So why would the Iraqi government give such a person such a position? This is the question we should focus on.
Let us rewind to before the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Al-Shammari was working in the Iraqi military during the rule of Saddam Hussein. He is a Sunni Arab, belonging to the minority in Iraq that was expected to be most loyal to Saddam Hussein, and many from that minority attained important roles in the military.

However, anyone with basic knowledge about military strategy, knows that the invasion did not meet any resistance from the military. This indeed means that the military leadership in Iraq collaborated with the invaders, which leads to many questions. If Saddam Hussein had no loyalty among the military leadership in Iraq, why did not the military end the rule of Saddam Hussein before the invasion? Could it be that Iraq was long before 2003 under the control of the Deep State, which wanted an invasion and consequently guaranteed that Saddam Hussein stayed as president?

Could it be that Al-Shammari has some information that would be devastating for the Western world, which made him stay in Sweden? Could it be that he has answers with evidences to the questions asked above? Could it be that the Deep State is loosing control of Iraq, which made Al-Shammari afraid of getting killed in Sweden, resulting in him moving back to Iraq?
Now as a defence minister, anything that would happen to him would attain a lot of attention, and whatever gets revealed associated to a person in that position will get even more attention.