BABIL OFFICIALS ASK NAJAF SCIRI BOSS TO HELP OUST BABIL

C O N F I D E N T I A L HILLAH 000006

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 1/7/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL KISL IZ
SUBJECT: BABIL OFFICIALS ASK NAJAF SCIRI BOSS TO HELP OUST BABIL
POLICE CHIEF

REF: HILLAH 0353 2005

CLASSIFIED BY: ALFRED FONTENEAU, REGIONAL COORDINATOR, REO,
AL-HILLAH, STATE.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) Summary: Members of the Babil Provincial Council (PC) met
January 3 with the Najaf head of the Supreme Council for the
Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) to secure the SCIRI leader's
help in ousting the Iraqi Police (IP) chief of Babil Province.
Recent efforts by religious party-affiliated Babil officials to
oust the chief stem from his refusal to hire 1,350 new police
officer candidates hand-picked by provincial officials. End
summary.


2. (C) Babil Provincial Council member Qassem Hamoud Abed led a
small delegation that met January 3 to discuss the ouster of the
Babil Police Chief with Shaykh Sadr Al-Deen Al-Qubanji, the
Najaf head of SCIRI and one of the most senior SCIRI officials
nationwide, according to Babil IP contacts. Sources in
Al-Qubanji's office confirmed the meeting, which took place in
Al-Qubanji's home, and its content, to SET Najaf local staff.
The Babil delegation included Aboud, who is affiliated with
SCIRI, another unidentified Babil PC member, and Imad
Al-Jabouri, an American citizen of Iraqi origin who is
affiliated with the Dawa Party, is close to the SCIRI-affiliated
Babil Governor, and serves as a self-described "informal
security advisor" to the provincial government. According to REO
Al-Hillah local staff and local contacts, both Abed and
Al-Jabouri are rumored to have close ties to Iranian
intelligence services.


3. (C) Al-Qubanji reportedly promised the Babil delegation that
he would discuss the issue of the police chief's removal with
"ministerial authorities" in Baghdad, and that he would support
their position. The cleric maintained that the entire national
government must be investigated to insure that it is free of
Baathists. He added that the interference of Coalition Forces in
the Iraqi security services, and the Coalition release Baathists
from prison, had compromised Iraqi security and hindered the
efforts of the Iraqis to fight the insurgency.


4. (C) Rumors have swirled regarding the intention of Babil
Governor Salem Saleh Mehdi Al-Muslimawi and the Provincial
Council to oust the police chief, General Qais Hamza Aboud
Al-Mamouri, since the chief resisted appointing 1,410 new police
officers hand-selected by the Governor and PC members in late
November 2005 (reftel.) Al-Mamouri, an independent, told REO
staff that he fears that the new police officer candidates,
added to his existing force of about 6,000 officers, would serve
as a private religious militia within the police and compromise
his force's effectiveness and integrity.


5. (C) Al-Mamouri has met several times in the last month with
the Regional Coordinator (RC) and REO staff regarding threats to
his job. During this time, the Governor has reportedly
petitioned Interior Minister Bayan Jabr to remove the chief, and
Babil government contacts have suggested that the PC is
considering action on the chief's removal. General Mamouri told
the RC on January 5 that the PC had informed the Ministry of
Interior of their intention to hold such a vote. (Note:
According to Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) regulations
still in effect, provincial councils must inform the Ministry of
Interior of their intention to vote on dismissing the provincial
police chief before this action can be taken. End note.) Such a
vote would likely pass, given SCIRI's dominance of the Babil PC.
If the vote does pass, the Interior Minister must approve the
action for the dismissal to take effect.


6. (C) Al-Mamouri has told REO staff that he will hire any of
the 1,410 hand-picked new candidates that qualify based on the
national standard for IP officers, which includes a reading and
writing requirement. Of some 300 applications he has received
from the new candidates willing to submit their papers,
Al-Mamouri said, only 20 have had the necessary qualifications.


7. (C) Comment: Having been thus far unable to force the chief
to hire the new officers or remove him from power on their own
or by petitioning Baghdad, Babil officials appear to be pursuing
other means. That the Babil officials are apparently willing to
court the support of a senior SCIRI official from outside the
province to further pressure Baghdad authorities, and that the
official, Al-Qubanji, appears wiling to do so, are equally
troubling for the prospects of an independent Babil Police Chief
and Police Force. End comment.

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