Armed Militias Plunder Iraq’s Wealth

Written by Arkan Radeef / Translated by Shermeen Yousif

“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.” Frédéric Bastiat

Iran helped to establish militias in Iraq to enforce control over Iraq. Iran was working to support the militias financially, but the US sanctions, imposed on the Iran’s government, have turned the situation around for these militias. The militias started funding Tehran, using the Iraqi resources requested by the Iraqi people to improve their deteriorating economic conditions. These armed Iraqi militias that have close ties to Iran are present in every Iraqi governorate, and thus they are becoming a dilemma for Iraq. According to The United States Military Academy, after 2014, the Iraqi militias have established commercial (industrial) empires and a complex economic system to control the resources of Iraq and use it to financially support Iran and their followers. This expanded network represented by the Popular Mobilization Authority, led by Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandes at the time, became more prominent in 2018. At that time, the power of the militias reached its peak after Adil Abdul Mahdi assumed the Prime Minister position since the militias controlled the Prime Minister’s Office through his manager Abu Jihad Al-Hashemi who is a leader in the Badr organization. Al-Hashemi had a close tie to the commander of the Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani. The Militias expanded their control on the industrial (commercial) sector to create a complex economic system and transfer large amounts of money to the accounts of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah.

Every day, millions of dollars are transferred to the militias through the Iraqi businessmen who linked to Tehran. These businessmen have private banks that secure Iran with international currency, taking advantage of the Central Bank of Iraq’s auctions of selling dollars. The Militias took control of small oil fields in several areas and used a network of shipping companies belonging to some militias in Basra to smuggle stolen oil from these fields. To escape the US sanctions, the militias helped smuggle Iranian oil through the border ports with Iraq, and then repackaged it and exported it as Iraqi oil. The Iraqi ports are one of the most important financial sources for militias. There are special offices for each militia, called the “Customs Broker”, which facilitate the import and protection of goods in exchange for money. Any merchant who tries to avoid paying money to the militias, the militias would threaten him and blackmail him until the required amount is paid, otherwise their merchandise would stay in the ships. The Militias took tens of millions of dollars every month through steeling the employees’ salaries by using fake names and issuing the electronic card which was designed to pay salaries to the employees in Iraq. The Militias abused their leaders influence by establishing a huge real estate force in Iraq.

Those militias leaders have committed multiple crimes and corrupted actions beyond, speculations. In one instance, Shibl Al-Zaidi, the commander and secretary general of the Kata’ib Al-Imam Ali Brigade and a financial coordinator between the Popular Mobilisation Forces and the Quds Force. Al-Zaidi was listed on the US terror list. Al-Zaidi has become one of the wealthiest men in Iraq after he took control of the Iraqi Ministry of Communications through his cousin Idris Al-Zaidi. Al-Zaidi stole the soldiers’ salaries by adding fake names to the payroll.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Al-Kawtharani and his brother are leaders of the Iraqi militia that used illegal methods to obtain fake contracts after Ali Taqi (a leader in Badr Organization) was appointed as a director of Baghdad International Airport. Taqi granted a private company a big contract of carriage, that company is linked to the militia of the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades.

Qais al-Khazali, the commander of the Asaib Ahl Al-Haq militia, and his brother Laith Al-Khazali have controlled the oil fields, making holes in oil pipelines to steal oil, and sell to companies that transport it through Kurdistan regions. Their militias disassembled few parts of the Baiji oil refinery, north of Baghdad, and sold the refinery parts to Iran in cheap prices. The militia obtained maintenance and cleaning contracts at the Baiji oil refinery to ensure that they remain in the refinery under the cover of maintaining it. After their financial resources increased, they established a huge economic network outside Iraq to smuggle money outside.

The first suggestion to disable those militias is to expand the sanctions imposed on them to cut off funding on Iran and curb Iran’s interference in the region. The second suggestion is to strengthen the Iraqi army through good armament, re-organization of its structure, and liberating it from partisanship and sectarianism, so that the army’s loyalty to the country is not to a certain doctrine, or a party. Another solution is to disband all militias and confine their arms to subject them to governmental control. At this point, such suggestions are difficult to apply it in Iraq because the current government is sectarian, partisan, and not strong enough to fight the militias.