PRT WASIT: LOCAL LEADERS ALONG IRANIAN BORDER:

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 003251

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/10/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL IZ
SUBJECT: PRT WASIT: LOCAL LEADERS ALONG IRANIAN BORDER:
GOOD SECURITY BUT LACKING SERVICES, ECONOMIC DEVLOPMENT

Classified By: PRT Team Leader Robert Kagler for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d
).


1. (U) This is a PRT Wasit reporting cable.


2. (SBU) SUMMARY: Local leaders, in towns along and near the
Iraq- Iran border, report stable security situation voiced
concerns about government services and local economic
development. The upcoming provincial elections provoked
criticism of the current government and skepticism that
anything would change. The August redeployment of the
Georgian Brigade from Wasit province enabled greater
cooperation among PRT officers, Coalition Forces, and Iraqi
Security Forces (ISF),as U.S. Forces and Iraqi Army units
established Joint Security Stations (JSS) in former Georgian
positions. END SUMMARY.

GEORGIAN MOVE INCREASES IRAQI SECURITY PRESENCE
-------------- --


3. (C//REL USA, ACGU) The early August redeployment of
Georgian forces from Iraq has produced new cooperation
between ISF and coalition forces in Wasit province. U.S.
forces partnered with Iraqi Army (IA) units now provide a
security presence, at JSSs, outside the Wasit towns of
Badrah/Jessan in northeast Wasit and the city of Sheikh Sa'ad
in the southeast of the province. A third JSS, where Iraqi
Police (IP) partner with U.S. forces is located near the
central Wasit city of Numaniyah. At these sites, Iraqi
security and U.S. Forces live and work together under
conditions that aid close cooperation. Mentoring in the field
takes on an ever greater significance as Wasit moves closer
to its Provincial Iraqi Control (PIC) date of October 30.

SECURITY GOOD, BUT SERVICES LACKING
--------------


4. (C//REL USA, ACGU) On September 23, PRT Wasit traveled to
a JSS in northeast Wasit and met with Ali Hadi al Meshoeh,
Mayor of Badrah, and Naema Khadun, Mayor of Jessan. Badrah
and Jessan are small but strategic towns near Wasit's border
with Iran. The two mayors agreed that security in the area
was good. They attributed this in large part to Iran's desire
to continue its cross-border trade and to facilitate Iranian
pilgrims, moving through the area to the Shia religious
shrines in Najaf and Karbala. The mayors requested Coalition
assistance in improving the supply of drinking and irrigation
water for their towns. They reported no success in getting
the provincial government to fund repairs of a defunct
irrigation system that previously brought irrigation water to
Badrah and Jessan from the Tigris.


5. (C//REL USA, ACGU) The next day, outside the city of
Sheikh Sa'ad, PRT Wasit met with Sheikh Sa'ad's Mayor Anwar
Attiya E'ssa. E'ssa also requested assistance in providing
his city with clean drinking water and complained of the
government's lack of investment in Sheikh Sa'ad's
predominately agricultural economy. According to Anwar, the
provincial government has focused on essential services in
the cities but has done little or nothing for the
agricultural economy. This is hurting residents and farmers
who now have large areas of formerly irrigated farm land
lying fallow due to a lack of irrigation repairs.

PESSIMISM ON ELECTIONS
--------------


6. (C//REL USA, ACGU) When questioned about the next
provincial elections, both al Meshoeh and Khadun were
pessimistic, predicting that the leading religious parties
would find some unscrupulous way to retain power. Badrah's
mayor, Ali Hadi, claimed that the ruling parties are now
giving gifts to schools, but only because the election is
nearing. Despite his initial pessimism, Ali Hadi, a retired
Army Officer from the provincial capital Al Kut, intends to
run for the Provincial Council as a member of a secular party
funded by Prince Rabia Mohammad Ali Habib Rabia, an
influential tribal leader of a confederation with mixed
Sunni/Shia membership. Jessan's mayor, an independent, added
that each candidate backed by a militia will win, and
predicted that ISCI and Badr will win as they did in 2005.
Mayor E'ssa of Sheikh Sa'ad, nominally an independent in a
strongly Sadrist area, stated that most people do not think
the government is effective. He expects the election will
bring a major change to the Provincial Council, with nearly
all the seats turning over to new people.


7. (C//REL USA, ACGU) COMMENT: The departure of the Georgian
Brigade, while initially disruptive, has paved the way for
greater cooperation with the Iraqi Security Forces and local
leadership at a critical time for the province. Iraqi
security forces are gaining greater exposure to the U.S.

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military and increasing their capacity within the area. This
will likely prove beneficial for the IA and IP as they
transition to PIC, and to the PRT as it may now expand its
coverage of the province leading up to the provincial
elections. The reactions received by the PRT during recent
engagements have been typical of the statements of many of
the PRT's regular contacts. There seems to be a near
universal dislike of the present government dominated by
religious parties (most commonly referred to as Iranian
religious parties). At the same time, the local leaders are
also pessimistic and expect that, despite their failure to
provide good governance and services since coming to power in
2005, the religious parties will remain in power after the
next elections. END
COMMENT.

CROCKER