NETHERLANDS: WILLING TO DISCUSS NEW MNF-I POSITION

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 001511 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/RPM, EUR/UBI E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/07/2016 TAGS: MARR PREL PGOV NL SUBJECT: NETHERLANDS: WILLING TO DISCUSS NEW MNF-I POSITION REF: STEPHENS-GRUBB 07/06/06 EMAIL Classified By: Ambassador Roland Arnall, reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (C) Summary: MOD Director for General Policy Affairs Lo Casteleijn said the GONL is holding firm to its decision to withdraw its staff officer from Basrah, Iraq, as part of the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I). However, Casteleijn said he recognizes the political significance of maintaining a Dutch officer in the coalition, and is willing to discuss the possibility of assigning a new officer to MNF-I staff in Baghdad. Ambassador Arnall discussed ref points with Casteleijn on July 7. End summary. ¶2. (C) Casteleijn said he discussed the possibility of maintaining a Dutch presence in Basrah with his MFA counterpart, Director General for Political Affairs Pieter de Gooijer, on July 6. He said both the MFA and MOD understand the political significance of "withdrawing the Dutch flag" from the coalition. However, he argued that the continued presence of the Dutch staff officer at the British HQ in Basrah "made no sense" from a military standpoint, especially as the UK draws down and transfers authority to Iraqi provincial control. He also said the Dutch officer was "bored and under-utilized," and that Deputy CHOD Gen. Sonneveld had remarked the only reason to keep the Dutch officer in place was to "reinforce his love of literature." From that standpoint, Casteleijn said, the decision to withdraw the Dutch officer in Basrah on July 14 is "final". ¶3. (C) Ambassador Arnall stressed the political importance of maintaining Dutch coalition participation, and pushed Casteleijn to consider deploying a Dutch staff officer as part of the MNF-I or the Multi-National Corps-Iraq (MNC-I) staff in Baghdad. Casteleijn was open-minded to this suggestion, but said the deployment would have to be relevant from a military standpoint. He said he would take the issue up further with MOD leadership, and welcomed specific proposals from the USG. ARNALL