Al-Bayan Center for Planning and Studies Research Director Mustafa Al-Saray participated in a virtual dialogue seminar organized by Ru’ya Foundation for Strategic Studies from the city of Sulaymaniyah to discuss “The Compulsory Military Service Bill: Its Implications and Divergent Positions.”
During his intervention, Al-Saray explained that the draft law carries complex implications and repercussions extending across the political, security, economic, and social spheres, pointing to the need to examine it within the context of the current conditions Iraq is experiencing.
Al-Saray stressed that passing the law in its current form could lead to an unjustified expansion in personnel numbers, which may open new avenues for financial and administrative corruption and impose a heavy economic burden on the state amid the difficult economic and financial conditions Iraq is facing, all without any clear strategic benefit to justify the law. He further affirmed that the law could contribute to widening class disparities within society, thereby undermining opportunities to achieve social justice among the various segments of the Iraqi people.
In the political context, Al-Saray warned of the possibility that the large pool of manpower generated by compulsory conscription could be exploited for political and partisan purposes, particularly under the existing quota-based power-sharing system (“muhasasa”), considering the transformation of the military institution into an arena for political rivalries to be a threat to its professionalism.
The Head of the Research Department concluded his intervention by calling for a reconsideration of the priorities involved in building the military institution and for focusing on quality and professionalism rather than numerical expansion, which could result in the loss of young talent and skills or an increase in rates of impulsive violence within society.
