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