GENERAL QAIS: WILL HE BE DISMISSED?

S E C R E T HILLAH 000085 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 5/14/2016 TAGS: KISL PGOV MARR IZ SUBJECT: GENERAL QAIS: WILL HE BE DISMISSED? CLASSIFIED BY: Alfred Fonteneau, Regional Coordinator, REO Hillah, Department of State. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (S) SUMMARY: The beleaguered, but popular head of the Babil Police, General Qais Hamza Aboud Al-Momouri, updated the Regional Coordinator on developments in the Babil Governor and Provincial Council's campaign to dismiss him. General Qais stated that he had traveled to Baghdad on Friday to see Minister of Interior Bayan Jabr, who would only give him a verbal assurance that for the moment, General Qais would remain in place. One day later, Governor Al-Musalamawi and a delegation of eleven SCIRI Provincial Council members made the same trip. Governor Al-Musalamawi told the press that the Provincial Council's dismissal of General Qais stood and Qais would soon be stepping down. Iraqi police, Sunnis, and NGO members rallied on Sunday in downtown Hillah in support of General Qais. There were several tense moments as Iraqi Army soldiers called in to take over for the Iraqi Police in guarding the Governor's offices pointed their weapons at the demonstrators. Despite the public support and the protests of independent and some Sadr Provincial Council members, General Qais believes that Minister Jabr intends to sign an order dismissing Qais shortly before the Minister leaves office. END SUMMARY ¶2. (S) On May 14, General Hamza Qais, Babil Mayor Imad Lafta, and Babil IP Deputy Chief Colonel Abbas Al-Gebory briefed RC and REO staff on the campaign to remove him (reftel). Qais looked exhausted, and Lafta did most of the talking. Qais stated he had traveled to Baghdad to seek assurances from Minister of Interior Bayan Jabr that Qais would remain in place. Jabr, Qais said, reQsed to provide anything in writing. He assured Qais that he would remain in place as long as Jabr himself remained Minister. ¶3. (S) Qais told RC that he believed Minister Jabr will issue a written order dismissing Qais just before leaving office. He claimed that Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) leader Ayatollah Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim was pressuring Jabr to remove Qais. General Qais also noted that in a similar case, the removal of Najaf Province independent Police Chief Abbas, the Minister had assured Abbas he would stay and then quietly dismissed him by writing two days later. ¶4. (C) The following day, Governor Al-Musalamawi held a television interview after his meeting with Minister Jabr and stated that the Provincial Council's dismissal of Qais will stand. However, during a rally of 700-1000 General Qais supporters on Sunday, demonstrators heard from Iraqi Police officers that General Qais had returned from Baghdad with a signed memorandum confirming he would remain in place. This may have been a deception to avoid bloodshed - at the time, demonstrators had just broken the front gate of the Provincial Government building. Iraqi Army soldiers called in to replace the Governor's normal Iraqi Police guard reportedly aimed RPGs and machine guns at the crowd. ¶5. (S) General Qais and Mayor Lafta urged the Embassy and MNF-I to put pressure on Prime Minister Malicki and Minister Jabr, saying that the stakes were high; "Babil will become another Baghdad." Qais accused SCIRI, Da'wa, and Sadr PC members of having already divided up police positions as spoils in the event of Qais' departure. Both Qais and Lafta attributed the persistence of the Governor and SCIRI PC faction's attacks on General Qais to behind the scenes pressure from MOIS, the Iranian intelligence agency. ¶6. (S) When Mayor Lafta said quite seriously that the only thing left was to remove Governor Al-Musalamawi, RC inquired if there were any legal means to do so. Lafta and Qais commented that Al-Musalamawi had submitted a fake college certificate to satisfy a requirement that provincial governors have a degree from an institute of higher learning. Mayor Lafta stated he would talk to the Babil Province Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq to see if anything could be done to expose the certificate as a fake. COMMENT: Lafta promised to forward a copy of the certificate to the REO. END COMMENT FONTENEAU