CODEL HAGEL MEETS WITH CROWN PRINCE AT GULF

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAMA 001823

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/05/2014
TAGS: PREL PGOV OTRA BA IZ IS
SUBJECT: CODEL HAGEL MEETS WITH CROWN PRINCE AT GULF
DIALOGUE CONFERENCE


Classified By: Ambassador William T. Monroe, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: Bahrain's Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin
Hamad Al Khalifa met with Senators Chuck Hagel, Dianne
Feinstein and Lincoln Chafee and their staff on December 4 on
the margins of the "Gulf Dialogue," an international
conference sponsored by the GOB and organized by the
London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies
(IISS). The Codel raised concerns about the future of Iraq,
the peace process and the importance of the two upcoming
elections in the region. The CP underscored the importance
of continued U.S. engagement in the region and Bahrain,s
commitment to supporting democratic development in both Iraq
and for the Palestinian people. End Summary.


2. (C) The CP opened the meeting by thanking the Senators for
their continued support for Bahrain. He said he thought it
important to first recognize the burden the U.S. carries in
the region. Bahrain is grateful for the significant
sacrifices the U.S. has made for the region,s benefit.
Senator Hagel praised Bahrain,s leadership on regional
issues, its own reform efforts and noted the long-standing
warm relations with the U.S. He thanked Bahrain for its
support of the Gulf Dialogue. The off-the-record Gulf
Dialogue brought together the national security leadership of
Gulf Cooperation Council states along with its neighbors
(notably Iraq) and key allies including the U.S., the UK and
France. Having the Gulf Dialogue in Manama was a natural
fit, playing to Bahrain,s strengths. He said it was the
lack of strategic alliances in the region and the need to
build those kinds of relationships that led to his support
for IISS efforts to organize such a conference and the
Codel,s participation.


3. (C) Turning to the comments made by the CP earlier that
morning, Hagel asked what Bahrain expected would happen after
elections in Iraq. The CP noted Bahrain,s own concerns
about Saddam,s Iraq. However, he admitted the GOB did not
support the war at the outset. Despite growing insecurity
before the elections, Bahrain sees the U.S. presence in Iraq
as ultimately a stabilizing factor in the region. Once held,
the elections will help to establish the legitimate
institutions that regional governments will be able to work
with. The principal concern Bahrain now has is who will win
the elections and whether those new institutions will be
friendly to the U.S. or will more radical elements take hold.
He added that despite the short-term need to plus-up troop
numbers, he believed foreign troops should eventually be
replaced by regional peacekeepers.


4. (C) Senator Feinstein raised the Palestinian elections,
noted the need to take advantage of this historic opportunity
for peace, and called on the CP to support Abu Mazen.
Feinstein urged Gulf state leaders to speak out on the need
for a two-state solution in Palestine in order to ostracize
extremists on both sides and bring the Arab media on board.
The CP said that Bahrain understood that the death of Arafat,
a man he did not respect, was an opening. Yet, while there
is an opportunity to do things a new way, the key remained
the same: the U.S. must be more effective in winning hearts
and minds in the region. Therefore the U.S. must, even if
politically difficult, engage in a public discourse that
demonstrates that the goal of promoting democracy in the
Middle East includes Palestinians as well. At the same time,
he said, we in the region need to hold the Palestinians
accountable for their actions. He feared that the U.S. would
blame any new Palestinian leadership for individual acts of
violence he believed inevitable. Foreign Minister Sheikh
Mohammed bin Mubarak al Khalifa added that the most pressing
concern for the GOB was the current leadership vacuum and
support for Abu Mazen was secondary to successful elections.
On Iraq, Senator Feinstein urged Bahrain to convey the
message to the Iraqi leadership that Sunnis must be included
in Iraq,s future or the violence will continue.


5. (C) Senator Chafee noted that a common refrain was echoed
in the conference: that U.S. interests in the Middle East are
guided only by a desire to steal the region,s oil. He asked
for the CP,s views on how U.S. consumption of oil promotes
those stereotypes and whether the U.S. is rightly vulnerable
to that accusation. The CP said he believed that the market
itself, as it adapted to new realities, would help to correct
that view. First and most importantly, growing economies
like China and India will soon outpace U.S. consumption.
Second, the current rise in the price of oil, which many
wrongly see as the region,s salvation, is due not only to
increased consumption but inefficiencies in the refining
process. Once these inefficiencies are corrected and the
price drops, then the argument that the U.S. seeks to rob the
region of its oil becomes less persuasive.

MONROE