BASRAH GOVERNOR ON NEW "ILLEGAL" SECURITY COMMITTEE AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BASRAH 000135

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 8/23/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR IR IZ
SUBJECT: BASRAH GOVERNOR ON NEW "ILLEGAL" SECURITY COMMITTEE AND
RECENT TRIP TO IRAN

REF: (A) BASRAH 132; (B) BASRAH 90

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CLASSIFIED BY: Andrea Gastaldo, Deputy Regional Coordinator, REO
Basrah, DOS.
REASON: 1.4 (b)


1. (C) Summary. Basrah Governor Mohammed al-Wa'eli told the
Regional Coordinator (RC) on August 21 that the Basrah security
committee recently created by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and
headed by Major General Ali Hammadi al-Musawi (ref A) is illegal
and that he planned to visit the PM later this week to discuss
its existence. He added that Hammadi's first action as head of
the committee was to break Iraqi law by releasing seven
detainees held in connection with the August 16 attack on the
Basrah government building. Al-Wa'eli said that he had
requested that legal action be instituted against the general
for this illegal release. The governor also provided details
about his recent seven-day official visit to Iran, which
resulted in an agreement to combat smuggling and illegal travel
across the Shatt al-Arab river and Iranian offers of trade and
assistance. End Summary.

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GOVERNOR SAYS SECURITY COMMITTEE IS ILLEGAL
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2. (C) On August 21 Basrah Governor Mohammed al-Wa'eli told the
RC that the Basrah security committee, headed by Major General
Ali Hammadi al-Musawi, is "illegal" and that Hammadi broke the
law by releasing seven detainees held in connection with the
August 16 attack on Basrah's main government building. Stating
that he would travel to Baghdad later this week to discuss the
issue with the prime minister, al-Wa'eli explained that the
security committee's authority under Hammadi was
unconstitutional since it superseded his own. (Note. Al-Wa'eli
said that he had planned to go to Baghdad on August 16 but was
forced to cancel his plans when the government building was
attacked. End note.)


3. (C) The governor said he made a written request to judicial
authorities to "sue" Hammadi for ordering the release of the
seven detainees held in the aftermath of the August 16 incident.
He claimed that only three of the seven detainees were members
of the Bani Asad tribe, and the other four were members of Sayed
al-Shuhada and Thar Allah and alluded to Abdul Aziz al-Hakim as
being "behind" the attack.


4. (C) The governor also accused Abdul Aziz al-Hakim and the
Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) of
spreading rumors among the tribes of Basrah to stir up
opposition against the local government. He said that a
settlement with the Bani Asad tribe would be reached within a
few days and part of the settlement would be a tribal apology to
the government. Al-Wa'eli went on to say that al-Hakim was
trying to eliminate him because al-Wa'eli represents the
opposition to the SCIRI plan to combine nine provinces in
southern Iraq into a political unit led by al-Hakim. The
governor said Basrah favors a plan to unite Basrah with the two
southern provinces of Maysan and Dhi Qar.

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GOVERNOR'S TRIP TO IRAN
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5. (C) Al-Wa'eli provided details of his mid-August seven-day
trip to Iran, an official visit at the invitation of Iran's
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (Note. Iran recently reopened its
Basrah consulate. See ref B.) The governor said that he and
his 15-member delegation visited Ahvaz, Mashad and Qom, visited
with the governors of Mashad and Qom, toured steel and
petrochemical factories, and reached a security agreement with
Iran. The agreement calls for cooperation to halt smuggling and
unauthorized travel across the Shatt al-Arab river along the
southern Iran-Iraq border. In addition, he said Iranian
officials expressed a desire for stability in Iraq so that the
Coalition Forces would depart. Describing the trip as
successful, al-Wa'eli said Iran offered to help Basrah by
building a bridge across the Shatt al-Arab and repaving roads in
the Iraqi border crossing town of Shalamcheh. He added that
although the Iranians also proposed to rehabilitate factories in
Basrah, that is a matter for the central government to handle.


6. (C) Comment. The governor clearly wanted to put his spin on
the August 16 attack on the governorate building and to disabuse
any notion it had resulted from any wrongdoing on his part. His
antipathy to Abdul Aziz al-Hakim was more pronounced than it has
been in the past, and this may be part of his strategy in
advance of provincial elections. Badr and SCIRI are major
rivals of Fadillah, and Wa'eli will try to portray them in the

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worst light possible.


7. (C) Comment continued: Governor Wa'eli, who agreed to the
meeting only after repeated requests from the RC, did nothing to
dispel his reputation as the person who controls the city with
cunning, ruthlessness and corruption. Regardless of his
reputation, the governor is an adept politician and an
unscrupulous enemy to his political (and personal) opponents.
Al-Wa'eli, though being attacked on all sides for his
involvement in criminal schemes and for his inept
administration, is a formidable adversary. End Comment.
GROSS