LITHUANIA DECIDES TO KEEP PLATOON IN IRAQ, WILL

C O N F I D E N T I A L VILNIUS 000511

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/10/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV MOPS MARR IZ LH
SUBJECT: LITHUANIA DECIDES TO KEEP PLATOON IN IRAQ, WILL
SEND TWO MINISTERS TO WASHINGTON


Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOHN CLOUD FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)


1. (C) Summary: On July 9, President Adamkus told the
Ambassador that Lithuania will meet its commitments in Iraq.
He explained that decisions by the Danes and the British to
reduce their presence in MNF-southeast forced the Lithuanians
to do some restructuring of their presence. President Adamkus
has instructed Foreign Minister Vaitiekunas and Defense
Minister Olekas to travel to Washington as soon as possible
in order to determine next steps for the Lithuanian combat
platoon in Iraq. Adamkus acknowledged that Defense Minister
Olekas has opposed the continued presence of Lithuania,s
combat platoon in Iraq. According to Adamkus, Olekas,s
opposition was for purely domestic political reasons.


2. (C) Summary continued. The visit of the Ministers to
Washington provides the USG with the opportunity to impress
upon them the importance of their maintaining the combat
platoon in Iraq (with either the Poles or the British) as
well as contributing to MNF-I staffs and training missions.
The Ministers will look for U.S. support on several other
issues. Olekas remains difficult on the issue and will use
any ambivalence on our part to reduce dramatically
Lithuania,s presence in Iraq. End Summary.


3. (C) On July 9, President Adamkus briefed the Ambassador on
the results of the July 5 State Defense Council (President,
PM, Foreign Minister, Defense Minister, CHOD, and Security
Service chief) meeting on Iraq. President Adamkus said
Lithuania remained committed in Iraq at least through the end
of this year. (The Lithuanian parliament recently extended
the Government,s authority to deploy forces in Iraq for
three more years. The Government has yet to act to extend
the mandate beyond the end of this year.) Adamkus said that
the decisions by the British and Danes to downsize their
presence in MNF-Southeast have forced the Lithuanians to
restructure their presence. He believes it would be useful
for the Foreign and Defense Ministers to travel to Washington
to consult with appropriate high level USG officials on
Lithuania,s presence in Iraq. Adamkus confirmed that
Defense Minister Olekas has been opposed to maintaining their
combat platoon in Iraq. However, Adamkus said he had decided
to keep a platoon there at least for the rest of their
mandate.


4. (C) The GOL has made several missteps on Iraq over the
past several months. Defense Minister Olekas used the
announcement of the British and Danish downsizing of their
mission in MNF-Southeast to call publicly for the withdrawal
of Lithuania,s combat platoon from the region. (The Danish
downsizing in particular required a Lithuanian response given
that Lithuania was 100% dependent on the Danes for logistical
support.) While the President,s office, the PM,s office,
and the Foreign Ministry at the time all said that Olekas was
freelancing, they have allowed Olekas to continue to press
this line. When the British initially proposed a series of
modest missions for the Lithuanians, the CHOD jumped on
options involving training and staff augmentation rather than
force protection as being solid and low-risk means to
reaching transformation goals.


5. (C) Unlike his predecessor, current PM Kirkilas, Olekas is
more focused on domestic politics than on the alliance with
the U.S. In addition, Olekas unsuccessfully challenged
Kirkilas for the position as Social Democratic party chairman
in May. In reality, Olekas would have preferred to
consolidate Lithuanian combat operations in Afghanistan and
might have considered a combat commitment there in addition
to the 50-member SOF team that is deploying in the next two
weeks. Since the spring, Olekas has misread requests from
Washington for additional staff support as acquiescence on
our part to the removal of the combat platoon. While the
Embassy and DASDs Cagan and Fata have pushed back on this
misinterpretation, the recent letter from DepSecDef and calls
from the Poles at high level have forced the GOL to reassess
their future presence in Iraq. We understand that the
President, the PM, and the Foreign Minister support assigning
a Lithuanian combat platoon to work with the Poles in the
Multinational Division Center South.


6. (C) The Ministers are being sent to Washington to find out
what we want. MFA Under Secretry Pavilionis told the
Ambassador July 11 that the Ministers will also want to
discuss: 1) possible increased US foreign assistance and
Afghan central government involvement in Ghor Province where
Lithuania runs the PRT; 2) Lithuanian concerns regarding the
Adapted CFE Treaty; 3) Lithuanian concerns regarding Russian
efforts within NATO for a military transit agreement through
Lithuania to Kaliningrad; 4) the NATO air policing mission in
the Baltics; and 5) upcoming GOL conferences on energy
security and defense in the Adriatic-Baltic region. The
Ministers will be hoping for U.S. support on the above
issues, on many of which -- e.g., revised CFE -- we are in
complete agreement with them.
CLOUD