Baghdad completes its cabinet by handing a deputy premiership to a US-sanctioned commander

Iraq’s Council of Representatives voted on Thursday 15 October to fill the posts left empty when Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi took office in May. Reuters reported that parliament “approved the remainder of al-Zaidi’s cabinet, completing the formation of a government that took office five months ago.” Shafaq News, citing the parliament media department, put 261 lawmakers in the chamber for the 26th session of the term, chaired by Speaker Haibet al-Halbousi, with President Nizar Amedi, al-Zaidi and the nominees present. Al Jazeera recorded 11 portfolios approved — including Nayef al-Shammari at defence and Yasir al-Maliki at interior — plus three deputy prime ministers. The migration and displacement nominee was held back over party disagreement. Al-Zaidi said afterwards, per AP, that with the posts filled “we are embarking on a phase of accelerated, diligent work.”

The appointment carrying weight outside Iraq is Laith al-Khazali, brother of Asaib Ahl al-Haq leader Qais al-Khazali. Asharq Al-Awsat, drawing on AP, records that he was arrested by US forces in 2007 over a January attack in Karbala in which five American soldiers died, released from US custody in June 2009, and sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2019. Middle East Eye notes both brothers were designated “specially designated global terrorists.” AP reported on Thursday night that “there was no immediate official statement from the U.S. on the appointment.” The only American voice on the record was Representative Joe Wilson, who wrote on X that al-Khazali “is a designated terrorist and Iranian puppet whose militia AAH killed Americans and Iraqis.” AFP, citing two unnamed diplomatic sources, reported on Friday that al-Zaidi “secured tacit U.S. approval” during his September visit to the United States.

Assessment: The AFP story and the AP line cannot both be comfortable. Either Washington cleared a designated terrorist for a deputy premiership and has decided silence is cheaper than explanation, or two diplomats in Baghdad are selling a Baghdad reading of a Trump meeting to lock the arrangement in before anyone in Washington objects. We cannot adjudicate it and neither can AFP’s readers: this is a claim about a private understanding, not an event. What is checkable is the price. AFP also reports that Asaib Ahl al-Haq says it has begun handing over weapons — says. The disarmament half of any bargain is the half nobody has verified.