GUARDED OPINION OF CAPABILITIES OF OIC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JEDDAH 000466

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

RIYADH, PLEASE PASS TO DHAHRAN; DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP;
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/02/2016
TAGS: KISL PREL SA
SUBJECT: GUARDED OPINION OF CAPABILITIES OF OIC

REF: A. JEDDAH 236


B. JEDDAH 366

C. 05 JEDDAH 4970

Classified By: Consul General Tatiana Gfoeller, for
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: An AmCit employee of the Islamic
Development Bank dismissed the Organization of the Islamic
Conference as an organization that has no credibility with
its members or the rest of the international community. He
described the OIC as little more than a forum for Arab
outrage. He also related that Asian officials resented the
OIC because it does not address issues of importance to them
or listen to their recommendations. He asserted that a
complete restructuring of the OIC would be required to turn
it into an influential organization. Major management
changes have occurred under the new Secretary General, but
many of the changes seem to follow the pattern of appealing
to Muslim pride and prejudice rather than to developing
effective policies. END SUMMARY.

IT DOESN'T DO ANYTHING; IT DOESN'T SAY ANYTHING; AND NOBODY
PAYS ANY ATTENTION TO IT ANYWAY


2. (C) In response to Washington's request for more
information on the Organization of the Islamic Conference
(OIC),Pol/Econ Chief met with an AmCit who occupies a senior
position with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB),a
subsidiary organization of the OIC. When asked his opinion
of the OIC and its activities, he responded: "It doesn't do
anything; it doesn't say anything; and nobody pays any
attention to it anyway." Expanding on this pithy assessment,
he continued that the OIC has devolved into an organization
with few concrete programs that acts primarily as a "soapbox"
for Arab complaints. Its various forums, he asserted,
generally do little but provide an uncritical endorsement of
the Arab or Islamic "cause." (Note: The recent Baku
Declaration in support of Iran's right to enrich nuclear fuel
is an example of this inclination to pander to Muslim public
opinion. End Note.)

OIC EXHIBITS SURPRISE THAT ANYONE IS PAYING ATTENTION


3. (C) As an example of the OIC's diminished position, he
pointed out that the IDB had originally been established as a
loan-making subsidiary of the OIC. In contrast to the OIC,
the IDB has flourished and administers important loan
programs thought the world. Now each year, this formerly
subsidiary organ, votes a grant to support the operations of
the OIC. Independent confirmation that even the OIC's own
staff view their activities as impotent may be provided by
the recent controversy over the meeting of the OIC's Islamic
Boycott Office (reftel A). After parrying Consulate
General's inquiries for weeks, an abashed OIC official
informed ConGenOff that they were shocked to find the
attention of the U.S. focused on what had become a yearly
formality (reftel B).

ASIAN MUSLIMS CUT OUT


4. (C) The source, who is of Asian origin and whose work
takes him frequently to Asian member states of the IDB, noted
that officials of these countries, especially Malaysia and
Pakistan, often express annoyance that the OIC devotes its
meetings to debating Arab complaints and then issues
declarations that seldom reflect input from Asian leaders.

OIC LACKS CREDIBILITY WITH EAST AND WEST


5. (C) In discussing the future prospects of the OIC, the
source agreed with Pol/Econ Chief that with its broad reach
throughout the Muslim World, the OIC has the potential to be
a bridge between the West and the Muslim World, but he was
not optimistic that the OIC could actually fulfill that role
anytime soon. Currently the OIC faces a dilemma. It has no
real credibility with either the Muslim or non-Muslim world.
The OIC would have to demonstrate the ability to develop
genuine, effective, consensus positions for the Islamic
states and demonstrate that it could influence the West in
order to develop credibility among Muslim states.
Conversely, it would have to be able to demonstrate the

JEDDAH 00000466 002 OF 002


ability to moderate and influence the opinions of the Muslim
peoples in order to have credibility with the West.

COMPLETE RESTRUCTURING NEEDED; EFFECTIVENESS WILL BE A LONG
TIME COMING


6. (C) In the source's view, developing this level of
credibility will be a difficult task, given the current level
of hostility between Muslim and non-Muslim. He opined that
the OIC would have to undergo a complete restructuring. He
speculated that it would take a long time for the OIC to
develop the stature to mediate between East and West. He
though that trust and confidence-bulding would have to be
forged slowly and in non-controversial areas, such as
disaster relief, or cooperation on relatively mundane aspects
of Muslim-Western relations.

OIC MANAGEMENT RECOGNIZES NEED FOR CHANGE


7. (C) A small, bright note, in the source's opinion, is
that the new management of the OIC, under the leadership of
Turkish Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu appears to
recognize that wholesale changes are needed if the OIC is to
play a useful role in international affairs. Since he
assumed the Secretary General position, Ihsanoglu has made
many changes in the management staff of the organization.
Indeed, virtually everyone from the OIC that has met with
Consulate General staff was appointed to his current position
by Ihsanoglu during the past year. Ihsanoglu has also
instituted a number of new initiatives in an effort to
revitalize the OIC. Among them, the OIC sponsored a Summit
of Islamic Nations at Mecca in December 2005. From that
summit came several programs designed to influence the policy
of the Islamic states (reftel C). Among the programs is a
campaign to combat Islamophobia and to promote intra-OIC
trade.


8. (C) COMMENT: The source painted a pessimistic picture of
the OIC and its prospects for acting as a useful instrument
for moderating the hostility between Muslim states and the
non-Muslim world. In the source's view, fundamental change
within the OIC is essential. Some of these changes may be
occurring now under an ambitious new Secretary General.
However, many of the OIC's new initiatives appear to be
designed to improve its credibility with Muslims in precisely
the way that will diminish its reputation in the West. As
the source, who is Muslim and very proud of his American
citizenship, pointed out, the Islamophobia campaign
criticizes the West for the slightest perceived slight of
Islam, but does nothing to restrain the virulent jihadist
language that emanates from many mosques. And the trade
initiative focuses not on preparing Islamic countries to
participate in the WTO, but rather to encourage trade
exclusively within the Islamic community, thus further
segregating, rather than integrating, the Islamic community
from the world at large. It will take a number of years of
careful interaction on non-controversial matters before the
OIC can be expected to have significant influence on major
conflicts between Muslim and non-Muslim. END COMMENT.
Gfoeller