IRAQ'S PRESIDENCY COUNCIL CHIEF: OPPORTUNITY OR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002330

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/04/2017
TAGS: PGOV IZ
SUBJECT: IRAQ'S PRESIDENCY COUNCIL CHIEF: OPPORTUNITY OR
STATUS QUO?


Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor Charles O. Blaha for reasons
1.4 (b) & (d)


1. (C) Summary: The outgoing Secretary General of Iraq's
Presidency Council (PC) is pessimistic that the PC can
overcome its current dysfunctional, disjointed nature and
develop into a professional administrative body. The
incoming Secretary General promises develop the PC into a
cross-sectarian, technocratic, professional body. This may
be an opportunity to do just that. End Summary.

PC Lacks Support from President and VPs
--------------


2. (C) As an institution, the Iraqi Presidency Council (PC)
has suffered from a chronic lack of support from Iraq's
President, Jalal Talabani (Kurd, PUK),and two Vice
Presidents, Tariq al-Hashimi (Sunni, Iraqi Islamic Party )
IIP) and Adil Abdul Mehdi (Shia, Islamic Supreme Council in
Iraq ) ISCI). For the past two years the Presidency
Council's Secretary General has been Kamran Karadaghi, who
simultaneously served as President Talabani's personal chief
of staff. At the same time, the individual offices of Vice
Presidents al-Hashimi and Abdul Mehdi have grown to hundreds
of people, including political, security, legal, media and
external relations advisors. As a result, developing the PC
as an institution and using it as a tool to coordinate
efforts between the President and two Vice Presidents has
been a low priority.


3. (C) In May, President Talabani approved Naseer al-Ani
(Sunni, IIP) as the PC's new Secretary General and designated
the position as Ministerial-level. In meetings with Poloff,
al-Ani's newly appointed chief of staff, Mohammed Shakir, a
former senior advisor in al-Hashimi's office, stated al-Ani
wants to develop the PC into a cross-sectarian resource with
multiple departments focusing on media, policy and
legislation. Outgoing Secretary General Karadaghi predicts
that under al-Ani's leadership the Presidency Council will
become a vehicle to push Sunni, specifically IIP, agendas.
He noted that al-Ani has delegated most day-to-day functions
to Shakir, creating anxiety and suspicion among remaining PC
employees.

Background
--------------


4. (C) Karadaghi has long lamented the poor cooperation among
the staffs of the three PC members and the lack of a true
institution of the Presidency that could cross sectarian
lines and outlive the current administration. He has
attempted to establish a PC secretariat to streamline
decision-making. The idea did not gain traction, although
such an institution was required, in his view, to facilitate
rational administration of the workload and give credibility
to the office. He envisioned a technocrat in charge of a
staff unaffiliated with any particular political party or
individual. Karadaghi went as far as to draft legislation to
establish such a secretariat, but was stymied by the PC
itself.

Karadaghi: New SecGen Not an Improvement
--------------


5. (C) Thus far cooperation within the PC under al-Ani has
not improved, Karadaghi told Poloff, and he expressed
pessimism that any positive change would take root on
al-Ani's watch. He noted that, while the staffs of each
presidency member have some interaction during day-to-day
operations because they are currently occupying the same
building, they are not communicating as an integrated office.
The problem could get worse -- Talabani's staff plan to move
to the presidential compound in Jadriyah, ending their
co-location. (Note: While some PC staffers are co-located in
the Presidency office in the International Zone, Hashimi,
Mehdi and Talabani rarely if ever visit. Many of their
immediate staffers remain with them at their separate
offices. End Note).


6. (C) Karadaghi predicts that al-Ani will take a partisan
approach to staffing and fill his staff with Sunnis. He
described the new Presidency office as an extension of the
IIP, ripe for patronage. He observed that both Vice
Presidents Hashimi and Mehdi have staffs of more than 100
people, while he functions with far fewer. Other members of
Talabani's staff have been less critical than Karadaghi, but
they have also told Poloff that the transition has not gone
smoothly and that relations between the offices are somewhat
troubled.


7. (C) Karadaghi claimed that Al-Ani spent much of his time
dealing with his business interests in Dubai. He said Al-Ani

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had given his office manager Muhammad Shakir full authority
to take decisions concerning the running of the office. He
noted that al-Ani has insisted on being addressed as
"Chairman Naseer" ) "chief of staff" was not a lofty enough
title for him. Al-Ani saw his position as a political
appointment and intended to treat it as such, a fact that
appeared to disgust Karadaghi, who prided himself on
non-partisanship and repeatedly has told Poloff he has served
as the only communication link among the three presidency
offices for the past year. This, he said, was because he was
the only one that all sides could trust.


8. (C) Comment: The PC as an institution has been grossly
underutilized due to a preference by Talabani, Mehdi and
Hashimi to develop personal offices filled with employees
loyal to particular parties or individuals. While
Karadaghi's concerns are real, al-Ani has a reputation as a
professional with whom Sunnis, Kurds, and Shia ) most
notably Prime Minister Maliki ) are able to work.
Karadaghi's less than flattering portrayal of al-Ani may be
due in part to professional jealousy, instead of an objective
prediction. Despite Karadghi's pessimism, this may be an
opportunity to for the PC staff to build a new type of
governmental institution with technocrats from all of Iraq's
communities. End Comment.
CROCKER