Haider Jawad Kadhim al-Abadi (; born 25 April 1952) is an Iraqi politician who was Prime Minister of Iraq from September 2014 until October 2018. Previously he served as Minister of Communication from 2003 to 2004, in the first government after Saddam Hussein was deposed.
He was designated as Prime Minister by President Fuad Masum on 11 August 2014 to succeed Nouri al-Maliki and was approved by the Iraqi parliament on 8 September 2014. Al-Abadi was included in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2018.
In office throughout the majority of the War in Iraq (2013–2017) which he announced victory against ISIL, he later left the office of Prime Minister in 2018, following rising domestic discontent and widespread violent protests.
Early life and education
Al-Abadi's father was a member of the Baghdad Neurosurgery Hospital and Inspector General of the Iraqi Ministry of Health. He was forced to retire in 1979 due to disagreements with the Ba'athist regime, and was buried in the US after his death. Al-Abadi, who speaks English, graduated high school in 1970 from the Central High School () in Bagdad. In 1975, he earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Technology in Baghdad. In 1980, he earned a PhD degree in electrical engineering from the University of Manchester.
Career
Al-Abadi joined the Dawa Party in 1967. Two of his brothers were killed and one was put in prison 1980, 1981, and 1982 for belonging to the Dawa Party. In 1981, his third brother was arrested and spent 10 years in prison. In 1977, he became in charge of its organization in Britain. In 1979, he became a member of the party's executive leadership. In 1983, the government confiscated al-Abadi's passport for conspiring against Iraq's Ba'ath Party.
Exile
Al-Abadi remained in the UK, in voluntary exile, until the 2003 invasion of Iraq. His positions during this time included: Director general of a small design and development firm in London specialising in high-technology vertical and horizontal transportation (1993–2003) Consultant, in London, in matters relating to transportation (1987–2003) Research leader for a major modernization contract in London (1981–1986)
Al-Abadi was awarded a grant from the UK Department of Trade and Industry in 1998. While working in London in 2001 al-Abadi registered a patent relating to rapid transit systems.
Return to Iraq
In 2003, al-Abadi became skeptical of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) privatization plan, proposing to Paul Bremer that they had to wait for a legitimate government to be formed. In October 2003, al-Abadi with all 25 of the interim Governing Council ministers protested to Paul Bremer and rejected the CPA's demand to privatize the state-owned companies and infrastructure prior to forming a legitimate government. The CPA, led by Bremer, fell out with al-Abadi and the Governing Council. The CPA worked around the Governing Council, forming a new government that remained beholden to the CPA to serve until the general elections, prompting more aggressive armed actions by insurgents against US-led coalition personnel.
While al-Abadi was Minister of Communications, the CPA awarded licenses to three mobile operators to cover all parts of Iraq. Despite being rendered nearly powerless by the CPA, Al-Abadi was not prepared to be a rubber stamp and introduced more conditions for the licenses. Among them that a sovereign Iraqi government has the power to amend or terminate the licenses and introduce a fourth national license, which caused some friction with the CPA. In 2003, press reports indicated Iraqi officials were under investigation over a questionable deal involving Orascom, an Egypt-based telecoms company, which in late 2003 was awarded a contract to provide a mobile network to central Iraq. Al-Abadi asserted that there was no illicit dealing in the completed awards. In 2004, it was revealed that these allegations were fabrications, and a US Defense Department review found that telecommunications contracting had been illegally influenced in an unsuccessful effort led by disgraced US Deputy Undersecretary of Defense John A. Shaw and not by Iraqis.
Between January and December 2005, he served as an adviser to the Prime Minister of Iraq in the first elected government.