# Ministry of Defence (Iraq)

The Ministry of Defence (Arabic: وزارة الدفاع العراقية) is the cabinet-level ministry responsible for national defence in Iraq. It is also involved with internal security.

## Authority

The Ministry directs all the Iraqi Armed Forces, comprising a Joint Headquarters, the Iraqi Ground Forces Command (which controls the Army), the Iraqi Special Operations Forces, the Iraqi Army, the Iraqi Navy (including Marines), and the Iraqi Air Force.

## History

The Ministry was dissolved by Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 2 of mid-2003. It was formally re-established by CPA Order 67 of 21 March 2004. In the interim period, the CPA Office of Security Affairs served as the de facto Ministry of Defence.
The Iraqi Counter Terrorism Bureau directs the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Command, which is a further military force answerable to the Prime Minister of Iraq directly. As of 30 June 2009, there had been legislation in progress for a year to make the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Bureau a separate ministry.

## Minister of defence

The position of Minister of Defence became vacant in the previous Iraqi cabinet, approved on 21 December 2010. While it was vacant, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki served as the acting defence minister. Saadoun al-Dulaimi later served as Minister of Defence from 2011 to 2014. Khaled al-Obaidi served as defence minister in the Iraqi cabinet of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. Juma Inad served as defense minister from May 2020 to October of 2022 under the caretaker government of Mustafa al-Kadhimi. Thabet Muhammad Al-Abasi serves as the current minister of defense as of 2022.
The previous Minister of Defence, Lieutenant General Abd al-Qadr Muhammed Jassim al-Obaidi, is a Sunni career military officer and political independent. He had limited experience and faced a number of hurdles impeding his effective governance. Some of the major problems included inheriting a staff that is notorious for favorism, corruption, and deeply divided along sectarian and ethnic lines. He was a rival of the former Minister of the Interior Jawad al-Bolani, National Security Advisor Muwafaq al-Rubai, and Minister of Staff for National Security Affairs Shirwan al-Waili. He has been criticized for not being able to stand up to the Badr Organization and Mehdi Army members which dominate his own party. In addition, as a Sunni he faced inherent challenges working within a Shiite-dominated government.
On 19 September 2005, The Independent reported that approximately one billion US dollars have been stolen by top ranking officials from the Ministry of Defence including Hazim al-Shaalan and Ziyad Cattan.
Previous defence ministers under Saddam Hussein's regime included Ali Hassan al-Majid ('Chemical Ali'). Iraq's first minister of defence was Jafar al-Askari (1920–1922).

## List of ministers of defence
### Kingdom of Iraq (1921–1958)

| Name | Term of office | Term of office | Prime Minister |
| Jafar al-Askari | 23 October 1920 | 16 November 1922 | Abd Al-Rahman Al-Gillani |
| Nuri as-Said | 20 November 1922 | 2 August 1924 | |
| Yasin al-Hashimi | 2 August 1924 | 2 June 1925 | |
| Nuri as-Said | 26 June 1925 | 8 January 1928 | |
| Abd al-Muhsin as-Sa'dun | 14 January 1928 | 20 January 1929 | |
| Muhammad Amin Zaki | 28 April 1929 | 25 August 1929 | |
| Nuri al-Sa’id | 19 September 1929 | 19 March 1930 | |
| Jafar al-Askari | 23 March 1930 | 27 October 1932 | |
| Rashid al-Khawja | 3 November 1932 | 18 March 1933 | |
| Jalal Baban | 20 March 1933 | 28 October 1933 | |

### Iraqi Republic (1958–1968)

| Name | Term of office | Term of office | Political party | President |
| Abd al-Karim Qasim | 14 July 1958 | 8 February 1963 | Independent | Muhammad Najib ar-Ruba'i |
| Salah Mahdi Ammash | 8 February 1963 | 10 November 1963 | Ba'ath Party (Iraq Region) | Abdul Salam Arif |
| Hardan al-Tikriti | 10 November 1963 | 2 March 1964 | | Abdul Salam Arif |
| Tahir Yahya | 2 March 1964 | 3 September 1965 | Arab Socialist Union | Abdul Salam Arif |
| Arif Abd ar-Razzaq | 6 September 1965 | 16 September 1965 | Arab Socialist Union | Abdul Salam Arif |
| Abd al-'Aziz al-'Uqaili | 21 September 1965 | 18 April 1966 | | Abdul Salam Arif |
| Shakir Mahmud Shukri | 18 April 1966 | 17 July 1968 | | Abdul Rahman Arif |

### Ba'athist Iraq (1968–2003)

| Name | Term of office | Term of office | Political party | President |
| Ibrahim Abdel Rahman Dawoud | 17 July 1968 | 30 July 1968 | Independent | Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr |
| Hardan al-Tikriti | 30 July 1968 | April 1970 | Iraqi Ba'ath Party (Iraq Region) | Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr |
| Hammad Shihab | April 1970 | 30 June 1973 | Iraqi Ba'ath Party (Iraq Region) | Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr |
| Abdullah al-Khadduri (acting) | 30 June 1973 | 11 November 1974 | Iraqi Ba'ath Party (Iraq Region) | Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr |
| Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr | 11 November 1974 | 15 October 1977 | Iraqi Ba'ath Party (Iraq Region) | Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr |
| Adnan Khairallah | 15 October 1977 | 4 May 1989 | Iraqi Ba'ath Party (Iraq Region) | Saddam Hussein |
| Abdul Jabbar Khalil Shanshal | 4 May 1989 | 1990 | Iraqi Ba'ath Party (Iraq Region) | Saddam Hussein |
| Saadi Toma | 12 December 1990 | 6 April 1991 | Iraqi Ba'ath Party (Iraq Region) | Saddam Hussein |
| Ali Hassan al-Majid | 1991 | 1995 | Iraqi Ba'ath Party (Iraq Region) | Saddam Hussein |
| Sultan Hashim | 1995 | 2003 | Iraqi Ba'ath Party (Iraq Region) | Saddam Hussein |

### Republic of Iraq (2004–present)

| Name | Term of office | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister |
| Ali Allawi | April 2004 | June 2004 | Independent | Ayad Allawi |
| Hazim al-Shaalan | June 2004 | 1 June 2005 | Iraqi National Congress | Ayad Allawi |
| Saadoun al-Dulaimi | 1 June 2005 | 6 March 2006 | Independent | Ibrahim al-Jaafari |
| Abdul Qadir Obeidi | 6 March 2006 | 21 December 2010 | Independent | Nouri al-Maliki |
| Nouri al-Maliki | 21 December 2010 | 17 August 2011 | State of Law Coalition | Nouri al-Maliki |
| Saadoun al-Dulaimi | 17 August 2011 | 18 October 2014 | Unity Alliance of Iraq | Nouri al-Maliki |
| Khaled al-Obaidi | 18 October 2014 | 19 August 2016 | Unity Alliance of Iraq | Haider al-Abadi |
| Othman al-Ghanmi (interim) | 19 August 2016 | 30 January 2017 | State of Law Coalition | Haider al-Abadi |
| Erfan al-Hiyali | 30 January 2017 | 24 June 2019 | State of Law Coalition | Haider al-Abadi |
| Najah al-Shammari | 24 June 2019 | 6 May 2020 | | Adil Abdul-Mahdi |
| Juma Inad | 6 May 2020 | 27 October 2022 | Independent | Mustafa Al-Kadhimi |
| Thabit al-Abassi | 27 October 2022 | Incumbent | | Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani |