IRAQI GC MEMBER AND FRIENDS SHARE VIEWS ON IRAQ

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 000979

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/09/2014
TAGS: PREL PTER SOCI IZ JO
SUBJECT: IRAQI GC MEMBER AND FRIENDS SHARE VIEWS ON IRAQ

Classified By: Amb. Edward W. Gnehm for reasons 1.5(b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary. Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) member, Dr.
Rajaa H. Khuzai (please protect),and a group of female Iraqi
Shi'a, Sunni and Christian friends, expressed to us a mixture
of gratitude for the U.S. liberation and criticism for
post-liberation mistakes and squandered goodwill. Dr. Khuzai
said Iraqis, from all walks of life, are looking for
employment, security, and a stable and reliable electricity
supply. She added that the U.S. is exacerbating religious
tensions in Iraq by focusing on Iraqis' religious
backgrounds. End Summary.


2. (C) On January 27, PolOff met with Dr. Rajaa H. Khuzai,
one of three women on Iraq's GC, who was transiting through
Jordan from Egypt on her way back to Iraq. She was joined by
several of her well-to-do Amman-based Iraqi friends (her
circle of friends included Shi'a, Sunni and Christians.) Dr.
Khuzai, a Shi'a married to a Sunni from the Al-Diwanniya area
in Iraq, is a well-educated and articulate woman who is a
U.K. schooled gynecologist. She said that she felt honored
to be on the IGC and wanted to contribute to Iraq's
reconstruction and help her fellow Iraqis live in a stable,
secure and prosperous Iraq. Her main concern continues to be
the unavailability of jobs: 60-70 percent of the population,
is unemployed. This situation, she believes, is a
destabilizing factor feeding the lack of security in Iraq.
Her Iraqi friends around the dinner table all echoed her
concerns by saying that creating jobs will "take care of" the
Shi'a street demonstrators and give Iraqis hope for a better
future.


3. (C) They all stressed that the U.S. should do more to
integrate the Sunni, Shi'a, Kurd and Christian communities,
asserting that most Iraqis are secular by nature. Dr. Khuzai
confided that she had recently met with Ayatollah SISTANI to
gauge his opinion about women's roles in a democratic Iraq.
She said he was forthcoming and frank and told her he was
open to Iraqi women playing an important role in the future
of Iraq. One Jordanian-based friend said she was approached
recently and encouraged to organize a Sunni political party.
She said she summarily rejected the offer and asked PolOff if
the U.S. had a Protestant, Baptist or Roman Catholic
political party. Everyone around the table opined that the
U.S. is unwittingly perpetuating Saddam's "divide and rule"
sectarianism by pitting Iraqi religious sects against each
other. All the women said they considered themselves Iraqis
first, with their religious affiliations a distant second.


4. (C) Dr. Khuzai asserted that there is a widely held
perception among Iraqis that CPA Baghdad is demanding a 10
percent cut on all contracts. She alleged that anyone
wanting to do business in Iraq goes directly to CPA Baghdad
and shuns dealing with Iraqis at the ministries. Businessmen
know, she affirmed, "who has the power to close on deals."
Most of the other Iraqi women also alleged that service
contracts are going to non-Iraqi Arabs, when Iraqis could
provide the services at a fraction of the cost.


5. (C) Dr. Khuzai and her friends urged the U.S. to initiate
an Iraqi satellite station to act as a counterbalance to the
disinformation offered by Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiyah
satellite stations. They argued that Iraq's message is not
reaching average Iraqis in Iraq or the Arab world.


6. (C) Comment: We offer these views as one slice of Iraqi
opinion heard in Amman -- in this case, secular,
anti-sectarian, pragmatic, western-oriented -- which cannot
be said from this vantage point to reflect a majority view
among Iraq's Shi'a.


7. (U) CPA Baghdad minimize considered.

Visit Embassy Amman's classified website at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/
or access the site through the State Department's SIPRNET
home page.
GNEHM