DIWANIYAH SECURITY - TURNING A CORNER?

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HILLAH 000129

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 8/10/2016
TAGS: KISL MARR PTER IZ
SUBJECT: DIWANIYAH SECURITY - TURNING A CORNER?

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CLASSIFIED BY: Alfred Fonteneau, Regional Coordinator, REO Al
Hillah, Dept of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) SUMMARY: The Diwaniyah provincial government has
become more aggressive about turning around deteriorating
security in the province, and preliminary results are
encouraging. After a series of meetings with REO staff and
personnel at Camp Echo, Governor Hamza held a public meeting in
which he announced that eight political parties represented on a
new Provincial Council Security Committee would support an
enhanced security action plan. He also lambasted provincial
police upper ranks in front of the press, assigning commanders
to specific areas and warning them that they would be fired if
attacks occurred in their area of responsibility. The Diwaniyah
newspaper editor reports that government workers have returned
to work and the police are patrolling more aggressively. The
frequency of indirect fire against Camp Echo has declined.
While the provincial government's commitment to enhanced
security is still in its early days, initial results suggest
that the situation is improving. END SUMMARY


2. (C) Earlier in July, REO staff told Diwaniyah (Qadisiyah)
contacts close to Governor Hamza that the deteriorating security
situation was rapidly bringing about a draw down of US-funded
reconstruction projects in the province. The inability of Army
Corps of Engineer and other professional staff to regularly
visit sites or to dispatch their local staff to projects was
jeopardizing progress. In addition, many projects had fallen
seriously behind because of low technical competence and
inefficiency in the provincial government. The kidnapping,
torture, and assassination of the Army Corps of Engineer's head
Iraqi engineer at Camp Echo exacerbated relations, and the
Provincial Reconstruction and Development Committee (PRDC) was
no longer regularly meeting.


3. (C) Governor Hamza arranged a meeting with REO staff to
discuss the security situation. The following day, he and eight
members of a newly formed Provincial Security Council came to
the REO to continue the discussion. He agreed to renew contact
with MND-CS personnel on Camp Echo, including the new Polish
base commander.


4. (SBU) Diwaniyah television, radio, and newspapers widely
covered the Security Committee's first public hearing. All
eight parties represented pledged to cooperate and work together
to reduce the incidence of violence. The leader of the Office
of Martyr Sadr (OMS - Muqtada al-Sadr's political branch) stated
that Muqtada al-Sadr had ordered that there would be no Sadrist
attacks against civilians or Iraqi Security Forces and said that
if militia members were arrested and investigated for such
attacks, OMS would not support them. His pledge did not appear
to extend as far as Coalition Forces, but did represent a
significant softening of the hard line "we control the city"
stance taken by his predecessor.


5. (C) Except for remarks made by the representative of
Al-Zarkhi/Al-Husseini, the tone was positive throughout the
meeting. The Al-Husseini representative said that the Al-Zarkhi
militia would not refrain from seeking punishment for Iraqi Army
operatives who had been involved in a car chase and shoot-out
with militia members back in May. Governor Hamza told the
Al-Husseini representative that those "civilians" were from
Baghdad and were not the province's affair. Hamza and the
Provincial Council Chairman also stated that they serve under
Prime Minister Malicki who has agreed to let Coalition Forces
remain in the country for the time being in order to safeguard
security.


6. (C) A Diwaniyah newspaper reporter told REO staff that
high-ranking Diwaniyah police officers traveled to Najaf to meet
with Muqtada al-Sadr (MAS). According to our contact, MAS
replied that he will investigate attacks allegedly carried out
by Mahdi Militia units, and if they were found out to be
responsible, he would close down the OMS office in Diwaniyah
just as he has already done in Basra. The reporter remarked
that last week, a woman shopper involved in an altercation with
a downtown market stall owner left in a rage and returned a half
hour later with Mahdi Militia members who proceeded to close
down the market. Similar episodes were damaging the reputation
of MM and souring the miltia's relations with the Diwaniyah
business community.


7. (SBU) The reporter also noted that this week, Diwaniyah is
noticeably more relaxed. For the first time in several weeks,
the traffic police were on the job and more provincial
government employees than usual were going to work. He said
that it was widely rumored that Governor Hamza would dismiss the
Diwaniyah Police Chief in accordance with a new Ministry of
Interior directive ordering performance reviews for all Police

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Chiefs belonging to political parties. Governor Hamza met with
provincial police high-ranking officers on Monday, August 6, and
warned them that they would be assigned to specific sectors and
fired if attacks occurred in those sectors. General Uthman of
the 8th IA had moved Iraqi Army personnel into checkpoints
around Diwaniyah's perimeter and the combined increased ISF
presence was noticeable.


8. (SBU) COMMENT: While far to soon to tell if there will be
lasting results, indirect fire against Camp Echo has greatly
diminished from two weeks ago when attacks were on a
near-nightly basis. A lull in IED and EFP attacks against CF
convoys could be attributable to the new security understanding
or may simply reflect a period of replenishment of stocks by
militia units. END COMMENT
FONTENEAU