LATVIAN WILLINGNESS TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE NEW WAY

C O N F I D E N T I A L RIGA 000295

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/25/2017
TAGS: MOPS MARR PREL IZ LG
SUBJECT: LATVIAN WILLINGNESS TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE NEW WAY
FORWARD ON IRAQ

REF: RIGA 165

Classified By: Ambassador Catherine Todd Bailey. Reason: 1.4 (D)


1. (C) The Latvians remain committed to the mission in Iraq
and support the new way forward. However, they cannot extend
their combat troops beyond their planned departure this
summer but are willing to respond to our existing requests to
provide headquarters, PRT, and training support. They hope
that the coalition conference April 30 - May 1 will provide
concrete billets for which they can begin to plan
assignments. Ambassador, DATT, and other mission elements
regularly discuss Iraq deployments with all elements of the
GOL.


2. (C) As post has previously reported (ref A),the Latvians
are fully committed to the change in their contributions to
Iraq. This has been fully coordinated with the USG and
Poland in multiple locations along the way. Publicly, the
GOL is deeply committed to ending the combat mission in Iraq
by this summer. As an example, MOD Slakteris making
headlines with his April 23 announcement that the current
Latvian troops in Iraq will be home before the mid-summer
(Jani) holiday. We do not believe that there would be any
political support for extending the combat mission.
Moreover, Latvian law mandates a certain amount of
pre-deployment training that cannot be provided in the time
required by law given overall Latvian military op tempo
(current deployments in Afghanistan and Kosovo and planned
increases in Afghanistan).


3. (C) The Latvians remain interested in a continued military
presence in Iraq. When the President announced the New Way
Forward in January, the Latvians immediately asked how they
could help. The Deputy CHOD and US DATT flew to CENTCOM in
mid-February to discuss billets that the Latvians could fill.
Unfortunately, CENTCOM planners did not yet have suggested
locations. The Latvians plan to keep roughly 12 - 15
officers and senior enlisted personnel in Iraq once their
combat forces depart. The Latvians have received a request
from VCJCS asking for help in filling unmanned coalition
billets. The Deputy CHOD will attend the coalition
conference in Tampa on April 30 and will be prepared to have
detailed conversations about where Latvian personnel can be
of greatest use. We believe this is the most valuable
vehicle of dialogue at this point -- military to military
discussions about how to make use of what the Latvians have
offered.
BAILEY