Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04ABUDHABI1826
2004-06-02 12:37:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Abu Dhabi
Cable title:  

Training of Iraqi police in the UAE

Tags:  PREL IZ TC 
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Diana T Fritz 02/06/2007 05:51:28 PM From DB/Inbox: Search Results

Cable 
Text: 
 
 
CONFIDENTIAL

SIPDIS
TELEGRAM June 02, 2004


To: No Action Addressee 

Action: Unknown 

From: AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI (ABU DHABI 1826 - ROUTINE) 

TAGS: PREL 

Captions: None 

Subject: TRAINING OF IRAQI POLICE IN THE UAE TEMPORARILY ON HOLD

Ref: None 
_________________________________________________________________
C O N F I D E N T I A L ABU DHABI 01826

SIPDIS
CXABU:
 ACTION: POL 
 INFO: RSO ECON AMB DCM P/M 

DISSEMINATION: POL
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: AMB:MMWAHBA
DRAFTED: POL:JFMAYBURY
CLEARED: A/DCM:HOLSIN-WINDECKER

VZCZCADI748
RR RUEHC RUCNRAQ RHMFISS RUEHRL
DE RUEHAD #1826/01 1541237
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 021237Z JUN 04
FM AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4612
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/HQ COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTH BAGHDAD
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0077
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 001826 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/NGA AND NEA/ARP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/01/14
TAGS: PREL IZ TC
SUBJECT: Training of Iraqi police in the UAE
temporarily on hold

Ref: Abu Dhabi 219

Classified by Ambassador Marcelle M. Wahba for reasons
1.5 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 001826

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/NGA AND NEA/ARP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/01/14
TAGS: PREL IZ TC
SUBJECT: Training of Iraqi police in the UAE
temporarily on hold

Ref: Abu Dhabi 219

Classified by Ambassador Marcelle M. Wahba for reasons
1.5 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: German federal police have trained two
batches of Iraqi criminal police at the Al Ain police
school since last March, but further training of Iraqi
police under German auspices has been suspended to give
Iraq's new authorities an opportunity to evaluate
their needs to ensure effective training programs. Both
the UAE and the German government are in favor of
continuing the training, but the UAEG wants the new
Iraqi Ministry of Interior to evaluate the program and
identify their needs and priorities before the training
resumes. End Summary.


2. (C) Last March, the German federal police began
training 129 criminal police officers and members of
Baghdad's Institute of Criminal Technology (see
reftel). Germany paid for the training expenses and
for a dozen German police experts, while the UAE
covered local expenses (e.g. training facilities and
accommodations for trainees),as well as the cost of
transporting the Iraqis aboard C-130s between Iraq and
the UAE. All the training took place at the Al Ain
police school. There were two parts to the training:
forensics and crime scene investigation. The German
police, comparable to the FBI, gave each of the Iraqi
participants a crime scene investigation kit as part of
the training, and to take back to Iraq with them. The
Iraqis also visited the UAE's state-of-the-art police
laboratory and saw demonstrations of cutting-edge
equipment and machinery.

Selection of appropriate candidates important
--------------


3. (C) Shaykh Saif bin Zayed, U/S of the Ministry of
Interior, told the Ambassador on May 30 that the UAE
was disappointed with the lack of coordination between
the Germans, Iraqis, and CPA. He said that the Iraqi
trainees selected for these first programs were clearly
too senior for the training courses offered. The UAE
was counting on the Germans to coordinate closely with
both the Iraqis and the CPA but clearly that had not
happened. He told the Ambassador that the UAE has
reached out directly to the Iraqis and asked them to
provide them with their priorities so the programs can
be designed according to their needs. Shaykh Saif

commented that while the Iraqis were senior in rank,
the training assumed they had facilities and
laboratories which they do not have, and hence there
would need to be some linkage between the training and
what they have to work with in terms of facilities in
Iraq.


4. (C) Germany's Ambassador to the UAE, Jurgen
Stelzer, told Polchief on May 31 that the first batch
of Iraqis included about 30 lieutenant colonels and
colonels, higher-ranking officers who were ill at ease
in classrooms with junior officers. "Back home (in
Iraq),they were used to giving orders," Stelzer said.
The higher-ranking officers also were upset that they
could not leave the police school compound in Al Ain
for a leisure outing to Dubai. The Germans and
Emiratis ironed out these wrinkles by the time the
second batch of 92 Iraqi police (100 had been expected
but the eight officers from Fallujah had to stay in
Iraq during the siege in that city) came to the UAE.
The second batch comprised junior officers from the
different Iraqi provinces. The result was a much
smoother training experience, Stelzer said. Everyone
agreed that in the future, greater care should be taken
to select appropriate candidates for the training.



5. (C) Stelzer, who visited the Al Ain police school
during the training, and accompanied a German
parliamentary delegation to the facility, said the
Iraqis displayed a considerable degree of self-
confidence. Germans and Emiratis alike "thought it was
a very good project," Stelzer said. The Iraqis' main
complaint was that under the current system in Iraq,
they enjoy little autonomy. "They have to do what they
are told to do" by the CPA, Stelzer said. "That causes
a problem for them (the Iraqi police) when they have to
deal with people on the street" because Iraqi citizens
question the police officers' authority.

Project on hold awaiting a political decision
--------------


6. (C) The UAE has decided to suspend further German
training of Iraqi police on UAE soil until Iraq's
sovereign Interior Ministry can evaluate the training
to determine whether it should be continued. There
will be no more training at this stage, but we will
assess the results of the training in the next three
months before deciding what the next steps will be, the
Arabic daily "Al-Ittihad" newspaper quotes UAE Interior
Ministry Under Secretary Shaykh Saif bin Zayed Al-
Nahyan as saying. Stelzer said the postponement may
prevent further training this calendar year because it
is unlikely the Emiratis would host the training during
the hot summer months and not during Ramadan starting
in mid-October. He said the training could resume in
early 2005.


7. (C) Stelzer said the Iraqi liaison officer, Colonel
Mustafa, who was in the UAE for the duration of the
training, had expressed satisfaction with the training
and stated that it should continue. Colonel Mustafa
said that there are another 2,000 Iraqi police in need
of similar training. "We are ready to do it," Stelzer
said. "The UAE is waiting for reaction from Baghdad."

Comment
--------------


8. (C) We believe that it is appropriate for the new,
sovereign Iraqi government to take stock of the German
training for Iraqi police in the UAE. If the Iraqis
decide to continue the training, we are confident the
Emiratis will agree to host the courses again.
However, the Iraqi authorities should ensure that they
are sending the appropriate officers to the courses,
and that the Iraqis set their priorities so the
programs can be designed according to their needs.


9. (U) Baghdad minimize considered.
WAHBA