OMAR SOLIMAN DISCUSSES IRAQ APRIL 12

S E C R E T CAIRO 000749 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/13/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV IZ EG SUBJECT: OMAR SOLIMAN DISCUSSES IRAQ APRIL 12 REF: A. CAIRO 678 ¶B. CAIRO 702 Classified By: Ambassador Francis J. Ricciardone Reasons: 1.4 (B) and (D) ¶1. (S/NF) Ambassador raised Iraq, and urged that Egypt do more to support the GOI, in an April 12 meeting with EGIS Chief Omar Soliman. The recent Iraqi military operation was clear evidence that PM Maliki was operating on a national rather than sectarian basis in confronting rebel groups. This is what Egypt and other Arab states had demanded so it was important to support Maliki now by recognizing this publicly. We also hoped Egypt would finalize plans to return an ambassador; there are many non-Arab states with a strong presence in Iraq and the Arabs need to follow suit if they wished to help Maliki resist Iranian influence. ¶2. (S/NF) Soliman argued that it was Iraqi PM Maliki who needed to demonstrate that the GOI was friendly to Arabs, both in and out of Iraq. Maliki retains a "bad attitude" toward Arabs according to Soliman, and his government does not yet appear to be a government for the Iraqi people as a whole. Soliman maintained that he had counseled Maliki and NSA Rubaie on this personally at the May, 2007 conference in Sharm el Sheikh. Soliman firmly agreed with the U.S. plan to maintain troop levels in Iraq, and said that any drawdown now would be most ill-advised. RICCIARDONE