PRESIDENT OF IRAQ URGES U.S. TO CALL FOR CEASEFIRE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 002925 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/11/2016 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL LE IZ SUBJECT: PRESIDENT OF IRAQ URGES U.S. TO CALL FOR CEASEFIRE IN LEBANON Classified By: Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) On July 31, President Jalal Talabani convoked Charge d,Affaires to convey the official Iraqi views on Lebanon. Making clear that he was speaking in his capacity as the President of Iraq, Talabani stated that he had received an urgent appeal from the Lebanese Prime Minister calling for his assistance in this matter, and that he had been instructed by the Iraqi Council of Ministers to formally urge the U.S. to seek an immediate end to hostilities. Talabani emphasized the fact that Baghdad was speaking as a friend and partner of the U.S. in the Middle East. He confided that he believed Hezbollah overstepped and foolishly jeopardized Lebanon,s security by kidnapping the two Israeli soldiers. The Lebanese people had already suffered too much, he stated, and were looking to Washington for a reprieve. The CDA made clear that the President and the Secretary were working hard to arrange a ceasefire that SIPDIS contributes to a lasting settlement. ¶2. (C) In a July 31 memorial service for assassinated Shia cleric and former leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim earlier that day at SCIRI headquarters, Talabani and other senior Iraqi officials - Prime Minister Maliki, Vice President Adil Abd al-Mahdi, Deputy Speaker Sheikh Khalid al-Attiya, and SCIRI leader Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim - all declared their support for Lebanon, called for an immediate end to the fighting, and condemned Israeli actions. They all carefully avoided expressing any support for Hezbollah, although Adil Abd al-Mahdi did refer positively to the "national resistance" in Lebanon and to "occupied Lebanese lands." KHALILZAD