BAGHDAD — Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq, head of the al-Arabiya Coalition, has said that a political solution is the only way to unite the positions of Shiites and Sunni tribes and isolate armed groups and called the fall of Mosul a natural result of the faulty structure of the Iraqi army.
In an interview with Al-Monitor, Mutlaq said it had been a mistake to accept the post of deputy prime minister within the context of partisan and sectarian agreements. He affirmed that the policies of oppression and marginalization from which the Sunnis suffered are what pushed them to call for their own region. He stressed that the United States is responsible for what is happening in Iraq, as it ousted a dictatorship full of flaws yet with functioning state institutions.