An Air Force engineer under the government of Saddam Hussein, he left the military in 1999.

Bulani has defended himself by announcing a major security operation to be rolled out in September.

In the 2010 Iraqi Elections he was the leader of the Unity Alliance of Iraq and was their nr.

One of the list's four MPs, Ali al-Sajri, was appointed a minister of state in Maliki's new government.

However, the Federal Supreme Court struck down this appointment, ruling that al-Bulani, who had stood in Baghdad governorate as part of the Constitutional Party element of the list, could not replace Sajri, who had been elected from the Salahuddin governorate as part of the "Peoples' Current" (Tayyar al-Shaab) element.