Haider al-Abadi's Failed Reforms

The lack of support for Al-Abadi’s reforms among his Shia rivals was based on the fear that he is attempting to establish an alternative political platform that could marginalize militia parties, not opposition to any purported radical reform effort, as some media have inaccurately suggested. The lack of support was also certainly not related in any way to a broad-based effort to fight corruption. Al-Abadi himself played down expectations of prosecuting senior figures, emphasizing the elimination of “waste” (hadr), rather than “theft” (sariqa), as the main goal of reform. His only anti-corruption measures were the creation of two committees, one on transparency that Al-Abadi would head himself (announced on August 9 and not heard from since) and the second to examine political parties’ use of public property. He left Hassan Al-Yasseri, a loyalist of his own Dawa Party, in place as head of the Integrity Commission, which is the institution charged with bringing anti-corruption prosecutions. And indeed none of the targets of investigations and prosecutions announced since August are well-connected to the major blocs, either Shia or Sunni.