Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06HILLAH8
2006-01-09 14:59:00
CONFIDENTIAL
REO Hillah
Cable title:  

NEW DIWANIYAH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DELEGATION SHOWS DAWA, SADR

Tags:  PGOV PREL PINR IZ 
pdf how-to read a cable
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L HILLAH 000008 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 1/9/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR IZ
SUBJECT: NEW DIWANIYAH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DELEGATION SHOWS DAWA, SADR
INFLUENCE

REF: HILLAH 007

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



C O N F I D E N T I A L HILLAH 000008

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 1/9/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR IZ
SUBJECT: NEW DIWANIYAH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DELEGATION SHOWS DAWA, SADR
INFLUENCE

REF: HILLAH 007

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




1. (C) Summary: The Diwaniyah Province delegation to the new
National Assembly (NA) will contain seven candidates from the
United Iraqi Alliance (UIA, ballot number 555) and one candidate
from the Iraqi National List (ballot number 731) according to
final provincial results provided by the provincial head of the
Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI). The 731
candidate is a well-known liberal. The UIA-affiliated contingent
shows strong Dawa and Sadr loyalties. End summary.


2. (C) According to final results offered by Saad Madhloom, the
Diwaniyah Head of the IECI, the UIA captured seven of
Diwaniyah's eight seats, with the remaining seat going to the
731 list (reftel.) The lead UIA candidate from Diwaniyah is
Minister of State for National Security Abdul Kareem Al-Anezi,
an Iraqi Dawa-affiliated leader from neighboring Maysan
Province.


3. (C) The second UIA candidate is Jaber Abdul Kadhum Salman
Al-Zeyadi, a Dawa Party member and close ally of Prime Minister
Ibrahim Jaafari. A member of the Zeyadi tribe, Al-Zeyadi is
originally from Diwaniyah but now spends most of his time in
Baghdad, local contacts report. The third delegate is Adeeba
Musa Al-Shahad, a Sadrist school teacher and current
Transitional National Assembly (TNA) member elected to the TNA
in January 2005 as a Sadr-affiliated member of the Shi'a Candle
List. Al-Shahad is from the Diwaniyah town of Shamiya. Contacts
report that Al-Shahad has not been a visible representative or
active campaigner, preferring to remain in her home when
business permits her to leave Baghdad.


4. (C) The fourth candidate on the UIA slate, Melham Al-Megoter,
is perhaps the best-known UIA candidate in Diwaniyah outside of
Al-Anezi. A member of a distinguished family described by REO
Al-Hillah local staff as "the Kennedys of Diwaniyah,"
Al-Megoter, lawyer and businessman, is the only independent on
the UIA ticket, and according to local contacts the only UIA
candidate to campaign on the strength of his own name rather
than the UIA umbrella. Al-Megoter is proud of his family's place
in Iraqi history. He related that his grandfather accompanied
King Faisal, the first King of Iraq, from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia,
to Iraq after the British crowned King Faisal in the post-world
War I years. He offered that he had been extended many positions
under Saddam Hussein because of his prominent name, but that he
had consistently refused because Hussein's regime was, he said,
"illegal and illegitimate."


5. (C) In a December 12 meeting with REO Al-Hillah staff,
Al-Megoter expressed his confidence regarding the new NA and an
animus towards Coalition forces. "I expect the coming parliament
to be better than the previous one," he predicted, citing the
inclusion of Sunnis as the most important reason. He argued that
only Sunni participation in Iraqi politics could reduce
insurgent violence. Regarding Coalition Forces, he demanded an
apology from the USG for two incidents: one in which, he said,
Coalition forces fired on his car, narrowly missing hitting him;
and a second incident, more than a year prior to the interview,
in which he alleged that his nephew had been killed by Coalition
gunfire while driving through Baghdad.


6. (C) The remaining UIA candidates are, according to local
staff and contacts, less well-known. The fifth is Salim Jasoor
Hasoon, a SCIRI member; the sixth is Kamila Kadhum Mohammed, a
member of Al-Fadila Party; and the seventh is Shaheed Hussein
Muttar, a Dawa Party member.


7. (C) The 731 candidate is Shaykh Hussein Ali Al-
Shalaan, a cousin of former Minister of Defense Hazem Shalaan
and the leader of a prominent Diwaniyah tribe. Shalaan is a
current TNA member, having been elected in January 2005 as a
member of the Allawi slate.

FONTENEAU