MEPS24: Iraq has learned “nothing” from ISIS lesson, says head of Sovereignty Alliance

Shafaq News/ Iraq has learned “nothing” from ISIS’s 2014 takeover of a third of the country, viewing it only as a "security threat," stated Khamis al-Khanjar, head of Iraq’s Sovereignty Alliance (Al-Siyada), on Saturday.

Speaking during a discussion session at the Middle East Peace and Security Forum (MEPS 2024) at the American University in Duhok, al-Khanjar said, "Iraq has learned nothing from the ISIS lesson. Instead, the events since the group's military defeat in 2017 have reinforced the same conditions that led to the rise of al-Qaeda and ISIS."

"Both internationally and within Iraq, ISIS has been treated solely as a security threat,” he added, attributing this to "Iraq's state crisis, monopolized power, and the lack of a collective security concept."

Al-Khanjar further confirmed, "Our main issue is the selective application and misinterpretation of the Constitution…This has affected all blocs that won first place in elections, leaving them marginalized in Iraq’s political system, as seen with Ayad Allawi’s list in 2010 and Muqtada al-Sadr’s list in the previous elections."

"In every democratic country, elections resolve political or social crises, but in Iraq, post-election issues often escalate into armed clashes,” he affirmed.