Lawmaker backs corruption campaign, asks if it will go far enough

BAGHDAD — Iraqi lawmaker Mohammed al-Khafaji said Saturday that the government’s anti-corruption campaign had broad support but questioned whether it would be pursued “with an iron fist.”

In a Facebook post, Khafaji said the campaign was backed by a large section of the Iraqi public, the judiciary, parliament and the Sadrist movement’s leaders and supporters. “Will there be action with an iron fist, as previous governments have been called on more than once to do, or not?” he wrote, urging Iraqis to distinguish between lawmakers who carry out their oversight duties and those who do not.

The comments follow Sunday’s operation, in which authorities said dozens of current and former officials were arrested in what the government has called the first phase of a wider campaign. State media said the arrests stemmed from confessions by detained former Deputy Oil Minister Adnan al-Jumaili, and that the 15 names released so far were the first of a wider group it put at 47. 964media could not independently verify the figures.

The operation inside Baghdad’s Green Zone <a href=”https://en.964media.com/48789/”>was planned in near-total secrecy</a>, security and political sources told 964media, with only a small circle of commanders told in advance, personnel ordered to surrender their phones the day before and the targets revealed only as forces moved in. Zaidi has called the campaign only its first phase, and the government has said it would set up a treasury account for recovered assets and described the operation as a purely Iraqi effort.

Shiite National Movement leader Muqtada al-Sadr <a href=”https://en.964media.com/48743/”>endorsed the campaign on Monday</a> as a “heroic reform campaign,” and his supporters rallied after Friday prayers in support of the government.