All this raised the issue of how the committee can effectively go about its work after the chairman's comments about its members. The State of Law Coalition, former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's bloc, also expressed similar reservations in a statement released to the Iraqi media Jan. 15. The coalition accused some committee members of non-professionalism and others of protecting targets of the investigation.
It also openly pointed the finger at Atheel al-Nujaifi, the former governor of Mosul and brother of former parliamentary Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi. According to the coalition, the committee had been trying to cover for his role in the fall of his city.
The committee may have been forced to take a bad turn in including representation from all the political forces, as it reflects a political consensus according to the quota system, which has been the norm in the country's political process. This same system has failed for the past 10 years, and Iraqis have never been satisfied with it. Many consider it to be the main reason behind Iraq's rampant corruption and lack of ability to move forward in improving the country.
In a phone interview with Al-Monitor, Amer Hassan Fayyad, a political science professor at the University of Baghdad, said that the Mosul committee suffers from a number of problems and in its current form cannot carry out a credible investigation.
Fayyad boiled the problems down to three main points: the committee cannot act professionally, as it has no clear guidelines or rules; it was formed based on the quota system, which will water down its capabilities, as it will be subjected to various contradicting views and pressures; and it should include military and legal experts, but currently lacks their competence.
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