TROUBLES ABOUND FOR TAWAFUQ LEADER ADNAN DULEIMI

S E C R E T BAGHDAD 000070 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/09/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR IZ SUBJECT: TROUBLES ABOUND FOR TAWAFUQ LEADER ADNAN DULEIMI REF: BAGHDAD 3955 Classified By: Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (S/NF) In a January 7 meeting with the Ambassador, a grieving and somewhat incoherent Adnan Duleimi ranted about his troubles. Earlier in the day, Duleimi had lost his son-in-law, Thia al-Hadithi (the husband of Duleimi's daughter, CoR member Asma Duleimi) in an attack on the Sunni Endowment Office. That loss, combined with the stress that Duleimi has been under since the November 29 arrests of his guards and son, Makki, were clearly taking a toll on the Iraqi People's Conference leader. Duleimi implored the Ambassador to get his son and bodyguards out of jail, occasionally pounding the table for emphasis. He claimed his guards were being tortured and protested his innocence of all knowledge of terrorist activities, despite the incriminating evidence found during a November 29 joint Iraqi-MNF/I raid on his Baghdad offices. He implored the Ambassador to intercede on his behalf with the Prime Minister, who refuses to see him. The Ambassador coolly encouraged Adnan to submit a written request to PM Maliki. ¶2. (S/NF) Trying to focus the septuagenarian Duleimi on the future, the Ambassador urged him to play a more positive role in the Council of Representatives. Yet Duleimi, who struggled to maintain focus and composure, showed few signs that his behavior would improve: at one moment he insisted that he was on "good terms" with the Shi'ites, and in the next breath he denounced the Shi'a community as "the enemies of national reconciliation." He claimed that the Shi'ites say "all Sunnis have a tail (like a dog)." He then accused the USG of conspiring against him and Makki by accusing them of "fictitious crimes." Later in the conversation, Duleimi rambled in evident confusion: "I do not understand, what do you want from me. You never submitted me one dollar." ¶3. (S/NF) Comment: Though Duleimi's grief was genuine, his troubles are largely of his own manufacture. His ardent sectarianism and ill-concealed sympathy for the Sunni insurgency, to say nothing of the car bombs conveniently parked outside his office, epitomize the worst aspects of Sunni political leadership in the post-Saddam era. CROCKER