ITALIAN PARTICIPATION IN THE IRAQ COALITION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ROME 000899 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS DEPT FOR PM/RSAT AND NEA/I E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/01/2017 TAGS: PREL MARR MAS MOPS PTER IZ IT SUBJECT: ITALIAN PARTICIPATION IN THE IRAQ COALITION REF: A) STATE 55436 B) STATE 54925 C) ROME 705 ROME 00000899 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: Classified by Jonathan R. Cohen, Acting Political Minist er Counselor, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C/NF) Summary. Although Italy withdrew its troop presence from Iraq in late 2006, Italy remains a committed partner in the political and economic development of Iraq through its PRT presence in Dhi Qar and its participation in the Iraq Compact and NTM-I. Italian political realities make it highly unlikely that Italy would once again deploy military forces to Iraq to participate in coalition operations. The Center-Left government won last year's national elections in part by promising a full withdrawal of military forces from Iraq. Since the election, the radical-pacifist left, which strongly opposed the Iraq war, has increased its influence in the government. PM Prodi, who depends heavily on the left for his razor-thin Senate majority, would find it politically impossible to reverse his decision to withdraw Italian troops from Iraq. We continue to explore options for expanding political and economic support for Iraq with the GOI. End Summary. ¶2. (C/NF) Although the current government campaigned on its promise to withdraw military forces from Iraq, it has pledged to continue to help the political and economic development of the country. Italy's contributions to Iraqi stability are outlined below: PRT Presence in Dhi Qar - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶3. (C/NF) For political purposes, the Italian presence in Dhi Qar province is officially known as a Reconstruction Support Unit (URS). In reality, it continues to function as PRT. The URS is home to over a dozen reconstruction experts focused on developing local governance capacity and financing environmental development projects. Italy has also encouraged the European Union and UNDP to consider using its PRT as a mechanism for the distribution of their assistance projects. Iraq Compact and Debt Reduction - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶4. (SBU) The Italian Parliament allocated an additional 30 million Euros for Iraqi reconstruction on March 27. In January 2007, Italy and Iraq signed a cooperation treaty providing a soft credit line of 400 million Euros (Ref D). Finally, according to Ambassador Martino, chief of the Iraq Task Force at the MFA and former Italian Ambassador in Baghdad, roughly 70 million Euros in unexpended funds remains in the pipeline from earlier aid packages. Italy has canceled 80 percent of outstanding Iraqi debt, amounting to about 2.4 billion Euros. Again according to Martino, Italy would be unlikely to do more at present. He offered that additional funds were not particularly needed, but rather expertise for capacity building. He described Italian efforts via the Dhi Qar PRT to build economic literacy, noting that knowledge of computer skills and business planning were woefully lacking. Warming to the subject, Martino argued that too many Iraqi decision-makers were waiting for some event to spark them into action. In the case of market reform, attempts to deconstruct the still existing command economy received ample lip service, while the responsible officials said they had to wait for the Compact before actually making any changes. (Note: Martino will accompany FM D'Alema to the Iraq Compact meeting in Egypt. End Note.) Italy Remains Committed to NTM-I - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶5. (SBU) Italy, with approximately 32 troops at Ar Rustamiyah, remains committed to teaching 3 out of the 4 modules being offered by the NTM-I and to increasing their participation by adding a gendarmeri/carabinieri-type module pending SHAPE's recommendation (current Italian plans ROME 00000899 002.2 OF 002 estimate an additional 40 carabinieri would be sent to Iraq to lead this module). The Italian parliament recently passed the foreign affairs budget which included a 1 million Euro earmark for the NTM-I Trustfund as well as additional funding to cover related "life-support" costs. Lessons Learned Conference - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶6. (SBU) In late May or early June, Italy intends to host a Lessons Learned Conference in Rome to discuss the successful transition of security responsibilities to Iraqi authorities, use of PRTs as a tool in distributing and monitoring assistance, and increasing linkages between the Iraq Compact and PRTs (ref c). SPOGLI