IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO KUWAIT: POSSIBLE MOVEMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 001821 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/29/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL IZ KU SUBJECT: IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO KUWAIT: POSSIBLE MOVEMENT REF: BAGHDAD 1668 Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Peter Vrooman for reason 1.4 (d). -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) Members of Parliament's Foreign Relations Committee and other sources tell us that 20 of 65 pending ambassadorial nominees are close to being confirmed, perhaps in the next two weeks. That said, there continue to be conflicting signals as to whether Kuwait will be among the first 20 posts filled. The Chief of Staff to Committee Chairman, Humam al-Hamoudi, told us that Muhammad Bahr al-Uloom will be Iraq's next ambassador to Kuwait and that he will be part of first 20 nominees who are confirmed. However, according to MP Tanya Gilly (PUK),the ambassadorial nominees have not yet been assigned a country. She believes that where the nominees will be posted will be negotiated by political party blocs once they are confirmed, leaving open the possibility that no one is assigned to Kuwait in the first group of 20. Regardless of whether this is true, MP Gilly has told us that the future ambassador to Kuwait and the other 19 candidates/nominees will have to attend six months of mandatory training at the MFA before they take up their duties. End summary. -------------- Numbers and Qualifications -------------- ¶2. (C) On June 25, MP Tanya Gilly, a member of Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, described to Poloff the long and arduous process of confirming Iraqi ambassadorial nominees. Gilly confirmed what an MFA official told us last week (reftel): that the committee had received a total of 65 official ambassadorial nominees, five of whom are career diplomats from the MFA. The remaining 60 nominees are political appointees who were officially nominated by the Prime Minister, but who in reality made the list with the input of the various political blocs in Parliament to ensure a smooth confirmation. Gilly noted that each political nominee had been interviewed by the MFA and received the approval of the cabinet before the Committee began its interviews as part of the confirmation process. ¶3. (C) With respect to recent news reports that several MPs found some ambassadorial nominees not to be sufficiently qualified, Gilly indicated that in cases in which the Committee has not been satisfied with a nominee, it has discreetly asked the party bloc which originally submitted the nomination to change its nominee. Gilly said that this had happened on two occasions and that the party bloc willingly complied with the Committee's request for a substitution, an indication that the Committee is exercising its oversight function. However, Gilly also noted that a number of MPs had raised larger concerns about ambassadorial nominees, including whether they were dual nationals, whether they were currently living abroad rather than in Iraq, whether their C.V.s were accurate, and most importantly whether they were suspected Baathists or terrorists. Gilly said that of the 65 ambassadorial nominees, the committee had completed interviewing 50 and that these names had been forwarded to the de-Baathification Commission, which has cleared 39 nominees with 11 still pending. -------------- An Ambassador to Kuwait in 2009? -------------- ¶4. (C) When asked about the timeline for Parliamentary confirmation of the nominees, Gilly told Poloff that rather than wait for all 65 names to be cleared through the entire vetting process that the Foreign Affairs Committee was preparing the first batch of 20 for a confirmation vote. (Note: The head of the MFA's North America Office Mohamed Q(Note: The head of the MFA's North America Office Mohamed Al-Hamaimidi told us on June 22 that the first group voted out of committee would include 10 nominees (reftel). End note.) Gilly indicated that the first group of 20 candidates would include nominees from each of the party blocs to ensure passage. On June 2 and 30 respectively, Ayad al-Bayati, Chief of Staff (COS) for Speaker of Parliament Ayad al-Sammaraie, and Ali Muhsen, the Chief of Staff (COS) to Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Humam al-Hammudi, outlined a similar procedure to Poloff and confirmed the fact that bloc negotiations were more or less completed. Muhsen also indicated to Poloff that the first 20 nominees would be brought to a vote within the next two weeks. ¶5. (C) When asked whether an ambassador to Kuwait had been designated and whether this person would be one of the first BAGHDAD 00001821 002 OF 002 20 nominees confirmed, COS Muhsen told Poloff that Hussein Bahr al-Uloom had been designated to be the next ambassador to Kuwait. Muhsen also stated that al-Uloom would be among the first group of 20 as a "favor" to us, given that we had raised the issue so often. At the same time, Gilly stated to Poloff that none of the 65 ambassadorial nominees has yet been assigned a country. She stated that the decision as to which country each nominee is assigned will be negotiated by party leaders, a process that would leave open the possibility that no one was assigned to Kuwait amongst the first 20. (Comment: Our understanding of Iraqi procedure based on conversations with other Committee members and GOI officials is that ambassadorial nominees are assigned a country before their names are submitted to Parliament. It may simply be that Gilly, despite being a member of the Committee, is not privy to the information for unknown reasons. That an MP on a particular committee would not understand the committee's work in detail unfortunately is common in the Iraqi parliamentary context. End comment.) When Poloff stressed to Gilly the urgency of Iraq sending an ambassador to Kuwait soon, she noted that even when the nominees are confirmed, they will be required to attend six months of mandatory training and familiarization at the MFA before they are sent to their posts of assignment. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶6. (C) After more than a year of interviews, background checks, and political manuevering, there appears to be a genuine desire in the Foreign Affairs Committee to bring the first group of ambassadorial nominees to a confirmation vote in the Parliament at the earliest opportunity. If it is true that Hussein Bahr al-Uloom is indeed the nominee for Kuwait -- and we have heard his name for this position before -- and that he is amongst the first 20 nominees confirmed, this will be a very positive development for Iraq-Kuwait relations. Whether this vote takes place within the next two weeks and whether the nominees will be required to attend six months of training at the MFA before taking up their posts remains to be seen. We will continue to follow this opaque process and push for the new Iraqi ambassador to Kuwait to take up his post as soon as possible. End comment. HILL