IRAQI NSC DISCUSSES SECURITY AGREEMENT, ELECTION

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 000173

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/23/2019
TAGS: MOPS MARR PGOV PTER PREL SY IZ
SUBJECT: IRAQI NSC DISCUSSES SECURITY AGREEMENT, ELECTION
SECURITY, REGIONAL SECURITY, AND DETAINEES

Classified By: Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (S) Summary. At the January 11 meeting of the Iraqi
National Security Council (NSC),Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki asked the National Security Advisor (NSA) to assure
that the Government of Iraq identified all of its
representatives to the various committees and joint
sub-committees (JSC) forming under the agreements. Maliki
also asked General Odierno about expediting the processing of
the files of detainees currently in U.S. custody for release
to Iraq, and received assurances that it is being done as
rapidly as possible under the procedures established between
the USG and GOI. Minister of Foreign Affairs Hoshyar Zebari
reported on the Third Neighbors' Border Security Working
Group in Damascus, where the GOI had countered a Syrian
demand that Iraq not be used as a base for operations
directed against targets in Syria with a call for Iraq's
neighbors to commit to ending insurgent operations directed
at Iraq launched from their territories. On election
security, the NSC discussed the threats posed by insurgents
receiving support from both Iran and Syria, and GOI
coordination efforts to counter them. The meeting concluded
with an update on the status of detainees in Iraqi custody.
End Summary.

Implementing the Security and Strategic Framework Agreements
-------------- --------------


2. (C) The Prime Minister opened the meeting with a
discussion of the status of SA and SFA implementation. He
stated that the NSA must name the ministers and other
representatives on each of the Agreements' implementing
Committees. Minister of the Interior Jawad al-Bulani
responded that the NSC had approved the proposed Iraqi
Committee and Sub-Committee Co-Chairs, and that this had been
forwarded to the Council of Ministers (COM) for final
approval. He also said that the ministries not represented
on the NSC must be notified about their participation in the
implementing bodies. Deputy National Security Advisor (DNSA)
Safa'a Rasul responded that the non-NSC ministries had been
notified. Bulani stated that he had scheduled a meeting with
the concerned ministries on January 15. (Note: probably in
reference to the JSCs that will form under the Joint
Committee of the SA, which Bulani will co-chair. End note.)


3. (C) PM Maliki said the Deputy Prime Ministers had been
added to the SFA's Higher Coordinating Committee (HCC) and he
noted that four of the JSCs forming under the SA are
primarily the responsibility of MOD (Note: the Minister of
Defense will co-chair the Joint Military operations Committee
(JMOCC) of the SA. End note.),including the temporary JSC
for International Zone (IZ) Transition and the JSC for
Provincial Security. DNSA Safa'a stated that while MOD and
MOI had named their representatives for the JSCs, other
ministries had yet to do so. The PM added that the Higher
Judicial Council (HJC) needs representation on the Detainee
and Jurisdiction JSCs of the SA.

Handover of Detainee Files to GOI
--------------


4. (C) Chief Justice Medhat's representative (Medhat was
absent) briefed the PM on the current status of efforts to
review the files of detainees in U.S. custody. He stated
that the GOI had formed a review committee composed of
representatives from the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) and
the HJC that would review 1500 cases per month. The
Qthe HJC that would review 1500 cases per month. The
committee would send those with incriminating files,
including information provided by Coalition Forces, to
investigating courts for prosecution, while those lacking
sufficient evidence for further action would be released. PM
Maliki suggested that there should be two review committees,
one each in Baghdad and Basra, which together could process
as many as 3,000 files per month. Maliki asked if the files
so far provided by the Coalition to the MOI and HJC had been
turned over, to which Medhat's representative responded, "Not
yet." The PM then asked General Odierno if the U.S. had
turned over detainee files to more than one ministry. The
Commanding General responded that he believes that MNF-I had
sent the files to the MOI, MOD, and the HJC, but that he
would check on that. (MNF-I comment: The list of 1,500
names had been provided on 23 Dec 08 to the Prime Minister
and on 26 Dec 08 to both the MoI and MoD. End comment.)


5. (C) MinInt Bulani stated that the HJC handles detainees,
and that there would be an important meeting to discuss this
issue on January 15, which representatives from the HJC
should attend. Maliki, pointing to a flowchart that
illustrated the plan for detainee file processing, stated
that he expects the established procedures to be followed.

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Bulani raised the case of a released detainee who
subsequently acted as a suicide bomber, to which Maliki,
again pointing at the flowchart before him, stated, "We need
to work on it." Medhat's representative stated that the
review committee has the option to send detainees down to the
provinces if provincial governments have incriminating
information about them. Maliki said that the detainees'
files fall into three categories:
-- Those for which there is insufficient or no evidence, who
should be released;
-- Those for which the U.S. has incriminating evidence, who
should be turned over to the judicial system for prosecution;
-- Those that the U.S. has detained, but lack sufficient
evidence for prosecution, who should be released.
Medhat's representative then raised the issue of those
detainees in U.S. custody for whom there is no warrant. The
DNSA responded that in many cases where there is no warrant,
the U.S. has provided incriminating information which is
being translated for use by the Iraqi judicial system.


6. (S) General Odierno stated that the judicial committee
had passed on the files of 1500 detainees in U.S. custody for
whom there is not enough data to hold them under Iraqi law.
The Iraqi system is checking for outstanding warrants and in
those cases where none is found, the detainees will be
released. When this 1500 is done, the U.S. will provide 1500
more. PM Maliki asked the Commanding General if the process
could be expedited, to which General Odierno responded that
the U.S. has not received a response on the first 1500 files
from the GOI, but MNF-I will be prepared to provide 1500 more
names to support the processing of 1500 detainees per month.
Maliki then stated that the process will get easier with time
as it becomes more routine.

Neighboring Countries Border Security Working Group
-------------- --------------


7. (S) FM Zebari briefed the PM on the Neighbors' Border
Security Working Group held in Damascus. He said that it was
well attended, save for the absence of Saudi Arabia. Maliki
interjected that Saudi Arabia has a problem with Syria,
accounting for the nonappearance. Zebari stated that there
had been many good meetings on issues that included count
terrorism, organized crime, smuggling, and extradition. He
noted that Iraq's standing among its neighbors and the
overall level of commitment had improved since the last
conference. Maliki stated that, "now they cannot say that
Iraq is weak." Zebari said that continuous cooperation and
coordination on joint responsibilities is essential to
counter transnational threats.


8. (S) Zebari said that Syria had tried to use its position
as host to claim that Iraq had violated Syria's sovereignty
during a recent raid against terrorists operating out of
Syria against Iraq. Maliki asked Zebari if, while
acknowledging the cross border raid, he had pointed out that
the terrorists were based in Syria. Zebari said that while
he had acknowledged the operation, he thought that the Syrian
call for a statement condemning the raid was unnecessary.
Zebari said that just as Syria asked that Iraq not be used as
a base of operations against its neighbors, to which Iraq had
agreed, the GOI had put forward the position that neighboring
countries not be used as a base for insurgents operating
against Iraq. Zebari added that Turkey and Iran need to be
included, as he had asserted that other nations must not be
Qincluded, as he had asserted that other nations must not be
used as a base to attack Iraq. Zebari then provided Maliki
with the final version of the statement on this issue that
the conference attendees had drafted.


9. (C) The PM asked Zebari if the conference is still a
useful forum or if it is preferable to use bilateral
engagements to address these issues. Zebari responded that
bilateral meetings would continue, but that the large
conferences offer an opportunity to highlight regional
issues, and that the support Iraq received from large nations
at international conferences strengthened its position in the
region. He went on to state that, at times, neighbors prefer
to deal with embarrassing issues bilaterally, but that Iraq
needs to point out when neighbor's commitments are not met,
which is often best done multilaterally. PM Maliki, agreeing
with Zebari, said that Iraq should continue to participate in
regional conferences in the hope that they will bear fruit,
particularly in the areas of intelligence cooperation,
security, and counter-terrorism.

Election Security
--------------


10. (S) The Prime Minister received a briefing from General
Ayden, the MOI Senior Deputy for Intelligence, on security

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for the upcoming provincial elections. Aydan said that
terrorists would attempt to launch attacks in Baghdad, Mosul,
and Basra. He expected that special groups would target some
candidates, Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) would launch attacks
before and during the elections, and sleeper cells would
emerge outside of the large urban areas to disrupt essential
services and discredit GOI governance. Ayden said that both
special groups and Baathists would attempt to influence the
elections, and that AQI would view successful elections as a
strategic defeat. He said that AQI would use a combination
of suicide bombers, ethnic divisiveness, controlled
candidates, and payments encouraging voters not to vote as
part of its campaign to disrupt the elections. AQI had
suffered a series of defeats recently, and would need a major
incident to demonstrate continuing efficacy. Special groups
would likely focus their efforts in Baghdad and Basra,
encouraging the devout not to participate, and fomenting
chaos where possible. Ayden said that groups based and
supported in both Iran and Syria hope to influence the
elections, and that low voter participation, would reduce GOI
legitimacy.


11. (S) Ayden then turned to the question of election
security in Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) areas. He
said that he had spoken with MNC-I LTG Austin and that a
committee composed of Iraqi Security Forces (ISF),Coalition,
and KRG representatives should coordinate efforts in these
areas. Where the demographics are purely Kurdish, the KRG
could provide security alone, but in other areas a joint
security force would be required. This cooperation had
already been achieved in Mosul, and he predicted that it
would soon be achieved in Diyala.


12. (S) PM Maliki stated that there is an effort in the
south to sabotage the election, and that the election
committees must continue their work. There had also been
reports of problems in Ninewa, Kirkuk, and Anbar. He said
that UNAMI could be very helpful in preventing voter fraud,
and that Iraq needs clean and fair elections. Minister of
Finance Bayan Jabar noted that the elections would receive
global scrutiny, and that Iraq's reputation is at stake. He
recommended that senior MOD and MOI officials, preferably
assigned outside of their home provinces, should monitor the
elections. MinInt Bulani said that the GOI must guarantee
broad participation in the elections. Following an exchange
of views between MOD and MOI representatives on the
integration of MOD forces into the overall election security
effort, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, who took over as
Chair after Maliki departed the meeting, reiterated that all
election security efforts must be coordinated by the Iraqi
Higher Election Commission, and that the ISF could not
operate independently.

Detainee Affairs
--------------


13. (S) Returning to the subject of detainees, but now with
regard to those in Iraqi custody, Medhat's representative
provided an update on the status of detainees. Discussion
focused on the difficulty that the HJC has encountered
getting its release orders carried out, and concerns from MOD
that some of those already released are terrorist leaders who
quickly returned to their insurgent activities. Following an
explanation from MinInt Bulani on why releasing detainees is
often more complicated than it might appear, DPM Barham Salih
reiterated that in the absence of an arrest warrant or
Qreiterated that in the absence of an arrest warrant or
incriminating evidence, detainees must be set free.

CROCKER