shiite-dominated government. On 19 September 2005,

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

reported that approximately one billion US dollars have been stolen by top ranking officials from the Ministry of Defence including

Hazim al-Shaalan Hazim al-Shaalan al-Khuzaei (born 1947) was Iraq's Defence Minister from June 2004 until May 2005 under the Iraqi Interim Government of Ayad Allawi. Shaalan was born in Diwaniyya, southern Iraq, into a leading family of the Ghazal tribe. He is a S ...

and

Ziyad Cattan Ziyad Cattan is a dual citizen of Poland and Iraq. He earned a PhD in economics. During the twenty years he lived in Poland Cattan operated both a used car and a pizza companies. According to an article published in ''The Independent'', on 19 S ...

. Previous defence ministers under

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...

's regime included

Ali Hassan al-Majid Ali Hassan Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti ( ar, علي حسن عبد المجيد التكريت, ʿAlī Ḥasan ʿAbd al-Majīd al-Tikrītī; 30 November 1941 – 25 January 2010), nicknamed Chemical Ali ( ar, علي الكيمياوي, ʿAlī al-Kīm ...

('Chemical Ali'). Iraq's first minister of defence was Jafar al-Askari (1920-1922).

List of Ministers of Defence

Kingdom of Iraq The Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq ( ar, المملكة العراقية الهاشمية, translit=al-Mamlakah al-ʿIrāqiyyah ʾal-Hāshimyyah) was a state located in the Middle East from 1932 to 1958. It was founded on 23 August 1921 as the Kingdo ...
(1921–1958)

Iraqi Republic (1958–1968)

Ba'athist Iraq Ba'athist Iraq, formally the Iraqi Republic until 6 January 1992 and the Republic of Iraq thereafter, covers the History of Iraq, national history of Iraq between 1968 and 2003 under the rule of the Ba'ath Party (Iraqi-dominated faction), Arab S ...
(1968–2003)

Republic of Iraq (2004–present)

References

External links

Ministry of Defence
{{Authority control

Defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...

Military of Iraq 2004 establishments in Iraq Ministry of Defense (Iraq) Defence ministers of Iraq