article_snippet: A CNN team that's seen the offensive at close quarters noted that Iraqi army commanders appeared to be taking a subordinate role to leaders of the Shia militia, notably Hadi al Ameri, leader of the Badr Organization.
article_snippet: Iranian military advisers are on hand, and highly influential on the battlefield.
article_snippet: As then Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki tightened Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki grip on power between 2006 and 2013, the high command of the military became a political football -- with loyalty to al-Maliki prized above competence.
article_snippet: The Institute for the Study of War reported in 2013, "the lack of oversight on military appointments has allowed al-Maliki to choose al-Maliki preferred officers (nearly all Shia) to head the most significant command positions in Iraq.
article_snippet: " al-Maliki also began integrating Shia militia into army units.
article_snippet: In June, the most respected religious authority among Iraqi Shi'ites, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, appealed to Iraqis to mobilize against the enemy.  
article_snippet: The commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, Gen. Qassim Suleimani, seems to have spent more time in Iraq than Iran since last summer and has been photographed around Tikrit.
article_snippet: According to several analysts, it is Suleimani that has been organizing and directing the Shia militia in what appears to have been a more deliberate and better planned assault than previous operations.
article_snippet: Soon after taking office, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi fired 26 commanders and pushed 10 others into retirement. 
article_snippet: At the time a statement on Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi website stressed "the need to restore confidence in the Iraqi Security Forces through real action and by combating corruption at the individual and institutional levels.