SOUTH CENTRAL, SOUTHERN IRAQI OFFICIALS DISCUSS SHRINE

C O N F I D E N T I A L HILLAH 000034

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/2/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV KISL IZ
SUBJECT: SOUTH CENTRAL, SOUTHERN IRAQI OFFICIALS DISCUSS SHRINE
SECURITY, RELIGIOUS TOURISM

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




1. (U) This is a SET Najaf cable.


2. (SBU) Summary: Provincial Council (PC) members, Iraqi
Security Forces (ISF) officers and other officials from the
predominantly Shi'a South Central and Southern Iraqi provinces
met March 1 in Najaf to discuss the protection of holy shrines
in the aftermath of the Al-Askariyah bombing in Samarra. The
attendees issued recommendations including improving the
equipment of the shrine protection forces, involving the tribes
in shrine security, and better securing the perimeter of the
Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf. The attendees also discussed security
and economic aspects of the South Central region's religious
tourism industry. End summary.


3. (C) The March 1 conference took place at midday under tight
security at the Najaf Hotel, a large hotel just down the street
from the Najaf Governorate Center. According to local SET Najaf
staff who attended the event, streets were blocked and there was
a heavy Iraqi Police (IP) and Iraqi Army (IA) presence.
Attendees included delegations of PC members and IP and IA
officers from Najaf, Karbala, Babil, Diwaniyah, Wasit and
Maysan. The Najaf PC Chair, Abdul Hussein Al-Mousawi, attended
the event, as did Deputy Governor Abdul Hussein Abtan, who
opened the conference with a speech in which he described the
protection of holy shrines as a national and a religious duty.


4. (C) The purpose of the conference was primarily to discuss
the protection of the Shi'a holy shrines in the wake of the
Samarra bombing. Most of the formal recommendations agreed upon
by the attendees dealt with this issue. The conference called
for establishing a special shrine protection force to guard the
Al-Askariyah Shrine, replacing the IPs who currently protect the
site. The force would be created on the model of the guard
forces charged with protecting the shrines of Najaf and Karbala.



5. (C) The conference also called for involving the national and
provincial governments in the shrine guard forces, and to better
equip these forces with bomb-detection equipment and metal
detectors. The conference also suggested enlisting the tribes in
the protection of the more remote holy places.


6. (C) In Najaf, the participants suggested expanding the
perimeter of the Imam Ali Shrine and constructing a more secure
wall around the site, rather than the fence that now surrounds
the mosque. The suggestion would necessitate tearing down
several large hotels, which form a district known as "Visitors'
City," adjacent to the shrine which have typically served as the
lodging place for hundreds of pilgrims at a time.


7. (C) The attendees also discussed religious tourism. The
conference moved to establish a committee from the Provincial
Councils to investigate creating a database that would log all
Arab and foreign (non-Arab) visitors to the shrines of Najaf and
Karbala. (Note: The shrines draw a significant number of Shi'a
pilgrims from non-Arab countries such as Iran, Pakistan and
India. End note.) The group also recommended expanding the
number of pilgrimage travel companies that exist outside of
Najaf and Karbala. Such an expansion would, the participants
hoped, spread the wealth of the millions of pilgrims who visit
the twin shrine cities annually to the other provinces of South
Central and Southern Iraq.

FONTENEAU