Former Iraqi defense minister warns: ‘Leave decisions of war to the state’

BAGHDAD — Former Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled Al-Obaidi has issued a stark warning about the dangers of making hasty decisions regarding war, urging that such decisions should remain in the hands of the state, referencing the rising tensions between Israel, Iran, and Hezbollah.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Al-Obaidi, who served as Iraq’s defense minister in 2014 to 2016 during the fight against ISIS, cautioned, “The decision to wage war or maintain peace is something that must be ‘reserved’ for the state. Let us leave the crucial decisions of our people to the wisdom of the state, its view of the present, and its analysis of the future.”

His remarks come amid recent escalations involving the Iranian-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a group of militia forces operating outside government control. The group claimed responsibility on Saturday for targeting two locations in Israel, following a drone strike in the northern Golan Heights days earlier that killed two Israeli soldiers and injured 24 others.

Al-Obaidi tweet on X:

The decision to wage war or maintain peace is “monopolized” by states, so let us leave our people’s fateful decisions to the wisdom of the state, its view of reality, and its analysis of the future.

Bitter experiences have taught us that making the decision for war without study and wisdom leads to catastrophic results, the price of which is paid by the people and the nations for decades.