FORMER EXILE IRAQI BUSINESSMAN DESCRIBES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 000516

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/16/2036
TAGS: PREL ECON KCOR IZ
SUBJECT: FORMER EXILE IRAQI BUSINESSMAN DESCRIBES
CHALLENGES OF DOING BUSINESS IN BAGHDAD AND PRAISES RECENT
EMBASSY PUBLIC AFFAIRS EFFORTS

Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ROBERT S. FORD, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B)
AND (D).


1. (C) Summary. Former exile Iraqi businessman Muhanned
Eshaiker, cousin to Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari, described
the challenges of doing business in Baghdad: when and
whether to pay bribes, the difficulty of finding qualified,
energetic professional workers, and keeping up with the
political gossip. Eshaiker praised recent Embassy public
affairs efforts to convey USG views to the Iraqi people via
television, and encouraged U.S. officials to maximize
visibility on Iraqi television talking to the Iraqi people.
End summary.


2. (U) Muhanned al-Eshaiker, cousin to Prime Minister
Ibrahim Jafari al-Eshaiker, gave Poloffs a slice of life in
Baghdad business circles. Eshaiker was a prominent leader of
the Shia-American community in Southern California before the
liberation, and was a leader of the Iraqi Forum for
Democracy, a grass-roots Iraqi-American advocacy
organization. After the liberation, he worked briefly for a
contractor, but then opted to go into the construction
business in Baghdad. His firm has won subcontracts from USG
and Iraqi firms.

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BRIBERY AS A FACT OF LIFE FOR MOST IRAQIS
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3. (C) Eshaiker recently moved back into his family's house
in central Baghdad after having lived since the liberation in
a rented house elsewhere in the city. He said that his
family home had been lived-in for more than 10 years by
someone associated with Saddam's security services, who
demanded payment from Eshaiker to leave the house in which he
was illegally squatting. The courts were not a feasible
option, Eshaiker said, because bribes are routinely required
in property dispute cases. In addition to the cost of
bribing the judge, the police would not evict a squatter
without being paid further bribes, so it was simpler and no
more expensive to pay the squatter 5,000 USD to leave, which
he did. Eshaiker did not receive any rent on the property
from his squatter. He described his experience as typical,
in that local businessmen cannot rely on the courts to settle
property and contract claims fairly or promptly.

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GOOD HELP IS HARD TO FIND
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4. (C) Despite high unemployment in the country as a whole,
Iraqi businesses like his face real problems in getting good
help to work for them, Eshaiker says. He recently needed
three engineers to work on a contract, and offered 1,000 USD
a month -- a generous salary by Iraqi standards. However,
the applicant pool was either (a) young, with computer
skills, but lacking in professional experience, or (b) older,
lacking computer skills, lacking in a solid work ethic, and
"self-defeated" by growing up during wars and uprisings under
Saddam Hussein. He particularly criticized Iraqis in the
38-42 year-old age range (i.e., born 1964-1968) as having
"lost interest in their lives." He was impressed with the
younger generation of Iraqis, who grew up in an Iraq without
personal computers but had caught up quickly in the use of
technology since the liberation. He said he has no trouble
hiring young Iraqis who are self-taught in Microsoft Word,
Excel and PowerPoint, essential tools in a professional
engineering firm like his.


5. (C) Since his cousin PM Jafari's selection as the nominee
of the United Iraqi Coalition (UIC),Eshaiker says he has
been receiving numerous requests from potential job-seekers
wanting jobs in the government. He has been disappointed
that many of these people do not have the requisite skills or
expertise that the Iraqi government needs, and most are not
willing to work hard. This culture of job-seekers in Iraq
needs to change, he said.

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EMBASSY PUBLIC AFFAIRS SUCCESS STORY
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6. (SBU) Eshaiker praised recent Embassy public affairs
efforts in which Americans talk directly to the Iraqi people.
He described a recent television interview in which an
Arabic-speaking Embassy official was asked why the United
States was talking to the insurgents. The official explained
cogently that the United States talks to everyone in Iraq,
and when the interviewer asked if the United States was

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trying to bring back the Ba'th party, the official made a
forceful presentation that the Ba'th were never coming back.
This kind of outreach and clarity is effective with the Iraqi
people, Eshaiker said, because they will believe messages
from American officials directly. It does not matter as much
if American officials do not speak Arabic -- voiceover
translation is effective, he said -- but American officials
need to be more visible on Iraqi television talking to the
Iraqi people.

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IRAQI POLITICS AS THE PEOPLE SEE IT
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7. (C) The Iraqi people, Eshaiker said, now want a strong
government even more than they want a democratic government.
Chaos and corruption were increasing, he said. Electricity,
fuel and jobs top the list of Iraqis' needs, though the water
supply is doing better. Iraqi politics has become very
difficult, he said, and he did not regret going into business
rather than going into politics in Iraq after the liberation.


8. (C) Eshaiker, who is Shia, said that one of the most
decisive events in the electoral campaign was the apparently
inadvertent appearance on Al-Jazeera of a Palestinian critic
of the Shia, who had appeared along with an Iraqi Shia. The
Palestinian said the Shia were backwards, and criticized
Grand Ayatollah 'Ali al-SISTANI. This had caused the Shia
participant to become outraged on the air, and this, in turn,
outraged the people. Riots ensued. "It was as if people
were saying, 'You insult our SISTANI, so we are going to vote
for 555.'"


9. (C) Another pivotal campaign event in Eshaiker's view was
an interview given by Ammar al-Hakim, son of 'Abd al-'Aziz
al-Hakim of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in
Iraq (SCIRI) in which he used rhetorical devices such as
saying that because Grand Ayatollah 'Ali al-SISTANI had
endorsed the United Iraqi Coalition (UIC) when they were list
number 169 in the January campaign, this meant he endorsed
the UIC when they were list 555 in the December campaign.
Eshaiker said that people believed this false claim because
there was nobody effectively countering Hakim's message.

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HIGH SCHOOL MEMORIES
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10. (C) Eshaiker, a graduate of Baghdad College, a
Jesuit-run high school famous for many other illustrious
alumni, including former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, Deputy
Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, and Vice President Adil Abd
al-Mahdi, offered up stories about a classmate: Mithal
al-Aloosi, elected in December to the Council of
Representatives from Baghdad. Aloosi, who was for a time the
head of the Supreme De-Ba'thification Commission, was at one
time a Ba'thist himself, Eshaiker said. Eshaiker claimed
that when the Jesuit fathers were kicked out of Baghdad
college after the Ba'thists took power in 1968, Aloosi's
father was put in charge of the high school. Eshaiker said
that Mithal al-Aloosi started a chapter of the Ba'th party in
the school, visibly carried a gun, and threw his father's
political weight around. In the 1969 student body election,
a number of "parties" ran for student government positions.
Lists of candidates were posted on a wall in the school.
Eshaiker said that Aloosi and his party tore down all the
other party lists, then claimed that only one party was
running -- his -- and therefore claimed victory in the
election. Eshaiker said he was not, therefore, surprised at
the non-transparent way in which Aloosi handled the work of
the De-Ba'thification Commission.
KHALILZAD