ADHAMIYA SUNNI SHEIKH CONCERNED ABOUT RECENT

S E C R E T BAGHDAD 003328 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/14/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV IZ SUBJECT: ADHAMIYA SUNNI SHEIKH CONCERNED ABOUT RECENT ARRESTS Classified By: PMIN ROBERT FORD. REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (S) Summary: On October 12, poloffs, met with Sunni Arab sheikh Amir Hamid Al-Izaawi to discuss security and reconstruction efforts in Baghdad's Adhamiya district. As a prominent local figure connected to the tribal support council, Izzawi said he has yet to receive GOI financial support. He asked for our help in pressing GOI to release funds for projects managed by the Adhamiya tribal support council. We urged that he contact Prime Minister Office that overseas district council operations. Izzawi also complained about raids still being conducted by Iraqi security forces and coalition forces in Adhamiya, noting that their failure to consult with him or others in the tribal council leadership undermined their standing with the local population. (He claimed that these arrests target only innocent civilians.) End Summary. ¶2. (C) Izzawi said security is better in Adhamiya because of the local residents' organizing their own security. He stated the quality of the Iraqi police in the area was still dismal. He claimed to have a good relationship with Prime Minister al-Maliki, proudly showing some photos of him with the PM. However, he was clear that the American forces should not leave his neighborhood or Iraq. We urged him to support the upcoming SoFA. Izzawi was not much interested. Instead, he was certain that the U.S. would not leave Iraq after investing so many resources here. (No amount of arguing would change his mind.) ¶3. (SBU) Sheikh Izzawi told us that he has applied for financial aid for Adhamiya tribal council projects from the Prime Ministry's Office. He has yet to receive a response. PMIN told Izzawi that the Embassy would see if we could offer help at Iraq Follow-up Committee for National Reconciliation (IFCNR). Sheikh Izzawi bemoaned the high level of unemployment in Adhamiya and the frustration of young people there. He asked our assistance in getting his district reconstruction projects. PMIN cautioned that the day of large American projects in Iraq has concluded. He noted that most remaining Baghdad projects are managed by our PRT office, and promised to get the appropriate PRT in touch with his office. ¶4. (S) Izzawi also expressed concerns over arrests of Adhamiya residents carried out by Iraqi Security Forces and U.S Coalition Forces. He claimed that sometimes the U.S. forces arrest civilians that have no connection to terrorism. Izzawi asserted that if these raids continue, resentment among Sunni Arabs would increase causing a backlash in the community. He also stressed that when he cannot answer families' concerns and inquiries, he is left in a very embarrassing position. This, Izzawi added, will lessen his credibility among his community and tribe. He also warned us that Al-Qaida in Iraq would gain an open invitation to re-establish itself in Adhamiya if these raids and arrests don't stop. ¶5. (C) With Izzawi was parliamentarian Ammer Karazan, a Sunni Arab from Diyala, who alleged that there are still hundreds or even a thousand Sunni Arabs held without trial at the detention facility attached to the Criminal and Investigative Court in Rusafa (east Baghdad). Kazaran claimed that families who search for their relatives there often are asked to pay either for information about their relatives or, for a higher sum, for the release of their relatives from detention. (Comment: there is an Iraqi government center in Adhamiya where relatives can seek information on their family members in detention, and our experience is that it works reasonably well. It cannot always locate prisoners, however. End Comment.) ¶6. (C) Comment: Sheikh Izzawi's concerns about raids and arrests in Adhamiyah are indicative of a general trend we see in our discussions with most Iraqi Sunni Arab contacts. These meetings, usually with local Sunni Arab leaders, become embroiled in accounts of arrests and pleas for support. These contacts are much less interested in national issues such as elections, SOFA and security. CROCKER