- Qadir Obeidi
Lt. Gen. Abdul Qadir Mohammed Jassim Obeidi al-Mifarji' ( _ar. عبدالقادر محمد جاسم عبيدي المفارجي) is the
Defence Minister ofIraq in the Council of Ministers of Prime MinisterNouri al-Maliki .He was born in
Ramadi and is aSunni Arab former general in the army ofSaddam Hussein . He told the Council of Representatives that he had been demoted after opposing the 1990 invasion of Kuwait and was sentenced to seven years jail in 1994. In 2003, he joined the new Iraqi army, serving first as the commander of the operations room and then commander of military operations in western Iraq. Prior to his appointment as Minister on8 June 2006 , he was commander of the infantry commando units.During his confirmation hearing in the Council of Representatives one Assembly member accused him of being a "war criminal in a military campaign against the city of
Fallujah ".He is not affiliated to any political party but his appointment was strongly backed by the
Sunni Arab -ledIraqi Accord Front .In March 2007 he said that "corruption and militias inhabit the halls" of the Defense Ministry, "fictitious employees" were "rampant" and he is pressured to restructure his ministry along the lines of power-sharing deals.
References
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5060686.stm Key Iraq ministers get approval] ,
BBC News ,8 June 2006
* [http://ap.lancasteronline.com/4/iraq_new_ministers_glance A Glance at Iraq's new security ministers] ,Associated Press ,8 June 2006
* [http://www.juancole.com/2006/06/backgrounds-of-new-security-ministers.html USG Open Source Center Profile]
* [http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/2028/Iraq_Papers_Thur_Defense_Minister_Speaks_Out Iraq Papers Thur: Defense Minister Speaks Out] , "Al-Zaman " via "IraqSlogger",2007-03-21 , accessed on2007-04-17
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