IRAQ: GUIDANCE ON PRESIDENT'S POLICY ADDRESS

C O N F I D E N T I A L PORT OF SPAIN 000052 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/18/2016 TAGS: IZ MARR MOPS PGOV PREL TD SUBJECT: IRAQ: GUIDANCE ON PRESIDENT'S POLICY ADDRESS REF: STATE 03592 Classified By: DCM: Eugene P. Sweeney for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 1.(C) In response to the Ambassador,s request for a meeting to present Reftel talking points on &The New Way Forward8 in Iraq, Foreign Minister Arnold Piggott said he was otherwise engaged and suggested we deliver the points at the division head level. Accordingly, Polchief met on January 17 with MFA Americas Division Director Margaret Rousseau and outlined for her the various elements of our proposed strategy in Iraq, including its objectives, underlying assumptions and expected results. 2.(C) Rousseau listened attentively and undertook to give Minister Piggott a report of our meeting. She also expressed considerable interest in our domestic debate over the USG,s Iraq policy, particularly given the Democratic Party,s majority control of Congress. 3.(C) COMMENT: Arnold Piggott,s unenthusiastic response to the Ambassador,s request for a meeting probably reflects no more than the GOTT,s longstanding disinterest in what it perceives as distant international conflicts of little relevance to the Caribbean region. This complacency would likely only be reconsidered, if a terrorist incident were to occur during the coming Cricket World Cup. END COMMENT AUSTIN