RESPONDING TO SARG'S ORDERS OF OCTOBER 29 --

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 000764

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/FO, NEA/ELA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/31/2018
TAGS: PREL ASEC AMGT SY
SUBJECT: RESPONDING TO SARG'S ORDERS OF OCTOBER 29 --
REQUEST FOR DEPARTMENT GUIDANCE

REF: A. DAMASCUS 758

B. NEWHOUSE-CONNELLY EMAIL


C. 10/29/08

D. DAMASCUS 755

Classified By: CDA Maura Connelly, Reasons 1.4 b and d.


1. (U) This cable contains two action requests ) see para 9.


2. (C) Summary: Reopening for normal business November 2,
Embassy Damascus will be faced with the question whether to
comply with the SARG's verbal order of October 29 to
immediately close the American Cultural Center, including the
American Language Center. Pending Department guidance, and
on the understanding that the SARG's action is legal, post
has elaborated a response that is aimed at creating an
impression of compliance that would close as few options for
the future as possible. Absent a formal protest from the
USG, we do not see a way to avoid closing the Language Center
since it is a focus of SARG attention. With a week's grace
period before closure, there are efforts underway by local
diplomats, led by the Canadian Ambassador with Charge's
active participation, to explore the viability of
"re-branding" the Damascus Community School as a means of
providing the SARG a face-saving means of allowing the school
to remain open. Department's detailed guidance on responding
to the SARG orders re the Cultural Center and its reaction to
the "re-branding" option for the school would be greatly
appreciated. End Summary.

WHAT IS THE AMERICAN CULTURAL CENTER?


3. (C) Subsequent to the SARG's verbal order delivered to
Charge October 29 to close the Damascus Community School
(DCS) and the American Cultural Center (ACC) (ref A),post
has reviewed a number of options for responding to the SARG.
Based on discussions in the Department reported to us (ref
B),we understand that there are no grounds for objecting to
the SARG's orders under international law. That analysis is
particularly disappointing to us regarding the ACC as we had
believed there was a distinction to be made between our
cultural operations, integrated as they are into our
diplomatic activities, and those of other countries (e.g.,
Britain, France, Germany) which maintain separate entities
for cultural outreach. During the meeting with MFA Chief of
Protocol Debbagh October 29 (ref A),it became clear that the
MFA, at least, had no very clear idea of what was subsumed
under the ACC beyond the American Language Center (ALC). Had
the SARG waited to process the closure orders through the
Ministries of Education and Culture, as indicated in the
October 28 Cabinet decree, those ministries' greater
familiarity with both DCS and the ACC would probably have
resulted in clearer and more orderly closure notices.
(Subsequent to the notification, we have heard reports from
various sources that the closure orders are not intended to
be permanent and that an official apology from the USG for
the alleged raid in Abu Kamal on October 26 would result in
nullification of the orders. No such conditionality,
however, has been conveyed to Embassy Damascus.)


4. (C) Based on the MFA's instruction, we understand that the
SARG expects "immediate" closure of the ACC and closure of
DCS by November 6. Embassy Damascus was closed in its
entirety October 30 because of security concerns over a
government-sponsored demonstration (ref C) ) closing the
entire embassy that day gave us a three-day respite before
the next normal working day, November 2. In our listing of
options for dealing with the ACC (ref A),again based on the
information that we could not object to the order on legal
grounds, we preferred the option that would give an
impression of compliance by limiting public access to the ACC
and its activities until such time as we can gradually
reinstate our cultural operations, with either the explicit
or tacit concurrence of the SARG. The ALC, however, with its
2,000 plus clientele, is well within the SARG's gun sights;
while closing the ALC presents complicated financial and
legal difficulties with Amideast, the MFA Chief of Protocol
expressly included the ALC in the closure order. It seems
closing the ALC is inevitable barring active protest from the

USG. If we do close the ALC, Amideast may be unwilling to
resume the current contractual arrangements.


5. (C) Pending Department's guidance, we have prepared for a
contingency under which we have to "close the ACC" on
November 2. We have prepared a draft statement (to be used
either as a release or as press guidance) that reads, "In
response to the SARG's request, the American Cultural Center
will be unavailable to the public until further notice." A
second, optional sentence would read, "Classes at the
American Language Center are cancelled until further notice."
We believe it is important to avoid the words "order,"
"compliance," and "close" in dealing with the media for two
reasons: 1) to avoid any implication of finality that we
would later have to publicly explain when, we hope, the
facilities are reopened; and 2) to limit any public relations
benefit the SARG may seek to achieve from the orders.

DEFINING "CLOSED"


6. (C) If we are forced to "close the ACC," including the
ALC, our plan would be to let the SARG and the public focus
on the ALC closure (likely to be deeply unpopular with
younger Syrians keen to learn English),and, as a token
"closure" in the Embassy building which bears the "American
Cultural Center" sign, we would bar public access to the
Information Resource Center (IRC),a library and internet
access facility for public use. For the immediate future,
while SARG scrutiny remains high, we would not allow the
public into the Educational/Testing office, we would cancel
activities open to the public such as Movie Night (popular
with university students) and the Elections Open House (an
elections night event aimed at highlighting the U.S.
electoral process). "International Education Week,"
scheduled for mid-November, would also probably have to be
canceled. We would not, however, cancel the Fulbright
program, other educational exchanges, or the International
Visitor Program.

RED LINE: CLOSING THE BUILDING


7. (C) Our red line in implementing, or seeming to
implement, the SARG order is maintaining our own access to
the building that houses the ACC (but not the ALC). Other
embassy operations are housed in that building (press office,
political and economic FSN staff, Commercial and Agricultural
offices, human resources, medical unit, and CLO) and we have
no room to house those operations within the Chancery
compound. Charge is opposed to removing the "American
Cultural Center" sign from the building to demonstrate
compliance but would do so if so directed by the Department.

STATUS OF DCS


8. (C) With a one-week grace period, we have more time to
contend with the DCS closure. Following an emergency school
board meeting October 29, at which board members recalled
that sponsorship of the school was assumed by Italy from 1967
to 1974 during a gap in diplomatic relations between the U.S.
and Syria, Charge has worked with the Canadian Ambassador to
explore the feasibility of "re-branding" DCS as a means of
keeping it open. The absence of DCS, seen as the best
international school in Syria, would be a severe blow for
Embassy families but also for the families of some 350
children of local diplomats and Syrians. Neither the name
of the school nor its demographics (U.S. embassy children
are, at less than five percent, a minority in the school)
justify its targeting by the SARG for closure; reportedly,
DCS is the focus of an animus on the part of President Bashar
al-Asad. Speculation about the cause of his hostility ranges
from reports that Syrian children at DCS speak better English
than do his own children to lingering anger over the
accidental death of a Syrian student on a field trip in 2004.
Whatever the cause, we believe that we are not engaged in a
rational discussion with the SARG when it comes to the status
of the school. Neither the Ministry of Education nor the MFA
will champion the cause of the school against a presidential
diktat, particularly in the current climate, even though the
closure affects Syria's relations with other countries and

reduces its viability as a venue for foreign companies
pursuing investment opportunities in Syria.


9. (C) The Canadian Ambassador will convene a meeting of
local diplomats November 2 to formulate a strategy to present
the SARG a face-saving means of allowing the school to remain
open, for the semester, for the academic year, or perpetuity.
Royal Dutch Shell's Damascus operation has a strong interest
in the school for the children of its international employees
and its representative has already expressed his intent to
find a way to keep the school open. "Re-branding," while
deeply regrettable from our point of view, could avoid
disruption to Embassy families and may create a climate in
which DCS can operate without the sustained harassment it has
endured from the SARG for more than two years. The DCS
director tells us that the school cannot continue to operate
with the constant uncertainty over its future and the
oppressive intrusions from the Ministry of Education that
started after a protracted argument over licensing the school
was finally resolved in September. "Re-branding" would
almost certainly mean that the U.S. Embassy sponsorship of
the school would be transferred to another diplomatic mission
or the school would become an independent commercial
institution and the U.S. Embassy would almost certainly have
to relinquish its control over the school board, including
the chairmanship. The Canadian Ambassador, given the large
Canadian presence in the school (some 31 Canadian citizen
students),is an obvious and willing choice to defend the
school's North American curriculum and English-language
orientation and is very keenly aware of the need to maintain
security standards and financial viability.

ACTION REQUESTS


10. (C) Action requests: Post requests Department's
detailed guidance on how to respond to the SARG order to
close the ACC. Post would also appreciate Department's
reaction to the notion of "re-branding" DCS and would welcome
any guidance Department may be able to offer regarding that
process as well as alternative courses of action.



CONNELLY