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Robyn LeGrow is among the thousand-odd people rejected by the Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador to vote for its next leader. (Peter Cowan/CBC)

Some people registered to vote in Newfoundland and Labrador's Liberal Party leadership race are being ousted from the process, and left questioning the party's reasoning why.

Among the rejected is Robyn LeGrow of St. John's,who two weeks ago posted on herpersonal Facebook account a critique of candidate Andrew Furey's campaign policies.

"I can only assume that that is why I have been disqualified. I had no idea when I put that post out on my personal page, to my personal friends, that it would get as much attention as it has," LeGrow told CBC News on Wednesday.

The party is informing the former voters via email.

"We want to thank you for your interest in the Liberal Party and this election. However, our records indicate that you do not support the aims and objectives of the Liberal Party of NL. As a result, you have been found ineligible to vote," reads an emailwritten byLewis Stoyles, chief returning officer of the Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador leadership election.

The upcoming party vote will elect its nextleader and the province's next premier on Aug. 3 ahead of a provincialgeneral election which will be called within the next year.

LeGrow took to Twitter Wednesday morning with her concerns, with many people commenting that they, too, have received rejection notices.

Emails being sent to rejected voters include an opt-inreview process by the party.

"If our records are incorrect or you wish to have this decision reviewed, please respond to this email by9:00 PM (NST) on July 8, 2020," the email from Stoyles reads.

That leavesmany, includingLeGrow, with less than 12 hours before the deadline for appeal closes.

An appeals process will continue throughout the rest of the week, according to Judy Morrow, a member of the leadership election committee and past president of the Liberal Party in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The first part of the appeals involvesasking Stoylesto review thedecisionthat rendered the voterineligible. If the voter is not satisfied,then they have an opportunity to make an appeal to the party's appeals committee, which wasput in place in February.

The party plans to have a finalized list of voters by July 14, with voting starting onJuly 28.

LeGrowistaking the party up on its appeals offer, and says she has notified them she'll be pursuing it.

"My concern is that communications all along haven't been consistent," she said.

"It seems to me that they are creating the rules as they go, making decisions and then responding to them based on feedback from people who are on the other end of those decisions."

On Wednesday afternoon, the Liberal Party held a virtual news conference for anupdate on the election process.

Since voter registration closed on June 25, the election committee has been going through what its calling a "multi-faceted vetting process." Thatincludedcalls and email blasts to verify and authenticate registered voters, and waspartnered with a research company.

As of Wednesday roughly 33,500 voters have been designated eligible, according to Morrow, who took questions from reporters.

When asked if the vetting process included the research company combing through social media accounts of registered voters to find past comments which could find them in the ineligible category, Morrow said no.

"They were just given pure lists from our Liberal list database," she said.

Morrow saidanyone who signed up with the party to vote for itsleadership, and in a follow up robocallsaid they would vote for any other party, were automatically disqualified from voting.

Anyone who said they didn't support the aims of objectives of the Liberal Party were also disqualified. Those categories addedup to about 300 people.

There were about 1,000 ineligible voters total, Morrow said.

"They were for various reasons. That could be because their date of birth was missing, or they didn't have an email or telephone number, or they were no longer a resident of the province," she said.

"We found some individuals who had been deceased. There were different reasons for knockouts."

Read more articles from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador

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Liberals rejected 1,000 voters in its leadership race. One of them is questioning why - CBC.ca

We is once again a touchy subject in Justin Trudeaus Liberal party.

While the hits just keep on coming about Trudeaus connections to the WE charity, the controversy has touched off grumbling in Liberal circles about the lowercase we as in, how exactly did we get into this mess, and who is we anyway in the decision-making circle around the prime minister?

Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, the Liberal MP for the Toronto riding of Beaches-East York, says he was on the phone immediately after the news emerged about WE being chosen to hand out nearly $1 billion in pandemic relief to students. He placed a call last week to the office of Diversity, Inclusion and Youth Minister Bardish Chagger whos now gone silent with the media to get an explanation.

I was struggling to understand why it was being done this way, said Erskine-Smith, a rare MP willing to go on the record on Friday about his concerns with the entire WE affair.

He made the call before he knew all the details, which have been emerging daily, about how closely WE had been working with Trudeaus family, including nearly $300,000 in speaking fees paid out to Trudeaus mother and brother.

Had I known what I know now, I would have said this was too close to the prime minister, Erskine-Smith said.

Other MPs, preferring to talk off the record on Friday, said there has been a lot of chatter in the caucus over the past week about how this WE controversy has revived concerns about team culture or lack of it in Trudeaus government.

There arent a lot of relationships between the PM and caucus, one MP said. Now, he said, with most of caucus relations taking place remotely during the pandemic, there are even fewer opportunities for MPs to have contact with the PM and the tight team around him.

It is either ironic or fitting that WE has made the Liberal we annoyed and nervous.

One MP said he was surprised to learn from news reports first in the Star, as it happens that WE had been given a contract to do work that would normally be done by the public service.

This is a real head-scratcher for me and several of my colleagues, the MP said. I like to consider myself plugged in but the first time I heard of the WE contract was when I read the controversy in the papers. I know for a fact that I was not alone.

What baffled many MPs was why the government needed to do any contracting out at all, especially after months of proving that it was nimble and adaptable enough to get COVID-19 aid directly to citizens.

This was Erskine-Smiths main concern at first: the government has generous and effective programs in place already for students and summer jobs. MPs themselves, of all stripes, are often helpful in steering that help toward where its most needed in their ridings.

So, while Erskine-Smith didnt put it this pointedly, not only was the WE decision made without input from MPs, the plan itself which has now been reversed also kept MPs out of the loop.

Its just so frustrating, he said, citing all the good work the government has been doing to provide help to citizens in this crisis. Now this is taking up so much of the conversation. Erskine-Smiths own mother asked him on Friday why this was going on, though he says his office is not being inundated with complaints, at least not yet.

The exquisitely bad timing of this controversy has Liberals frustrated too. Not only is it happening during a pandemic, but also still in the shadow of the humbling the government received during last years election.

From all accounts, Trudeau had been making genuine efforts after the election, also after last years SNC-Lavalin saga, to forge some greater connections with the Liberal team. Just this week, Trudeau handed a major ambassadors appointment to former interim leader Bob Rae a decision seen as a symbolic olive branch to Liberals who had been kept at arms length from the PMO.

Make sense of what's happening across the country and around the world with the Star's This Week in Politics email newsletter.

But the WE controversy is viewed by some Liberals as being about how easy it is for Trudeau and his team to lapse back into old habits of keeping to themselves and giving access and benefits only to the small number of people they trust. Many MPs chose to speak off the record on Friday precisely because they were worried about reinforcing that outsider-insider culture.

None of the MPs or Liberals I reached were calling for Trudeau to resign, as his official opponents are. But there were suggestions that the PM had to surround himself with people who ask harder questions, who would have immediately spotted that WE would hurt the Liberal we.

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Blindsided by the WE scandal, Liberal MPs wonder: How did Justin Trudeau get us into this mess? - Toronto Star

A government-ordered inquiry into the funding of legal class actions descended into acrimony on its first day of hearings when the first witness from a Liberal party thinktank was accused of misquoting a federal judge and citing unreliable figures.

James Mathias, the chief of staff at the Menzies Research Centre (MRC) and a former Liberal candidate for federal parliament, sought to defend his submission during tense exchanges with the Labor senator, Deborah ONeill, who described it as an undergraduate essay that would fail on multiple grounds.

Mathias appeared on Monday before a parliamentary committee investigating whether Australias class action industry needs tighter regulation to ensure fair and equitable outcomes for plaintiffs with the government raising concerns about the role of large companies that sometimes fund class actions.

Labor has claimed the inquiry is a sham set up by the Liberals to deny hardworking Australians any chance of defending their rights against large companies and governments with virtually limitless resources.

The first line of the submission from the MRC the Liberal party thinktank quoted the federal court justice Michael Lee as saying in a judgment on 5 June: The phrase access to justice is often misused by litigation funders to justify what at bottom is a commercial endeavour to make money out of the conduct of litigation.

It was purportedly from a judgment on class actions stemming from allegations that the Australian defence department negligently allowed toxic chemicals known as Pfas to escape from defence bases and contaminate local environments.

But Mathias, who was just 21 when he ran as a federal candidate for the Victorian seat of Holt in 2016, confirmed under questioning he had not read the full judgment cited in the submission as judgments are very long some hundreds of pages.

ONeill said the judgment was actually 37 pages long and the words you quote in the very first line of your submission are nowhere, nowhere to be found in his honours judgment.

The NSW senator said the only place that quote could be found was in an article in the legal journal Lawyerly on 9 June, titled A significant inequality of arms: Funding led to better outcomes in PFAS class action, judge says.

Mathias took that question on notice. But when ONeill accused him of misquoting and taking Justice Lee completely out of context in an attempt to convey the false impression that Justice Lee is opposed to litigation funding, Mathias said: I fundamentally reject the premise of that, senator.

In Lees judgment of 5 June, the judge made a more qualified statement that the term access to justice is commonly misused, most often by some funders who fasten upon it as an inapt rhetorical device.

He then cautioned against generalisations. While noting litigation funding is about putting in place a joint commercial enterprise aimed at making money, Lee went on to say that recognising that reality does not diminish the importance of litigation funding in allowing these class members to vindicate their claims against the commonwealth.

Referring to the alleged victims in the Pfas class actions, Lee continued: Without litigation funding, the claims of these group members would not have been litigated in an adversarial way but, rather, they would likely have been placed in the position of being supplicants requesting compensation, in circumstances where they would have been the subject of a significant inequality of arms.

ONeill also challenged Mathias over the claim in his submission that by 2019, the average amount paid to plaintiffs had fallen to just 39% of the settlement proceeds a figure that has since been quoted in several news reports..

He said it was based on a presentation contained within a PowerPoint of analysis by the law firm Herbert Smith Freehills.

In later proceedings, Andrew Saker, the managing director of litigation funder Omni Bridgeway, said he believed the 39% figure was based on incomplete data.

Saker said Herbert Smith Freehills had informed his company that the figure had been included in a PowerPoint slide for continuing legal education, it related only to settlement approvals determined by the courts, and it was not authorised for outside use.

Earlier, Mathias said he was not arguing against class actions, but for reform to ensure they remained a vehicle for justice.

We find ourselves in an environment where damages awarded to plaintiffs who have been most wronged is declining, and if you care about access to justice then you would care about the percentages that have been paid out to these people, he said during a hearing conducted via videolink.

James Paterson, the Liberal chair of the parliamentary joint committee on corporations and financial services, repeatedly asked ONeill not to interrupt or reflect on witnesses with the protection of parliamentary privilege.

ONeill told the chair she was happy to discuss the issue offline but I dont want to be berated as a senator of the Australian public by you in front of the media.

Weve got an undergraduate essay that would fail on plagiarism and [is] incorrect, put to us by the Menzies Research Centre - its just not up to standard, she said.

When Mathias attempted to ask his own question of ONeill, she shot back: When you become another young senator for the Liberal party you might be able ask me questions, but at the moment you dont have that opportunity.

When contacted for a response to the criticism of his submission, Mathias said it was astonishing that the Guardian would be siding with foreign backed, super-profitable litigation funders just because it does not like the politics of the MRC

But the shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said the Liberal party had been humiliated at the first day of its class actions inquiry.

When setting up the inquiry in May, the attorney general, Christian Porter, cited growing concern that the lack of regulation governing the booming litigation funding industry is leading to poor justice outcomes for those who join class actions, expecting to get fair compensation for an injury or loss.

Originally posted here:
Liberal thinktank submission on class actions labelled 'an undergraduate essay that would fail' - The Guardian

For the people of Iraq, the fallout from the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 continues to this day, sometimes in unexpected and violent ways. That is the message that the Iraqis featured in FRONTLINEs Once Upon a Time in Iraq emphasize time and again. The documentary recounts their stories of life under Saddam Hussein, the war, the occupation, and the years of chaos that followed from sudden explosions during the days of sectarian violence, to mass killing under the brutal reign of ISIS.

Some of them shared what has happened in their lives and in Iraq since they filmed with FRONTLINE.

In the documentary:

Sally Mars was six years old when the U.S.-led invasion began in March 2003. In the documentary, she recalled hearing shooting and explosions. I remember that a missile hit very close to our house, she said. And my mom, she threw herself on top of us, me and my brothers. The house was shaking, we thought it would come down on us.

Whats happened since?

I really feel like Ive changed since we filmed the interview, Mars said. I feel like Im 50 years older now.

In October 2019, mass demonstrations erupted in Iraq as people rallied against corruption, lack of services, and high unemployment rates. It was a main turning point, she said.

The protests were met with a violent response. Bodies were dropping on the streets and the firing just continued with smoke everywhere, while blood flowed from the victims like waterfalls.

Angry and resolved, Mars joined the protests on Oct. 26. Everything inside me changed as I walked on my own through the demonstrations, she said. People she didnt know gave her water and a mask for tear gas. She saw people cooking food for the protesters and helping the injured. From that point, she said: I learned what it meant to be someone that loves their country, and what it means to fight for your rights, and for your freedom in the face of death.

The Iraq war changed the entirety of our society for the worse and destroyed Iraqis as individuals, Mars said. Our generation started rebuilding the strength in personality of the Iraqi individual by reclaiming our original roots and culture.

In the documentary:

When Ahmed Albasheer first saw American soldiers in Iraq, he said he felt hope. I had this dream that my country is becoming one of the good countries in the Middle East, or maybe in the world. But as the occupation continued, he saw the rise of sectarian division, with people carrying two pieces of identification one for Sunni checkpoints and one for Shia checkpoints. In the documentary, Albasheer said America did two major bad things in Iraq: the first was the invasion, and the second was withdrawing before Iraq was ready.

Whats happened since?

Albasheer said he felt the height of hope last October when massive anti-government protests began. The young men took to the streets to challenge the government and to demand a homeland I would say that my hopes were very high at that point, he said. I believed that everything was possible then.

Since then, he fears that the militias have grown even more politically influential, and its become dangerous and nearly impossible for young people who want to change the system. Protesters, he said, are not only facing a corrupt political system but super powers.

I cant see a clear future for Iraq at the moment, Albasheer said, noting that hundreds of protesters have been killed.

Anyone who wants to express their opinion will either be killed, bribed, or get death threats, escape the country, and speak from exile like me and many others do, he said.

In the documentary:

In Once Upon a Time in Iraq, Um Qusay recalled that life in her town under Saddam Hussein meant hunger and war. We used to eat chicken feed, she said. There was no rest, we were always at war. Wars that were not even necessary. Um Qusay also lived through the bloody and brutal reign of ISIS. She told the story of how she and fellow townspeople helped hide Iraqi army cadets who were being targeted by ISIS. When asked why she risked her life to protect those men, she said, The reason was that first of all, they are Iraqi.

Whats happened since?

Since she filmed the interview, Um Qusay said that Iraq is getting worse and worse by the day. She said, Theres a lot of pressure on regular civilians murder, massacres, demonstrations I dont know how to explain this, but we have no hope.

Um Qusay added: There needs to be complete oversight on those governing Iraq, so that its made sure that theyre doing whats right for the country.

In the documentary:

Tahany Saleh was a university student when ISIS took over the Iraqi city of Mosul in June 2014. Then, her life came to a standstill. I stopped going to university. We stopped going into the street, she said. As the Iraq army and the anti-ISIS coalition fought ISIS, Saleh was among the civilians caught in the cross fire. The army was bombing and ISIS was bombing. And we were right in the middle.

Whats happened since?

Saleh was interviewed for Once Upon a Time in Iraq shortly after the war to retake Mosul from ISIS. I perceived life in an indescribably intense way, she recalled. I had an overwhelming sense of survival. I had a lot of hope for change. There was a sense of possibility that we were going to revive the country, bring the city back, be safe, be stable.

Since that time, she has found herself disappointed. Things are very difficult now, very difficult, because we feel extremely let down as Iraqis, she said. Violence has increased, along with the power and influence of militias. Those who call for change are targeted for assassination, she said. I dont feel safe. I dont feel like my family and friends are safe, she said. I fear looking at my phone because I cant handle finding out that another person has been assassinated for speaking out, for trying to improve the country.

Ultimately, Saleh wishes for a better future and for Americans to better understand Iraqis. I hope that things change and that we can go back to dreaming again, she said. I just want to be able to hope.

Vanessa Bowles contributed reporting.

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Four Iraqis on Searching For Hope 17 Years After the Iraq War - FRONTLINE

The clocks struck 8.19pm on 6 July when Hisham al-Hashemi pulled his white Jeep Cherokee up outside his house in the eastern Baghdad neighbourhood of Zayouna.

It seems the prominent specialist in jihadist groups and star of Iraqi satellite news channels paid no attention to the motorcyclists parked approximately 20 metres from his home.

As Hashimi turned his car towards the front door of his house, the biker closest to him, hooded and dressed all in black, ran over to the car and attempted to fire his automatic rifle. The Kalashnikov only fired a single bullet, but it was enough to paralyse Hisham's movement, a senior police officer involved in the investigations told Middle East Eye.

Surveillance camera footage shows the gun jamming, and the gunman pausing briefly as he tried to fix the defect. Eventually, he instead pulled a handgun out of his jacket, ran towards the drivers window, fired several bullets towards Hashimi and withdrew.

Hashimis murder took less than a minute. In many respects, it resembled dozens of assassinations carried out in Baghdad and the central and southern provinces against activists, journalists and influencers over the past three years.

But it was different.

The 47-year-old was an expert in Sunni militant groups in Iraq and had helped the Iraqi security services and US forces dismantle or neutralise dozens of them over the past 13 years.

Because of this, hed made many enemies. However, few in the popularmedia and political circles, including those close to Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, believed the Islamic State group and its ilk were responsible.

Instead accusations have been pointed at Shia armed groups, in particular Kataeb Hezbollah, Iraqs powerful Iran-backed paramilitary and one of Kadhimis fiercest and most aggressive opponents.

Those close to Kadhimi believe Hashimis killing was only the harbinger of more to come and a direct challenge to the prime minister himself.

Intelligence sources told MEE that more of the prime ministers entourage are in the assailants sights.

The assassination, an adviser of the prime minister told MEE, was a message of intimidation to Kadhimi and his teams members from the gang of Katyusha, a nickname for Kataeb Hezbollah referencing the rockets used by the group to attack US interests in Iraq.

"The message clearly suggests that they can reach us any time, and that he [Kadhimi] is too weak to protect his people, the adviser said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

However, two more of Kadhimis advisers insist it is too early to confirm that Kataeb Hezbollah lies behind the killing, preferring instead to describe the culprit as a radical Shia group.

'We know that our names are all on the list, and that each of us must think that he is the next'

- Kadhimi adviser

We believe that they will target the members of Kadhimis inner circle with the aim of challenging him and dragging him into a traditional confrontation, which they have all the tools to win at this stage, one said.

"We know that our names are all on the list, and that each of us must think that he is the next.

Hashimis assassination and the danger now posed to his allies is an existential threat for the premiers fledgling two-month rule.

All of Kadhimis supporters and opponents, inside and outside Iraq, are wondering how he will respond.

Recent history suggests it may be confrontational.

Journalists and politicians who worked with Kadhimi or met him in exile in the 1990s describe him as a moderate, ambitious, very polite, a good listener and a man who does not tend to verbally or physically clash with his critics or opponents.

The prime minister tended to mix with intellectuals and writers. He built a reputation as someone who excelled at documenting violence against victims of the Baathist government, and managed to enjoy good relations with all parties involved in local and regional conflicts.

Since the 2003 toppling of Saddam Hussein, these characteristics have mostly stayed the same, according to a number of former colleagues who worked with him to establish the state-owned Iraqiya Media Network and magazine The Weekly.

Although Kadhimi helped establish many media projects, including the international website Al Monitor, he did not draw attention as a journalist or as a thinker, according to a prominent Iraqi journalist who has known the prime minister since their days working in the opposition against Saddam.

'A man of conviction': Grief and fury greet assassination of Iraqi analyst

Even during his four-year period as head of the intelligence service, Kadhimi avoided clashes with all of the Shia, Sunni and Kurdish political forces or Iranian-backed armed factions.

A Shia paramilitary commander close to Kataeb Hezbollah told MEE he managed this "despite having information proving that most of them were involved in criminal, economic and intelligence crimes", which would be enough to put them in jail or at least politically terminate them.

Yet since assuming the premiership, the man once known for operating sensitively from the shadows has taken several provocativestances.

He has surrounded himself with a number of researchers, journalists and activists who led or supported the protest movement that toppled his Iran-backed predecessor Adel Abdul Mahdi.

Among them are Hisham Dawood, a researcher in political anthropology;Harith Hasan, a political researcher;Mushreq Abbas, a journalist; Kadhim al-Sahlani, an academic and activist;Aqeel Abbas, an academic;Ahmed al-Mulla Talal, a TV anchor; and Ahmed al-Rikabi, a journalist.

Munqith Dagher, CEO of the Baghdad-based Independent Institute for Administration and Civil Society Studies think tank, describes Kadhimi as an expert in the game of media, which is why he has surrounded himself with media personalities.

His entourage, Dagher says, has been assembled in a parallel prime ministers office, with Kadhimi wary of shunting Abdul Mahdis staff aside.

He is a compromise man, so he did not make any major changes in the old prime minister's office staff, but he also created a small parallel office to which his special team, his group, and his advisers joined, Dagher says.

However, the prime ministers circle is seen by the Iran-backed factions as hostile to them, seeking revenge and keeping them from power, according to one of Kadhimis advisers.

Meanwhile, Kataeb Hezbollah has made no secret for its disdain for the man they hold responsible for the death of the armed factions founder, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was killed by a US drone strike alongside Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in January.

Ignoring Irans request to support - or at least permit - Kadhimis premiership, Kataeb Hezbollah has missed no opportunity to attack him through their media outlets, and stepped up the rate of rocket attacks targeting US assets in Baghdads Green Zone and Iraqi military bases.

In response, Kadhimi last month ordered the Counter-Terrorism Squad to raid one of the factions headquarters and arrest its fighters there.

It was a startling escalation-one that led to Kataeb Hezbollah vowing to teach Kadhimi a lesson because he "dared to storm one of its headquarters and arrest a number of its fighters", a commander of the armed group told MEE.

While Kadhimi's opponents were busy digging up the past of his entourage and plotting massive media campaigns to discredit and question their loyalties, the prime minister busied himself with elevating figures free from Iranian influence.

Over the past six weeks, he has issued a raft of decrees that have shaken up the militarys leadership and eased Irans grip on Iraqs security forces.

He assigned Lieutenant-General Abdul Amir Yarallah as chief of staff of the army, Lieutenant-General Abdel Amir al-Shammari as deputy of the commander of joint operations, and Lieutenant-General Abdul Wahab al-Saadi as commander of the Counter-Terrorism Squad. He also appointed Major-General Fayez al-Mamouri as director of military intelligence.

Not satisfied with those positions alone, Kadhimi removed Faleh al-Fayadh, head of the Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitary, from his roles as the national security adviser and in the National Security Service, which he had run by proxy since 2009.

The Baghdad raid that put Kadhimi and Kataeb Hezbollah on a collision course

Lieutenant-General Abdul-Ghani al-Asadi was made head of the National Security Service, and Qassim al-Araji, the former interior minister, national security adviser.

Kadhimi also drew a clear line between combat forces on the one hand and military intelligence directorate and the agency tasked with probing military violations on the other. The National Security Agencys database was separated from the Iran-backed paramilitaries own security directorate, and he ordered the intelligence service to take command of the security of communications and information.

Suddenly, Kadhimi had a level of control over Iraqs military and security agencies unseen in years, and retained effective command of the intelligence agency he had just vacated.

All those military leaders are known for not being subject to the influence of the Iran-linked factions, a prominent former Iraqi intelligence officer and a friend of Kadhimi, who declined to be named, told MEE.

"Kadhimi is Iraqs boldest prime minister, and quickly rearranged the militarys house. All the prime ministers who preceded him were not able to identify the defects in the military, but Kadhimis work in intelligence over the past years helped him identify the deficiencies.

These figures are Kadhimis true team, the former officer said, describing it as a military government that the prime minister may soon use with effect.

As for the team of journalists and researchers, he used them to distract his opponents. He threw them to his opponents to busy themselves, and went to work elsewhere without disturbances, he said.

Kadhimi currently surrounds himself with two of the most dangerous forces in Iraq, the media and the military.

This has provoked his opponents, especially the forces linked to Iran.

They say that he mimics Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was also an intelligence officer, and that he seeks to strike his opponents unilaterally while in power, including the armed factions leaders and fighters.

The raid on Kataeb Hezbollahs headquarters last month and the arrest of its fighters, in addition to the changes in military staff, have intensified the suspicions of Kadhimis opponents that he is targeting them, and enflamed tensions.

Hashemis assassination was one of the consequences of this tension, one of Kadhimis advisers told MEE, adding that the premier does not seek to emulate Putin's personality, but he wants the law to have teeth.

This political system has reached the brink and will not produce anything after today, and therefore he [Kadhimi] is convinced that the moment of real change has arrived. But unfortunately it came at a very critical time and coincided with a severe financial crisis, a major collapse in oil prices, and a deadly pandemic, the adviser added.

He seeks to empower the law, and as such, he tries to bite into the chaos that engulfs the country, whenever an opportunity exists. But the resources and capabilities of the supporters of anarchy are still far greater than the state's supporters."

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The Iraqi power struggle behind a murder in Baghdad - Middle East Eye