DECEMBER 22 MEETING WITH IRAQI INTERIOR MINISTER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 005160

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/29/2015
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINS PINR IZ
SUBJECT: DECEMBER 22 MEETING WITH IRAQI INTERIOR MINISTER

REF: BAGHDAD 5074 (AND PREVIOUS)

Classified By: Rule of Law Coordinator James Yellin for Reason 1.4 (d)

SUMMARY
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1. (C) On December 22 Iraqi Minister of Interior Baqir Jabr
told us that:

-- he supported the decision by the police chief of Babil
Province to refuse to hire 800 recently nominated police
recruits who were Badr Corps militiamen;

-- another 650 recruits had been appropriately vetted and
sent for training;

-- Sunni election monitors reportedly arrested in the Baghdad
districts of Amariya and Al-Jadida on December 22 must have
been detained by Ministry of Defense (MOD) forces, because
Ministry of Interior (MOI) forces do not operate in those
neighborhoods.


2. (C) Jabr also said that he could not fire anyone at the
MOI detention facility known as the Bunker until he had the
report of the investigative committee headed by First Deputy
Prime Minister Shaways. END SUMMARY.

BABIL POLICE RECRUITS
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3. (C) On December 22 Embassy Rule of Law (ROL) Coordinator
met with Iraqi Minister of Interior Baqir Jabr.


4. (C) Jabr told us that he supported the decision by the
police chief of Babil Province to refuse to hire 800 of 1,450
police recruits recently nominated by the provincial council.
Jabr said that these 800 recruits were Badr Corps
militiamen, but that the remaining 650 had been appropriately
vetted and sent for training.

DETAINED SUNNI ELECTION MONITORS
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5. (C) Jabr said that Sunni election monitors who were
reportedly arrested in the Baghdad districts of Amariya and
Al-Jadida on December 22 must have been detained by MOD
forces. He explained that MOI forces do not operate in these
areas, which are controlled by MOD forces. (Iraqi Islamic
Party member Mohammad Adnan Dulaymi told us that 57 Sunni
election monitors had been detained but was only able to
provide us with 12 names.)


6. (C) Jabr promised that if he found that any of the
election monitors were in MOI custody, he would order their
release unless they were being held on a lawful judicial
order.

IRAQI COUNCIL FOR NATIONAL DIALOGUE DETAINEES RELEASED
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7. (C) Jabr said that he had released four detainees on
December 22 upon the request of Khalf Alyan Khalf, the
Secretary General of the Iraqi Council for National Dialogue

SIPDIS
(a Sunni coalition). Jabr noted that he had released the
four to reward the council for having encouraged Sunnis to
participate in the December 15 elections.

BUNKER EMPLOYEES
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8. (C) ROL Coordinator told Jabr that Iraqi and U.S.
officials had visited the MOI detention facility known as the
Bunker on December 17 and found MOI officials suspected of
abusing detainees still present there. Jabr said he could
not fire anyone at the Bunker until he had the results of an
investigation headed by First Deputy Prime Minister Rowsh
Shaways.


9. (C) Jabr also said that he would hold all Bunker
personnel found guilty of misconduct accountable under the
law. Jabr continued that some might be prosecuted in the
courts, while others might be fired, demoted or transferred
outside of Baghdad. (Jabr had earlier promised ROL
Coordinator that he would suspend Bunker employees suspected
of wrongdoing pending the results of the Shaways
investigation, and that he would fire anyone found guilty of
wrongdoing.)

SUCCESSORS OF GRAND AYATOLLAH ALI AL-SISTANI
--------------


10. (C) ROL Coordinator thanked Jabr for inviting him to a
lunch in Baghdad with Shia Ayatollah Hussein Ismail al-Sadr
on December 15. Jabr replied that either al-Sadr or Grand
Ayatollah Mohammad Said al-Hakim in Najaf would probably
succeed Grand Ayatollah Ali al-SISTANI as the leader of the
Iraqi Shia community.


11. (C) By way of background, Hussein al-Sadr, the most
senior Shia cleric based in Baghdad, is a moderate who has
met with Coalition personnel and promotes a tolerant brand of
Islam. Al-Sadr is distant relative of firebrand cleric
Moqtada al-Sadr, who favors the immediate withdrawal of
Coalition forces from Iraq.


12. (C) In the Iraqi Shia hierarchy, Hussein al-Sadr is a
notch below Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Saeed al-Hakim, the only
Iraqi among the four Grand Ayatollahs based in Iraq (the
other three are Iranian, Pakistani and Afghan). Al-Hakim is
a distant relative of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of the
political party SCIRI.


13. (C) Our contacts generally say one of the four Grand
Ayatollahs based in Najaf will succeed al-SISTANI as the
leader of the Iraqi Shia community.
KHALILZAD