Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08BAGHDAD2714
2008-08-24 10:24:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Baghdad
Cable title:  

SAMARRA RECONSTRUCTION EXTENDS BEYOND GOLDEN MOSQUE

Tags:  PGOV PREL PTER PINS KCRS IZ 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO7345
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #2714/01 2371024
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 241024Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9024
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002714 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/22/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PINS KCRS IZ
SUBJECT: SAMARRA RECONSTRUCTION EXTENDS BEYOND GOLDEN MOSQUE

REF: BAGHDAD 2645

Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor Greg D'Elia for reasons 1.4 (
b) and (d).

This is a PRT Salah ad-Din reporting cable.

Summary
--------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002714

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/22/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PINS KCRS IZ
SUBJECT: SAMARRA RECONSTRUCTION EXTENDS BEYOND GOLDEN MOSQUE

REF: BAGHDAD 2645

Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor Greg D'Elia for reasons 1.4 (
b) and (d).

This is a PRT Salah ad-Din reporting cable.

Summary
--------------


1. (C) Reconstruction of the Al-Askari Mosque continues to
advance. The Shi'a Mosque recently opened to
local citizens for the first time since the terrorist bombing
in February 2006. Additionally, reconstruction efforts are
now expanding more noticeably beyond the Mosque with an
increased focus on the city. City residents
appreciate that the local government is making a credible
effort to improve their lives, but still do not
believe their needs are being met. Visits by high-level
officials underline GoI interest in the rebuilding process,
which has played a central role in securing needed
reconstruction resources. Significant obstacles include the
challenge of retaining the support of the mostly Sunni city
residents, and dealing with a lack of coordination between
the Salah-ad-Din (SaD) provincial government, the Samarra,s
Mayor,s office, and the GoI. End summary.

Rebuilding Al-Askari Mosque
--------------


2. (C) Progress continues to be made on reconstruction of the
Al-Askari Mosque, which suffered the destruction of its
golden dome in the February 2006 bombings, and the collapse
of its remaining golden minarets in a June 2007 attack. GoI
and UNESCO completed site and engineering studies in May, and
are now in the process of removing rubble, preparing the
site, and finalizing drawings. Some ancillary construction
has started, but no company has been selected yet to take on
the primary reconstruction efforts, which will take up to
five years. Samarra residents continue to be incorporated
into the reconstruction effort. Over the past 2-3 months
approximately 150 Samarrans have rotated through the
workforce of rubble-removal teams inside the Mosque compound.
The teams are made up of 60-75 workers from cities
throughout Iraq and rotated bi-weekly through the site.


3. (C) On Wednesday, August 6, the Mosque was opened to local

citizens for the first time since the February 2006
terrorist bombing. The decision to open the Mosque for a day
was apparently made by MG Rasheed, Commander of the
Samarra Operations Center, in conjunction with Suhail Najam
Dawood, a local consultant to UNESCO on reconstruction
efforts. Based on comments from local citizens, the event
helped give Samarrans more confidence that the project is
proceeding as planned. It also helped by clearing away
suspicions held by many Samarrans about what is happening
inside the T-wall enclosure that surrounds the Mosque -- in
particular, dispelling a common rumor among Samarrans that
Iran is directly involved in the rebuilding of the Mosque.
Throughout the event, crowds were orderly and the police and
security forces were helpful. The only complaint was that
the designated route to the Mosque from the south seemed
unnecessarily long. Local officials intend to repeat the
open house in the coming months.

Reconstruction efforts outside the Mosque
--------------


4. (C) Reconstruction efforts have begun to expand more
noticeably outside the Mosque with an increased focus on
the city and residents of Samarra. Two repaired and
refurbished water delivery trucks, funded by QRF, made
their first rounds in neighborhoods that have no water
service. The trucks will offer 500 liters of water to each
dwelling on a rotating schedule and have the capability of
pumping water to rooftop tanks. A third truck is being
repaired with a combination of QRF and municipal money. Also
of note is a business compensation program with GoI
funding, aiming to help local businesses recover some of the
losses suffered from the bombing and associated kinetic
operations. Applications for compensation were completed by
local businessmen two weeks ago and are now awaiting
approval by the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Finance.
Other improvements outside the Mosque include a water
treatment project which will be put out for bid next week,
and the refurbishment and expansion of the General
Hospital which will follow in 2-3 weeks (both rely on donor
funding through the UNDP).


5. (C) GoI has also weighed in to expedite reconstruction
efforts outside of the Mosque. Frustrated by the slow pace
of provincial action, the Ministry of Finance withdrew 11
million USD that had been granted to the SaD provincial

BAGHDAD 00002714 002 OF 002


government by GoI for Samarra reconstruction. The 11 million
was part of a larger 25 million USD program for Samarra
reconstruction. The Ministry of Municipalities apparently
now holds the money that was formerly in control of the
province and has redirected the funds toward the construction
of five new municipal buildings in the provincial capital.
Designs for the buildings are complete and bids should be
awarded following a 2-3 month process. A second 25 million
USD for Samarra city projects was announced by the Prime
Minister earlier this month, and a possible third tranche of
25 million has been mentioned to the Mayor and PRT Samarra by
senior GoI officials.

The importance of Samarra
--------------


6. (C) The importance of reconstruction efforts outside the
Mosque have been underlined by the recent visits of
several high-level GoI officials to Samarra. During his July
visit, city officials and the Deputy Governor made the
case to Hak Al-Hakim, GoI Chairman of the Supreme Council for
Reconstruction, that Samarra should receive
reconstruction funds for damage incurred during kinetic
operations in the same way that Basra, Mosul and Sadr City
have been compensated (those cities received 100 million USD
each for reconstruction projects). Hak promised to convey
this request to the Prime Minister. Funding to Samarra by the
PM's office subsequently increased.


7. (C) Another high-level visit occurred on August 16 when
Dr. Mowaffak Al-Rubaie, Iraq,s National Security Advisor,
visited Samarra to get an update on security from MG Rasheed.
The PRT Satellite Lead took part in the visit by briefing
Rubaie and his staff on the overall progress in the city.
Rubaie opened the discussion by expressing his pleasure that
the problems facing Samarra now are primarily economy-,
infrastructure-, and investment-related rather than security
problems. He noted with satisfaction that the appointment of
MG Rasheed had been controversial within the GoI but that
there is now widespread agreement that he was the right
person for the job. Rubaie also shared his great interest in
the Golden Mosque and the potential for major religious
tourism to the city (see reftel). PRT Lead also outlined to
the Advisor Samarra's potential for archeological tourism.
Other topics discussed included the status of various funding
projects and the potential for additional economic stimulus
from the GoI. Rubaie agreed that capital projects should be
labor intensive and locally contracted and said he will
support speeding up the process of budget implementation as a
matter of national security.

Samarra Planning Commission
--------------


8. (C) Another sign of progress in the rebuilding effort is
the establishment of the Samarra Planning
Commission. The concept of the Commission was introduced by
the PRT and caught the imagination of city officials.
It was then introduced at Provincial and GoI levels and was
formally established at the Istanbul Conference on the
Development of Samarra that took place July 16-20. The
Commission,s focus is on developing a long-term vision for
the city. The UNDP agreed to provide funding to complete a
Samarra Development Plan, and work is underway on a
four-year development plan which is expected to be finished
by the end of 2008. The plan will include aspirational
expansions of basic services such as more water plants and
mobile power plants, and expansion of support for youth and
sports activities, and women,s social and business needs.


9. (C) Comment: Despite the additional efforts to improve the
quality of life for the residents of the city,
Samarrans -- particularly the Sunni majority -- will be
unlikely to adopt a positive attitude towards the government
until multiple major building projects are underway in the
city. Samarra's security is considerably better than it was
six months ago, which will facilitate beginning of several
planned projects within the year. GoI officials have shown a
strong interest in supporting the reconstruction effort;
however, the lack of coordination between the City Council
and the Provincial Council continues to hold back progress.
This lack of cooperation is a looming obstacle to future
progress since all 2009 projects for Samarra must be approved
by the SaD Provincial Council before they can be included in
the 2009 provincial budget which is due on September 14,

2008. In private conversations with PRT members, Hak
confided that he believes the lack of cooperation across the
levels of SaD government and with the GoI is a problem that
will not be resolved until after elections are held, and new
provincial officials take office. End comment.
BUTENIS