BABIL GOVERNOR FIGHTS TO SAVE HIS OFFICE

C O N F I D E N T I A L HILLAH 000143 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/28/2017 TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR IZ IR SUBJECT: BABIL GOVERNOR FIGHTS TO SAVE HIS OFFICE REF: A) HILLAH 135 B) RSO HILLAH SPOT REPORT TO BAGHDAD TOC, 10/26/2007 CLASSIFIED BY: Mary H. Witt, PRT Leader, PRT Babil, REO Al-Hillah, U.S. Department of State. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (U) This is a PRT Babil Cable ¶2. (C) Summary: Babil's governor continues to face difficulties in maintaining key political support against efforts to remove him. Crucial ISCI backing within the provincial council appears to be waning. In response, the governor has embarked upon a campaign blitz seeking to shore up support. Post will continue to follow up septel. End summary. ¶3. (C) Babil governor Salem Saleh Mahdi al-Muslimawi (ISCI) intensified efforts to retain his office amid reports of evaporating support from the Babil provincial council (PC). The demands for Salem's resignation came following official confirmation of allegations that the governor lacks the requisite education requirements for his office (ref A). Two factions appear to be working independently of each other for the governor's ouster. The first, led by PC members Murtada Kamel and former reconstruction projects engineer Kassem al-Jabah, is identified with Babil independent political maverick (and periodic provincial irritant) Sayid Rasool who, on October 19 called on the governor to resign within two weeks. The second -- and arguably more significant -- grouping consists of PC member Ali Issa and sidelined gubernatorial assistant Abou Mohamed al-Issawi, both members of ISCI now engaged in undermining support for Salem from among fellow ISCI PC members. ¶4. (C) In response to these efforts to oust him, Salem has started a campaign to drum up support for his continued tenure in office. The day of Rasool's announcement, Salem asked the PC chair to host a dinner with the entire PC and other Babil political leaders. According to Babil District Council Chairman Hussein al-Tufaili, the dinner backfired as almost all ISCI PC members in attendance called on Salem to resign. Four days later, the governor preempted the scheduled weekly PC session by calling an extraordinary gathering of PC members, tribal sheikhs, and provincial business leaders ostensibly to celebrate the province's success in budget execution. Instead, the meeting reportedly turned into a campaign speech by the governor. One sheikh commented that that Salem was holding out a promise of more reconstruction projects in exchange for political support. ¶5. (C) Salem's efforts to retain his office extend to the national government, as well. One PC member reported the governor is seeking support from GOI spokesman Ali al-Dabagh (currently traveling in the U.S.) through Council of Representatives (CoR) member Jaman Jaffer Mohamed (ISCI). (Note: Jaman is a wanted terrorist implicated in the 1983 attack on the U.S. embassy in Kuwait. End note.) In recent days, Salem also reportedly engaged in demagogic appeals among the public by using the presence of the Regional Embassy Office (REO) as a rallying cry. In hospital meetings with Iraqi families wounded in the October 25 IDF incident against the REO, the governor purportedly attributed their injuries to the U.S. presence and made reference to the "good resistance forces" (NFI) against the Coalition. (Note: As per ref B, 30 mortars and rockets fell on or near REO al-Hillah late on October 25. There were no official U.S. casualties.) WITT