BAGHDAD BATTENING DOWN, TENSIONS SIMMER

S E C R E T BAGHDAD 000962

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/28/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER IR IZ
SUBJECT: BAGHDAD BATTENING DOWN, TENSIONS SIMMER

Classified By: Political Counselor Matthew H. Tueller for reasons 1.4 (
b,d).


1. (C) Iraqi contacts of various Mission elements report that
Baghdad's neighborhoods were generally quiet March 28, with
most residents staying at home due to a combination of the
GOI-imposed 24-hour curfew, JAM intimidation, and the typical
Friday closure of businesses and schools. JAM remained in
control of the Shia neighborhoods it took by force over the
course of the past five days, located chiefly in the
districts of Sadr City, 9 Nissan, Kadhamiya, northern
Adhamiya, and western Rashid. Several sources reported that
JAM distributed leaflets door-to-door today in those
neighborhoods, instructing residents to stay indoors or be
killed. Locals criticized the Iraqi Police (IP) response to
JAM intimidation as ineffective and cowardly, with several
reporting that they witnessed IP riding around with JAM
members.


2. (S) Deputy Baghdad Governor Qassim N'Ima al-Durraji warned
PRTOffs March 28 that while there may still be room for
negotiation, the security situation in Baghdad has the
potential to spin out of control. Durraji, an "old school
Sadrist" with political connections to the Office of the
Martyr Sadr (OMS) and familial ties to the Sadr clan,
explained that Moqtada al-Sadr (MAS) is under a lot of
pressure from senior Sadrist leaders who feel that the
MAS-declared freeze has weakened the Sadrists vis--vis the
GOI and ISCI/Badr. Durraji said that the GOI went too far
with their military operations in Najaf, Kut and now Basrah.


3. (S) Sheikh Shia al Faraji of Sadr City told EPRT 3 Team
Leader March 28 that Sadr City OMS has created a special
military branch of JAM called the "golden" group, whose job
is to rein in and capture the outlaw JAM elements currently
wreaking havoc. Faraji also reported that several key Sadr
City tribal leaders met March 27 with Sadr City OMS leader
Salman Al Faraji and received permission to meet with a
representative from the GoI to discuss the current conflict.
(NOTE: These tribal leaders include representatives of the
population that migrated to Sadr City from southern Iraq, and
may maintain tribal ties there. END NOTE.) The tribal
leaders planned to meet with the Prime Minister's Advisor
Sadiq al Rikadi in order to raise their objections regarding
GOI targeting of Sadrists and its treatment of Sadr City.
They planned to suggest that the tribal leaders act as
mediators between the GOI and the Sadrists. The Sadrists
then suddenly cancelled the meeting that they had earlier
sanctioned, after the Sadr City OMS office received
instructions that no contact with the GOI would be
permissible until the Prime Minister ceased operations in
Basrah.
CROCKER