BOUTEFLIKA ON SUPPORT FOR IRAQI GOVERNMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L ALGIERS 001221 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/01/2016 TAGS: PREL PGOV AL IZ AG SUBJECT: BOUTEFLIKA ON SUPPORT FOR IRAQI GOVERNMENT Classified By: Ambassador Richard W. Erdman: Reasons 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) During Adviser to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Frances Fragos Townsend's June 18 meeting with President Bouteflika, Bouteflika said the U.S. and Algerian positions on Iraq overlapped. Algeria recognized the new Iraqi government, backed it, and wanted to assist it. Bouteflika said he was not sure the Iraqi elections had been "genuine," but they were better than no elections. Algeria was participating in the Arab League mission in Iraq, supporting the search for consensus among Iraq's parties and factions. ¶2. (C) Bouteflika said Algeria was actively supporting the Arab League's mission in Iraq, claiming that at the Khartoum Arab summit, Algeria had been the only member state to pay its share of the costs of the AL opening an office in Baghdad. Some day, he commented, Iraq would stabilize. There was a need for an ongoing Arab role in stabilizing Iraq. ¶3. (U) Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Frances Fragos Townsend has cleared this message. ERDMAN