BASRAH'S NEW POLICE CHIEF CHALLENGES U.S.

C O N F I D E N T I A L BASRAH 000056

SIPDIS

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/24/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL MOPS IR IZ
SUBJECT: BASRAH'S NEW POLICE CHIEF CHALLENGES U.S.

CLASSIFIED BY: Louis L. Bono, Director, Basrah Regional Embassy
Office, Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C/NF) Summary. The newly appointed Basrah Chief of Police,
Major General Jalil Khalaf Shueil, visited the director of the
Basrah Regional Embassy Office June 24 and made an energetic
appeal for U.S. troops to be sent in to replace British forces
which are drawing down in preparation for Provincial Iraqi
Control (PIC). The police chief said that Iranian intelligence
agents are operating everywhere in Basrah, and Iranian illegals
are flooding the city provisioned with fake Iraqi identity
papers. He said as a consequence of Iranian subversion, an arms
race is taking place among the Basrah militias, and predicted a
civil war will break out. End summary.


2. (C/NF) Jalil, who has been on the job for about 10 days, said
that the only way to stabilize Basrah in the near term is to
bring in U.S. forces. A career military officer, Jalil praised
the U.S. fighting spirit and lambasted the British military,
which he contended lacks the resolve to take on the militias.
The director said that there are no plans to deploy U.S. forces
in Basrah, and that provincial control (PIC) may take place by
September. Jalil replied: "Please tell the British that PIC at
this point in time is a joke. PIC will put southern Iraq under
the control of Iran. All will be lost," the police chief said.
Jalil said he would need at least six months to "purge" the
police force of militias and prepare it for the task of securing
Basrah. He said in the meantime he will need support from the
Iraqi Army (IA). He said there are plans to form a new 14th
Division from elements of the 10th Division, but he emphasized
that any IA units must be drawn not just from outside of Basrah,
but from outside the region. The director noted that Jalil may
not have six months to reform the police force and asked what
would happen if PIC occurs in September. Jalil warned "Basrah
would become like Amarra" then added "why not just give it to
the Iranians now."


3. (C/NF) Jalil mocked British contentions that the presence of
their troops in Basrah is the cause of the unrest and that their
withdrawal would stabilize the city. "That is a fake idea, a
stupid idea. Iran wants to control Basrah," he said. "It is
the key to Iraq." He stated that Basrah is flush with Iranian
intelligence officers, who control the political parties and the
militias. He said the Gulf countries are very concerned about
Iranian influence in Basrah and added that Kuwaiti operatives
are also present, but they are fewer in number and influence.
Basrah, he said, is turning into a war front. The police chief
said that Iran is supplying sophisticated weapons to the Ja'ish
al-Mahdi and that this is fueling an arms race with competing
militias. He predicted that Basrah would erupt in "civil war"
between the militias if PIC occurs before the Iraqi security
forces are ready. He challenged the U.S. to address this
problem: "If you are not going to do anything about this, than
what are you doing in Iraq."


4. (C) Biographic note: The following information was provided
by British Army intelligence. In November 2006, then Brigadier
General Jalil and four others were arrested on the orders of an
administrative judge. The judge, working in conjunction with MNF
and an FBI task force, charged Jalil with kidnapping, extortion,
illegally providing arms to militias, dereliction of duty, and
for gross abuse of military rank and office for disciplining
subordinates who had arrested JAM members. One day after the
arrest, Jalil was released on bond. Within twenty-four hours,
two of the witnesses in the case were killed in broad daylight.
Jalil was tried and convicted of corruption, for which he served
one month in prison. Following his release, the MoD reinstated
him, promoted him to Major General, and appointed him as the
Director of the Detention Operations Committee.

BONO