IRAQI FEMALE POLITICIANS SPEAK ABOUT ANBAR, GOI

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 000361 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/02/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV IZ SUBJECT: IRAQI FEMALE POLITICIANS SPEAK ABOUT ANBAR, GOI Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor Charles O. Blaha per 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Two Tawafuq Council of Representatives (CoR) members representing Anbar, Dr. Asma Adnan Muhammad al-Dulaymi and Nadira Ayef Habib al-Ani, told Poloffs on January 31 about their frustrations with Anbar and the GOI. The women expressed concerns about Anbar,s poor economic situation and Al Qaeda,s influence there, and said they believed Coalition forces could improve the situation if they tried. They suggested tribal efforts should be better integrated with the GOI, the Provincial Council, and the Iraqi police. The women also complained that the Sunnis are underrepresented in the government and called the GOI a failure. END SUMMARY. -------------- We Need American Help -------------- ¶2. (C) Ani began by explaining her involvement in politics, saying she felt Iraq was better before the fall of Saddam and she hoped to help create order and stability in the country again. She said there is a moderate view among Iraqis that dialogue will help change the difficult situation Iraq is in. However, she continued, the Americans, with their intelligence and technology, are the only ones with the power to change things. Ani opined that Americans should support people who support peace and wondered why Coalition forces let Jaysh al-Mehdi (JAM) run Baghdad. She assessed that Coalition forces in Anbar had been making an effort to improve security, resulting in maybe a 20 percent improvement, but she thought more should be done. -------------- Frustration With the Situation in Anbar -------------- ¶3. (C) Dulaymi praised the Anbar Governor and Provincial Council, and said the GOI should give them greater support and broader authority to fight Al Qaeda in the province. The women believed the Provincial Council should be moved back to Ramadi but understood the security situation prevented that, saying they were aware of the January 27 assassination of Provincial Council member Saied Hussein al-Alwani. Dulaymi claimed the Americans know the Iranians and Ahmed Chalabi pay al Qaeda to instigate violence, although she admitted some Anbaris were involved. She said that Al Qaeda tries to kill Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) members. Dulaymi continued, saying the entire province is destroyed and there are no services, no functioning schools, much poverty, and no jobs - all of which fuels the insurgency. ¶4. (C) In response to a question from Poloff about the tribes, Ani said some tribes are doing good things and some are not. She said some tribes have successfully defended their own areas which, she said, shows that American forces could control areas if they really tried. The women suggested tribal efforts need to be better integrated with the Provincial Government, police force, and GOI. ¶5. (C) Dulaymi said the Iraqi Security forces need sectarian balance. She said JAM members come to Anbar, asking children their opinion about Muqtada al-Sadr and Abdel Aziz Al Hakim. She commented that more Anbaris should be in the Iraqi police. Dulaymi said Anbar needs electricity restored and for textile, cement, phosphate, glass, and other factories to be reopened. Anbaris join terrorist groups for money and protection, she said. -------------- National Politics Are Equally Bad -------------- ¶6. (C) On provincial elections. Dulaymi said all of Iraq needs new elections, even the CoR, because there was fraud, problems with the ballot boxes, and the militias infiltrated the independent observers in the last election. When asked if Anbaris would vote in another election, the women predicted they would. Ani claimed over 80 percent of Anbaris voted in the elections in December 2005. Dulaymi thought the figure was somewhat lower but added that people voted in spite of their fears. ¶7. (C) Dulaymi,s husband and a fellow CoR member from the Iraqi People's Conference (IPC),Dhia Hadeethy, joined the group and complained the census data was incorrect because Anbar has a larger population than what is on record. He believed Tawafuq should have won more seats in the CoR. He complained that although the Shiite Itilaf coalition is the majority and should hold the PM,s post, it should not have a sectarian PM. Dulaymi said the current government had failed and cooperating with it was useless. When pressed, she said BAGHDAD 00000361 002 OF 002 it was everyone,s belief that the government had failed and cited the mass kidnapping at the Ministry of Higher education as an example. Hadeethy summed up the frustration by saying we need balance in the Ministries of Interior and Defense to get security. -------------- Bio Note -------------- ¶8. (C) Dulaymi is a member of the IPC and the Waqf Committee in the CoR. She was born in Ramadi and was a university Quranic studies professor for 25 years. She said she has always been involved in politics since she comes from a politically and religiously active family, but this job is her first official post. Dulaymi added that she did not want to register for Ba,ath Party membership, which was required if she wanted to be in politics under Saddam. She emphasized the IIP - not her father - initially nominated her to be on Tawafuq,s candidate list, but she subsequently decided to become part of her father,s party, the IPC. She does not speak English. Her husband, Dhia Hadeethy, is from Fallujah and was on the Fallujah Reconstruction Committee that was formed after Operation al-Fajr in 2004. ¶9. (C) Ani is an IIP member and is on the Women,s Affairs Committee in the CoR. She was born and raised in Baghdad. She taught Islamic education and Arabic language in education centers in Anbar from 1978 to 2004. Her father was a university professor with a Ph.D. in English education. Ani speaks some English, but she prefers to speak Arabic. KHALILZAD