NORTH BABIL SHEIKHS APPEAL FOR U.S. HELP ON SECURITY, JOBS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HILLAH 000148

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/15/2016
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PTER KISL IZ
SUBJECT: NORTH BABIL SHEIKHS APPEAL FOR U.S. HELP ON SECURITY, JOBS

REF: HILLAH 147

HILLAH 00000148 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Charles F. Hunter, Regional Coordinator, REO
Al-Hillah, Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) Summary: A group of Sunni tribal leaders and activists
from north Babil view American intervention as their best hope
to address unemployment in their area, stabilize Iraq's security
situation and promote expression of moderate political views.
According to a subsequent communication from one member of the
group, their own personal security worries have intensified
following the assassination of the head of the Hillah SWAT team
(reftel),as a result of which they now fear that Shi'a death
squads may have them in their sights. End summary.


2. (C) Led by a retired Air Force pilot, Gen. 'Iyad Hatif,
approximately ten leaders of Sunni tribes from the northern part
of Babil Province and several political activists converged on
the Regional Embassy Office (REO) on Oct. 7 to present a list of
concerns to the Regional Coordinator (RC),IPAO and a
representative of 2BCT/4ID based at the REO. The meeting
resulted from a request to the RC by Dr. Laith Al-'Ulwani, a
civil society activist, at the REO-hosted iftar three days
earlier. Dr. Laith accompanied the group but mainly let others
do the talking. Several of the sheikhs were careful to note
that although they themselves are residents of Babil, their
tribesmen live all over Iraq.

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SECURITY CONCERNS
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3. (C) Gen. 'Iyad kicked off the discussion with an overview of
Babil's security, hailing the work of the Iraqi police and army
for keeping the province stable compared to others. He also
noted the significant contributions of tribal leaders in this
regard. However, he maintained, sheikhs will need assistance to
continue to play an effective and positive leadership role.
Political and economic factors are having negative repercussions
on the security front, in his analysis, and causing people to
abandon traditional pillars of their social structure, such as
the tribal hierarchy, in favor of leaders who draw on other
types of loyalties.

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GET JOBS FOR THE YOUNG PEOPLE
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4. (C) Once Gen. 'Iyad called on the sheikhs one by one to
speak, they confined their initial remarks to economic matters.
A growing population of jobless young men is providing ready
recruits for troublemakers, they said, and the Americans should
get involved to help reduce unemployment. One proposal was to
provide retirement funds so that older workers can step aside
and give the younger labor force a chance to be hired.
Deportation of foreigners working in Iraq but not married to
Iraqis was among the more outlandish other suggestions they
made, though one of their number pointed out that many
foreigners had lived here so long and given so much to the
country that they should be considered honorary Iraqis.


5. (C) The men also repeated bitterly a complaint the Babil
Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) has previously heard on
numerous occasions from Dr. Laith, namely that north Babil has
not received its fair share of reconstruction projects.
Reconstruction work in the province's northern areas had never
been able to get off the ground because of security concerns,
they claimed, and what projects had been carried out were
tainted because contracts went to corrupt leaders and people
with "dirty hands." (Note: According to PRT statistics, the two
districts of north Babil have actually received more project
funds per capita than the province's other two districts. End
note.)

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NEED BETTER ARMY, REPRESENTATIVES
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6. (C) The group also advocated bringing former Iraqi army
personnel back into the security forces as a means of improving
both employment rates and security. Notwithstanding this
desire, the sheikhs are looking to the U.S. to ensure border
security for the country. They particularly fear Iranian
infiltration but believe that anyone wanting to disrupt Iraq's
progress can come in relatively easily from any direction and do
so. The deployment of the Iraqi army contributes to the
problem, in their view, by leaving many areas unguarded and open
for use as bases for nefarious operations. Moreover, were the
security forces to fall under the sway of a given political
current, they said, the results would be very bad for the

HILLAH 00000148 002.2 OF 002


province and particularly for its Sunni residents concentrated
in the north.


7. (C) The next target for the sheikhs' displeasure was the
Babil Provincial Council (PC). Again taking up the allegation
of a lack of reconstruction projects, they posited that the PC
does not care about north Babil in the least. Lacking adequate
representation in the province's legislative or executive
branches, the group asked for the U.S. to bring political
moderates together to chart a way forward. The RC rejoined that
dialogue seeking peaceful resolution of problems is inherently
desirable, but Iraqis must take the lead in shaping their
political processes and institutions. Unreceptive to this
message, the sheikhs clung to the belief that, as one of them
put it, the U.S. had broken Iraq and is now obligated to fix it.

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AFTERWARDS, MORE WORRIES
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8. (C) Dr. Laith reiterated the group's security concerns in a
phone call to a REO local employee following the Oct. 13
assassination of Al-Hillah SWAT leader Col. Salam Al-Ma'mouri
(reftel). If Maj. Ali Hamid Abbas takes over the SWAT team per
the instructions from the office of the Prime Minister, said Dr.
Laith (who asked to have his views communicated to higher
levels),it would not be long before he and some of the other
men who attended the Oct. 7 meeting would find themselves the
targets of Shi'a death squads.

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COMMENT
--------------

9. (C) The tone of the sheikhs' comments was respectful even
when the discussion grew mildly accusatory, and they conveyed an
almost touching degree of faith that the U.S. can make things
better if only it puts its mind to it. By the same token there
was no small measure of irony in some of what they had to say.
The poor representation on the Provincial Council they lamented,
for instance, became all but inevitable when the Sunnis
boycotted elections. In the end, however, it is difficult to
argue with their contention that their region's security bears
watching. The province's police chief, MG Qais Al-Ma'mouri
(whom Gen. 'Iyad praised by name),would surely agree: less than
24 hours after this meeting, he survived yet another
assassination attempt - in Iskandiriya, to the north near
Babil's border with Baghdad.
HUNTER