"MAYORS' REVOLT" IS HIGHLIGHT OF ATYPICAL RECONSTRUCTION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HILLAH 000010

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 1/19/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON KDEM IZ
SUBJECT: "MAYORS' REVOLT" IS HIGHLIGHT OF ATYPICAL RECONSTRUCTION
MEETING IN BABIL


HILLAH 00000010 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Charles F. Hunter, Babil PRT Leader, REO
Al-Hillah, Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (U) This is a PRT Babil cable.


2. (C) Summary: The continuation of an unfinished meeting of the
Babil Provincial Reconstruction and Development Committee (PRDC)
did not check off every agenda item but did yield several
unexpected positive developments. Complaints from two mayors
about a key committee member's monopoly on data and decisions
prompted the governor to advocate greater information sharing
among the Iraqi representatives. In addition, the governor
acknowledged the need for the prioritized list of projects the
Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) has long been requesting.
He also offered to host the next meeting, which he insisted
could not wait another month and instead will be two weeks
hence. These gestures, while not enough to confirm a trend,
bode well for both transparency and engagement from some of the
Babil PRT's most important partners. End summary.

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AFTER AN UNEVENTFUL START~
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3. (C) Babil Governor Salem Saleh Mehdi Al-Muslimawi chaired the
January 17 meeting of the Provincial Reconstruction and
Development Committee, a continuation of an incomplete session
held on December 27, at the Al-Hillah Regional Embassy Office
(REO). His presence came as a minor surprise, as his deputy had
led the earlier meeting. Recently back from the hajj (Note: He
has gone at least once and maybe twice before, a fact that
prompted grumbling among the populace this year. End note.),
the governor began by noting that many pilgrims he encountered
criticized the Iraqis for not fighting harder to oust the
Americans. The governor said that he told them that Iraqis
needed peace and a chance to rebuild their country, not to wage
jihad. After running through boilerplate criticism of the U.S.
for not doing enough to rebuild the country or provide funds for
projects in Babil, he invited the American side to begin with
their agenda items.


4. (SBU) The first issue for discussion was project priorities
for the approximately 7.5 million USD in Economic Support Funds
(ESF) for the current year. The Provincial Council's chief
engineer, Qasim Hamood Jarrah, had informed the PRT several days
earlier that the Iraqi side had concluded that one of the two
projects they had put forward, a major road
intersection/overpass on the south end of Al-Hillah, would cost
far more than the amount available and would therefore be paid
for with funds from the central government. Thus the remaining
proposal, a maternity hospital in the north Babil city of
Musayyib, would be the only one sent forward to Baghdad.

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~THE MAYORS REVOLT
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5. (C) At this news, which they were hearing for the first time,
the mayors of Mahawil and Al-Hillah initiated an animated
exchange among the Iraqi participants. Why were they learning
of these things from the Americans, they wondered aloud, rather
than from their own government's officials? They complained
that Eng. Qasim, who was absent (having made the familiar,
groundless claim that he, and in this case the Provincial
Council chair as well, had been "insulted" at the REO entrance),
did not consult with anyone. The result was that the only time
they learned about what projects were being funded in their
districts was when they attended PRDCs and received the lists
furnished by the U.S. A pre-PRDC meeting to share information
internally had happened only once many months ago, they
contended, and should be revived.


6. (C) The governor seemed surprised himself but quickly
reassumed command. He was forming a technical advisory
committee, he said, that would also include expertise from Babil
University. Though not explicit about calling for pre-PRDC
consultations, he seemed well disposed to the idea. (Comment:
His lack of awareness of how the PRDC process should and does
function was telling in itself. End comment.) Sensing an
opportunity, PRT representatives raised their longstanding
desire to have a truly prioritized project list rather than
simply a compilation of ideas with no discernable hierarchy to
it. The governor took that point on board as well, saying that
the Iraqi side would work on it.


7. (SBU) Governor Salem then noted that he had an appointment at
the university at 12:30, so the PRDC discussion, which had begun
an hour past the appointed 10:00 start time, would need to come

HILLAH 00000010 002.2 OF 002


to a close. The agenda had proposed February 14 for the next
meeting, but the governor objected that this would be too long
to wait. The next one is now scheduled for January 31 at the
governor's office, the first time the Iraqis have offered to
host.

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COMMENT
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8. (C) Though the PRDC again failed to cover all the agenda
items from the original December meeting, this week's
developments are encouraging on several fronts. First, the
mayors' revolt could signal the beginning of the end of Eng.
Qasim's monopoly on information and decision-making on
everything concerning reconstruction projects in the province.
Transparency would increase significantly if this were to come
to pass. Second, we seemed to gain a little traction on the
long-pending request for a usable prioritized project list; the
governor repeated in a separate meeting with PRT leader (septel)
that such a list would be forthcoming. Last, the governor
himself may be showing signs of wanting to demonstrate more
leadership. From heeding the mayors' complaints to feeling a
little urgency about how soon the next meeting should happen to
taking our offer to come to his location - thereby taking away
any excuse for any Iraqis not to attend - he behaved much more
like what one would expect of the province's chief executive.
This meeting got the year off to a good start for the PRDC. We
hope these developments were not merely a fluke and will await
the January 31 meeting for a sense of what the months ahead may
hold.
HUNTER