The search for such a system has continued since the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s Baathist family regime in April 2003, following a war launched against it by the United States. As time passes, it is becoming increasingly clear that Iraq is facing a systemic crisis threatening the country’s reconstruction process and its various components.

Despite the boldness of the new Prime Minister in addressing the current situation and Iraq’s challenges on every front, there is no indication that his government will be able to steer the country in a different direction. This still-incomplete government appears, more than anything else, to be a government of the unknown. This is underscored by the complete absence of the expertise needed to properly manage major projects, away from the deals and commissions that have become an integral part of the system in place for the past twenty-three years.

It is clear that no one in Iraq will be held accountable. Former Prime Minister Muhammad Shia' al-Sudani spoke of the “achievements” his government had made during the four years in which he was the country’s leading official. But who can expose the fact that these achievements are nonexistent on the ground and initiate a process of accountability against al-Sudani and his government within the House of Representatives?

It seems that such accountability is absent from the Iraqi political lexicon, just as citizens’ freedom was absent from the practices of Saddam Hussein’s regime. Muhammad Shia' al-Sudani inherited a treasury strengthened, at least numerically, by what Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s government had achieved. Nothing better reflects the state of Iraq than the words of Ali al-Zaidi about heavy financial burdens, corruption, a sharp decline in services, and widening social disparities.

It is not unlikely that Ali al-Zaidi’s statement will remain nothing more than rhetoric about an unsolvable reality. The circumstances surrounding his appointment as Prime Minister came after a visit to Baghdad by Ismail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Qaani arrived to settle disputes among the leaders of the “Coordinating Framework” and to find a successor to Muhammad Shia' al-Sudani, while also ensuring that the Iraqi government remained under Iranian influence to carry out Tehran’s demands.

It can be said that the Iraqi system has moved steadily toward a point where it may no longer be sustainable, leaving it with no choice but to declare its bankruptcy.

Tehran may be able to prolong the life of the Iraqi regime, but this cannot continue indefinitely, as every component of Iraq faces its own deepening problems. These crises are worsening by the day, particularly in the absence of a clear political project capable of uniting Iraqis, who continue to suffer from the existence of a “state within a state” represented by the Iranian-backed sectarian militias known as the “Popular Mobilization Forces.”