Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06KUWAIT4625
2006-12-11 15:09:00
CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
Embassy Kuwait
Cable title:  

KUWAITIS TELL NEA PDAS JEFFREY INCREASED

Tags:  PREL IZ IR KU KUWAIT IRAN RELATIONS 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO1817
OO RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDIR RUEHKUK
DE RUEHKU #4625/01 3451509
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 111509Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY KUWAIT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7853
INFO RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 004625 

SIPDIS

NOFORN
SIPDIS

FOR NEA/ARP AND NEA/IR AND A/S WELCH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/11/2016
TAGS: PREL IZ IR KU KUWAIT IRAN RELATIONS
KUWAIT-IRAQ RELATIONS
SUBJECT: KUWAITIS TELL NEA PDAS JEFFREY INCREASED
COOPERATION AND CONSULTATION ARE KEYS TO CONFRONTING IRAN

Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for reasons 1.4(b) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 004625

SIPDIS

NOFORN
SIPDIS

FOR NEA/ARP AND NEA/IR AND A/S WELCH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/11/2016
TAGS: PREL IZ IR KU KUWAIT IRAN RELATIONS
KUWAIT-IRAQ RELATIONS
SUBJECT: KUWAITIS TELL NEA PDAS JEFFREY INCREASED
COOPERATION AND CONSULTATION ARE KEYS TO CONFRONTING IRAN

Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for reasons 1.4(b) and (d)


1. (C/NF) Summary: During his December 9 visit to Kuwait,
PDAS Jeffrey met with a number of prominent Kuwaitis to
discuss Iraq and Iran. The Kuwaitis expressed concern about
rising Iranian influence in the region and emphasized the
need for international cooperation. They agreed that the GCC
should play a more active role in Iraq and in confronting
Iran, but differed as to what approach would be most
effective. The Kuwaitis repeatedly stressed the need for the
U.S. to coordinate with its Arab allies on regional policies
and, equally as important, make clear to Arab publics that
the U.S. was listening to Arab leaders' advice rather than
dictating its own, unilateral policies to them. Former GCC
Secretary General Abdullah Bishara characterized regional

SIPDIS
tensions as a conflict between the forces of moderation -
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the GCC, the Lebanese government,
Mahmoud Abbas - and the forces of extremism. End summary.


2. (C/NF) During a December 9 visit to Kuwait, PDAS James
Jeffery met with former GCC Secretary General Abdullah
Bishara; Ambassador Khaled Al-Babtain, the outgoing Director
of the Americas Department at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs; MP Mohammed Jassem Al-Sager, the head of
Parliament's Foreign Relations Committee; and leaders of the
Islamic Constitutional Movement (ICM),the political arm of
the Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood. He also participated in a
roundtable lunch discussion with five prominent Kuwaiti
intellectuals and academics. The major theme of the visit
was that Iran presents a grave danger to the region and that
coordinated action on the part of the international community
is the only way to effectively deal with the Iranian threat.

International Cooperation is Key to Confronting Iran
-------------- --------------


3. (C/NF) Al-Babtain and Bishara agreed that Kuwait could
act as a useful conduit to the Iranian regime. Bishara cited
strong, unified international cooperation as the key to

successfully confronting Iran. He questioned the
effectiveness of the IAEA in exposing Iran's lies and called
the EU "toothless and flabby-bellied." He also criticized
the weakness and disunity of the GCC. Bishara said he
favored the GCC coming out with a strong statement that Iran
is a threat and sending an envoy to Iran to state that the
GCC supports the Security Council, the IAEA, and Europe. He
expressed pessimism about GCC unity, however, noting that
Qatar is more worried about Saudi Arabia than Iran and that
Oman does not share Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain's fears
about Iranian power and intentions.


4. (C/NF) Bishara also criticized NATO, saying that it had
not broken out of its Cold War mentality and realized the
importance of "oil politics." It is time, he said, for NATO
to take an active role in securing the stability of the Gulf.
Finally, Bishara said he favors a strong Security Council
resolution against Iran but emphasized the importance of a
public relations campaign to convince Gulf Arabs that it
would not have negative effects on GCC countries. Al-Babtain
said the key to American success vis-a-vis Iran was
coordinating with the Arab world on finding a solution to
Iraq's instability. Such coordination would show Iran that
the U.S. is not alone and this would "scare" Iran.

Kuwait Strategy towards Iran: Confrontation vs. Conversation
-------------- --------------


5. (C/NF) Bishara criticized Kuwait's Foreign Minister for
publicly focusing on the environmental dangers of Iran's
nuclear program rather than the security dimensions of the
threat. Kuwait, argued Bishara, should publicly state its
private analysis that Iran poses a major security threat to
the Gulf. Meanwhile, Al-Babtain said that following
Bishara's advice would cause Kuwait to lose the significant
access it now has to the Iranian government. He argued that
the Iranians know what the Kuwaitis mean when they talk about
the environment, and that GOK officials are very frank in
bilateral meetings with Iran. If Kuwait confronted Iran
publicly, the U.S. would lose a valuable means of dialogue
with the Iranians. Bishara supported the idea of Shaykh
Sabah visiting Iran because, he said, no other Gulf leader
could convey the right message to the Iranian leadership.


6. (C/NF) Bishara and Al-Babtain agreed that Kuwait had an
important role to play as a mediator in the GCC between Qatar
and Saudi Arabia. Bishara said that Kuwait had been given
this mandate at the GCC Consultative meeting in May. He
added that Amir Shaykh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah was taking an

KUWAIT 00004625 002 OF 003


active role in bridging differences but without much result.

How to Fix Iraq: Coordinate with Regional Allies
-------------- ---


7. (C/NF) Al-Babtain expressed the need for the U.S. to
coordinate its efforts with the Arab world, and especially
the Gulf, in the strongest terms. He stressed repeatedly
that the U.S. has made decisions regarding Iraq and Iran by
itself and then imposed them on the countries in the region.
This has led to many mistakes that could have been avoided by
consulting with regional allies who understand the region
better than the U.S. does. He added that the very perception
that the U.S. dictates policy to its allies stymies its
efforts.


8. (C/NF) Al-Babtain suggested forming a joint committee of
Americans and Gulf Arabs that would come up with policy
recommendations for Iraq. He said that the committee's
recommendations could be vetted by participating governments
behind the scenes but in public the committee would appear as
an independent body. If the U.S. were to then act on these
recommendations it would signal an Arab-U.S. alliance on
Iraq.


9. (C/NF) National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee
Chairman Al-Sager criticized the U.S. for its lack of
coordination with the neighboring countries as well. This
lack of coordination, he said, had led to decisions like
dissolving the army and opening the borders to let 200,000
Iranians enter Baghdad and change it from a Sunni to a Shi'a
city. Al-Sager recently returned from a business trip to
Iraq to deal with his family's vast date farms near Basra.
He saw many pictures of Khomeini and said he felt that Iran
was in control. He views Iraq as a chaotic place that needs
to be controlled by force. As he put it, "Iraq needed
freedom, not democracy," and urged the U.S. to increase its
troop levels in Iraq.


10. (C/NF) The five prominent Kuwaiti intellectuals
attending a roundtable lunch with PDAS Jeffrey echoed these
views. Former Minister of Information Dr. Saad bin Teflah
stressed that the GCC should not be excluded from any
potential U.S.-Iranian or U.S.-Syrian negotiations, arguing
that this would strengthen Iran and Syria at the expense of
the GCC. The Kuwaitis urged the U.S. to consider the GCC as
a "serious partner" and argued that the GCC could and should
play a more active role in Iraq, particularly by funding
economic development and promoting investment. Dr. Sami
Al-Faraj, the Director of the Kuwait Center for Strategic
Studies and an advisor to the GCC Secretary General, said the
U.S. should rely more on the GCC's economic strength and
noted that GCC investment in southern Iraq in particular
could serve as a balance to Iranian influence there. General
Ali Al-Mumin (Ret.),Kuwait's Ambassador-designate to Iraq
and a Shi'a, agreed on the need for more GCC investment in
Iraq, though he emphasized that it should not just be focused
on southern Iraq. He said Iraqis received Iranian aid "with
suspicion" and would welcome more assistance from GCC
countries. Al-Mumin added that ongoing security problems
were not a valid excuse for low levels of aid project
execution since other countries were active in Iraq. Former
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Sulaiman Majed Al-Shaheen
emphasized that the people in the Gulf need to be reassured
that a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq does not mean it is
withdrawing from the region.

Iran and Iraq's Wider Regional Effect
--------------


11. (C/NF) Bishara characterized the Middle East as in the
throes of a region-wide battle. The battle is not between
Shi'a and Sunni, but rather between the forces of moderation
(the GCC, Egypt, Jordan, Fouad Siniora's government in
Lebanon, and Mahmoud Abbas) and those of extremism (Iran,
Hizballah, Syria, Hamas, and, albeit less menacingly, Yemen).
The battlegrounds are Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq. Bishara
said that Hassan Nasrallah had passed the point of no return
with Siniora by accusing him of collusion with Israel, a
claim which precluded any reconciliation. He called on the
U.S. and EU to make strong public statements supporting
Siniora's government, the fall of which he said would be a
major blow to the forces of moderation.


12. (C/NF) Al-Sager echoed Bishara's concern about Lebanon,
calling Hezbollah a poison and recounting how Saddam Hussein
and Michel Aoun had both told him personally that Saddam had
armed Aoun in the 1980s. Al-Babtain focused more on the

KUWAIT 00004625 003 OF 003


Palestinian issue, suggesting that Iran was using it to its
advantage. For Al-Babtain, a key step toward U.S. success in
the Middle East is helping Mahmoud Abbas' government. If
Abbas cannot show any gains from his moderate stance,
Al-Babtain argued, he will only lose power.


13. (C/NF) Bishara characterized a fragile balance of power
in the Gulf that was maintained by the Arab Gulf States' soft
power (i.e. the internal stability provided by their
legitimacy) and external hard power (the British until the
1960s and the Americans since the 1990s). The vacuum of hard
power in the 1980s led to war, and Iranian nuclear power
would pose an unprecedented challenge to the regional order.


14. (U) This cable was sent after PDAS Jeffrey departed from
Post.

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For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s

Visit Kuwait's Classified Website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/
********************************************* *
LEBARON