SALAHUDDIN, Iraq (AP) – Iraq’s military is once again trying to dislodge Islamic State group fighters from the vast Samarra desert, which stretches between newly recaptured territory in Anbar province and the IS-held northern city of Mosul. Yet, as operations move further away from the capital, government forces are increasingly plagued by logistical shortcomings.
Iraq’s minister of defense Khalid al-Obeidi on Wednesday toured Camp Speicher, a military base 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of the capital, Baghdad. Surrounded by a crowd of assistants and military officials, he carefully asked commanders about food supplies, weapons deliveries and training.
“He’s very detail-oriented, during the previous administration the Iraqi military had a lot of issues with troops not being fed, in addition to, you know, the larger payroll issues,” said an official from the minister’s office.
He was referring euphemistically to the entrenched corruption in the Iraqi military, which was exposed in the summer of 2014 when the army all but collapsed and Islamic State group fighters captured Mosul. In addition to the tens of thousands of troops who fled in the face of the IS assault, more than 50,000 troops were later revealed to be ghost soldiers – nonexistent troops whose pay was pocketed by senior commanders.
The ministry of defense official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the press.