Iraq's Ministry of Death

Al-Tamimi belongs to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s movement — and his boss wasted no time indulging in conspiracy theories about the cause of the Ibn al-Khatib inferno. It was “arson,” al-Sadr said, and the phantom perpetrators simply wanted to undermine the Sadrists who have long held control over Iraq’s Health Ministry, monopolizing its facilities, systems, and even medical equipment since the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime. For the past 18 years, all but two ministers of health have been selected, as Iraqis put it, from under Muqtada’s abaya (a robe-like garment worn by Muslim women) while the ministry’s various directories are fully under Sadrist control.