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