WASIT FADILHA HEAD ON SCIRI PLANS FOR FEDERALISM

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HILLAH 000126

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 7/28/2016
TAGS: KISL PGOV PTER IZ
SUBJECT: WASIT FADILHA HEAD ON SCIRI PLANS FOR FEDERALISM

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CLASSIFIED BY: Douglas Meurs, Acting Regional Coordinator, REO
Al Hillah, Dept of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)





1. (C) SUMMARY: On July 26, REO staff met with Sheikh Abbas Al
Zaidi, a self-professed "moderate" cleric who is the interim
head of all Fadilha activities in Wasit Province. Al Zaidi
claimed to be speaking for Fadilha spiritual head Ayatollah
Yaqoubi as he made the following points: 1) Sheikh Yaqoubi is
hoping for a visit from U.S. officials to his offices in Najaf;
2) the Americans should not rely on the marjaya'iya (Ayatollah
Ali Sistani),but speak directly to southern Shi'a; 3) SCIRI
intends to set up a Southern nine-province federal region before
the next provincial council elections and is already regularly
holding closed governors' coordination meetings in Najaf; and 4)
Moqtada al-Sadr remains opposed to a nine-province region, but
is open to forming a three-province South Central region.
Al-Zaidi warned against Iranian influence and SCIRI corruption
in Wasit Province, saying that he fears "the Iranian flag will
soon raise over Wasit." END SUMMARY


2. (SBU) Sheikh Abbass Al-Zaidi had requested the July 26
meeting with the REO, noting that he had not had any contact
with Americans since CPA days. He introduced himself as the
representative of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Al-Yaqoubi and
general supervisor of the Al-Fadilha (Virtue) Party, and its
religious arm, the Virtuous Clerics. He is currently running the
Fadilha religious school in Wasit, the Al Sadr Religious
University, but said he will shortly take over a joint
Kuwait/Iraqi religious studies program. He speaks some English.


3. (C) Al-Zaidi said he spoke with the knowledge of Fadilha
Ayatollah Al-Yaqoubi (and said he was on his way to Njajaf to
meet with Al-Yaqoubi). He commented that like himself,
Ayatollah Al-Yaqoubi hoped for more contact with the Americans
and extended an open invitation to meet with him in Najaf.
Al-Zaidi offered to facilitate such a visit.

SCIRI and Nine-Province Federalism
--------------


4. (C) Al-Zaidi stated that SCIRI intends to form a
nine-province Southern federal region before the next Provincial
Council elections. He saw SCIRI as aware that voters will drift
away from the religious parties because of their poor
performance in governing the provinces, and therefore, the party
will want to use its current majority control of southern
provincial councils to set up this Shi'a "super region."


5. (C) He confirmed reports that southern governors are meeting
monthly in Najaf to discuss coordination of provincial
reconstruction along regional lines. Al-Zaidi said that he had
been present when the Basra governor had received a phone call
from Najaf Governor Altaee, inviting him to the next session
(the Basra Governor, a Fadilha member, had refused). According
to Al-Zaidi, the meetings are usually billed as something
innocuous - "South Central Security Coordination Meeting" or a
similar title, but agendas focus on building regional capacity
and preparations for launching a Shi'a federal state.


6. (C) Al-Zaidi detailed what he saw as SCIRI strategy in
pushing toward a nine-province region. SCIRI will continue to
target illiterate rural voters who are prone to associating
SCIRI with the marjaya'iya, he said. Iran will fund all sides
in order to neutralize intra-Shi'a opposition. He noted that
Iran is also in the process of cutting off the Basra business
community from Arab suppliers in order to gain influence in the
province. Assassinations will remain a important Badr
Organization tool. Finally, he said, Najaf is a special focus
as SCIRI works to spread Iranian influence through the city.


7. (C) Al-Zaidi commented that increasingly, SCIRI and Da'wa
domination of provincial councils is paying off as they are in a
position to control who receives a provincial government job.
Applicants are made to sign a statement committing them to vote
for SCIRI or Da'wa and even acknowledging that they support a
nine-province federal region, Al-Zaidi claimed.


8. (C) Despite this multi-pronged strategy, Al-Zaidi said, SCIRI
could only succeed at putting together a nine-province region if
allowed to by the United States. The majority of southern Shi'a
do not support SCIRI's plan and do not wish to form a larger
federal region, he concluded.

Moqtada Al-Sadr: Not A Chip Off the Old Block
-------------- -


9. (C) During an explanation of the different roots of Fadilha,
Al-Zaidi paused to praise Mohammed Al-Sadr as someone who told

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followers "to be Arab because the Persians will walk on you with
iron shoes." The son (Moqtada al-Sadr),Al-Zaidi said, had
"defamed his legacy." Nonetheless, Al-Zaidi added, he had heard
from various Sadrist leaders that MAS continued to reject a
SCIRI-led nine-province federal region. MAS would possibly
support a Najaf/Karbala/Babil region, but would not go beyond
that, Al-Zaidi asserted. Fundamentally, Al-Zaidi said, MAS
believed his father's assassination had been arranged by Iran
and he remained anti-Iranian.

Wasit Province: Serious Corruption
--------------


10. (C) Al-Zaidi said he had extensive documentation about
construction corruption within Wasit's Provincial Council. His
party had "given up" trying to track how much money Governor
Turfa was siphoning off from border crossing traffic, he said.
He blamed the corruption on "Iranian collaborators," including
Majed Ali Asker (aka Abu Nidal) the provincial Da'wa Party head,
and Naseer Al-Hadad, the Badr Organization chief. In talking
about his own party's chances in upcoming elections, he noted
that Fadilha is as much a "religious and social" organization as
a political party, and accordingly, would always be more limited
in its membership.
MEURS