Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09BAGHDAD1920
2009-07-15 16:11:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Baghdad
Cable title:
U.S.-SUPPORTED DEMINING EFFORTS IN IRAQ FACE FORK
how-toVZCZCXYZ0007 PP RUEHWEB DE RUEHGB #1920 1961611 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 151611Z JUL 09 FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3940 INFO RUCNDMI/HUMANITARIAN DEMINING COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0826 RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 001920
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR NEA/I/POLMIL, NEA/I
DEPT ALSO FOR PM/WRA
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/16/2019
TAGS: KHDP PARM PGOV PREL IZ
SUBJECT: U.S.-SUPPORTED DEMINING EFFORTS IN IRAQ FACE FORK
IN THE ROAD
REF: BAGHDAD 1816 AND PREVIOUS
Classified By: A/PMA W. S. Reid for reason 1.4 (b) and (d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 001920
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR NEA/I/POLMIL, NEA/I
DEPT ALSO FOR PM/WRA
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/16/2019
TAGS: KHDP PARM PGOV PREL IZ
SUBJECT: U.S.-SUPPORTED DEMINING EFFORTS IN IRAQ FACE FORK
IN THE ROAD
REF: BAGHDAD 1816 AND PREVIOUS
Classified By: A/PMA W. S. Reid for reason 1.4 (b) and (d)
1. (C) Summary: The Ministry of Defense (MOD) will block the
Iraqi Mine Clearance Organization (IMCO) from doing demining
in Iraq, according to Deputy Minister of Environment Dr.
Kamal Latif, who also heads the Directorate for Mine Action.
IMCO is a NGO that the Department's Weapons Removal and
Abatement (WRA) Office initiated and subsequently sustained
with grants creating indigenous, private Iraqi capacity to
mitigate the threat of landmines and explosive remnants of
war (ERW). While widely praised by the UNAMI, Dr. Kamal, and
other demining experts in Iraq, IMCO and its Executive
Director, Zahim Mutar, drew the ire and suspicion of MOD
Senior Advisor GEN Mohan and other MOD officials (reftel).
The recently signed agreement between Ministry of Environment
(MOEnv) and MOD gives MOD power to veto specific projects,
which it has preemptively exercised by providing official
notice that it will reject any IMCO project. Embassy's
Political Military Affairs Section and PM/WRA have already
begun discussions about how to: 1) address contracts with
IMCO; 2) transfer assets and funds to other NGOs in Iraq; or
3) otherwise recoup and redeploy our humanitarian
investments. End summary.
2. (C) Dr. Kamal asked to meet with Emboff July 13 following
an earlier conversation he had the same day with GEN Mohan
and MOD Senior Legal Advisor Dr. Ghaleb. Dr. Kamal explained
that he had hoped to soften the MOD officials' position
against IMCO and then invite them to meet with Embassy
officials to discuss a new way forward. Dr. Kamal said that
he was surprised by GEN Mohan's intransigence and his claims
that IMCO was guilty of corruption and undermining internal
security. GEN Mohan for the first time accused Mutar of
being a closet Ba'athist. Emboff commented to Dr. Kamal that
not only were GEN Mohan's claims unsupported, they were
increasingly outlandish, which Dr. Kamal acknowledged with
dismay and resignation.
FIRST UPSIDE: IMCO OUT OF LEGAL JEOPARDY
--------------
3. (C) Mutar called Emboff July 12 to report that his lawyer
told him July 11 that MOD-sponsored criminal charges against
him had been dismissed. Mutar supplied a translation of the
court decision July 15 that states IMCO's actions in
destroying small arms and light weapons, under Mutar's
leadership and with MNF-I's involvement, did not violate
Iraqi law. He thanked the Embassy profusely for tracking the
issue and raising awareness about it. This resolution means
that Mutar currently does not live with the threat of
imprisonment and that the GOI will not dissolve IMCO and
seize its assets. (Comment: The dismissal represents some
encouraging news for Embassy projects because, if GOI were to
expropriate resources that WRA had supplied for humanitarian
purposes, it would have caused considerable bilateral
consternation. Second, Executive Director Mutar now has the
option of retiring or stepping down from an organization
which he has inadvertently mired in controversy, if he so
chooses. In any case, the Embassy will not have any
self-imposed obligation to bail him out of trouble. End
comment.)
SECOND UPSIDE: NEW OPPORTUNITIES
--------------
4. (SBU) IMCO is slated to receive USD 3.1 million in 2009
for ERW abatement in Iraq and USD 3.4 million to build a new
Qfor ERW abatement in Iraq and USD 3.4 million to build a new
compound. These obligations will need to be reconsidered
quickly in light of IMCO's inability to engage in operations
other than training. Per July 14 conversation with PM/WRA
official, one option other than defunding the project is to
transfer financial support (as well as physical assets) to
MAG (Mine Assistance Group) or other NGOs that GEN Mohan has
not indicated he plans to prevent from operating in Iraq,
especially those in the KRG where the MOD cannot block
operations. (Comment: Because we received this definitive
word that IMCO cannot operate before FY 2009 monies have been
obligated, we have the opportunity now to decide how to shift
resources and deepen investment elsewhere, rather than pursue
a losing cause. End comment.)
HILL
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR NEA/I/POLMIL, NEA/I
DEPT ALSO FOR PM/WRA
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/16/2019
TAGS: KHDP PARM PGOV PREL IZ
SUBJECT: U.S.-SUPPORTED DEMINING EFFORTS IN IRAQ FACE FORK
IN THE ROAD
REF: BAGHDAD 1816 AND PREVIOUS
Classified By: A/PMA W. S. Reid for reason 1.4 (b) and (d)
1. (C) Summary: The Ministry of Defense (MOD) will block the
Iraqi Mine Clearance Organization (IMCO) from doing demining
in Iraq, according to Deputy Minister of Environment Dr.
Kamal Latif, who also heads the Directorate for Mine Action.
IMCO is a NGO that the Department's Weapons Removal and
Abatement (WRA) Office initiated and subsequently sustained
with grants creating indigenous, private Iraqi capacity to
mitigate the threat of landmines and explosive remnants of
war (ERW). While widely praised by the UNAMI, Dr. Kamal, and
other demining experts in Iraq, IMCO and its Executive
Director, Zahim Mutar, drew the ire and suspicion of MOD
Senior Advisor GEN Mohan and other MOD officials (reftel).
The recently signed agreement between Ministry of Environment
(MOEnv) and MOD gives MOD power to veto specific projects,
which it has preemptively exercised by providing official
notice that it will reject any IMCO project. Embassy's
Political Military Affairs Section and PM/WRA have already
begun discussions about how to: 1) address contracts with
IMCO; 2) transfer assets and funds to other NGOs in Iraq; or
3) otherwise recoup and redeploy our humanitarian
investments. End summary.
2. (C) Dr. Kamal asked to meet with Emboff July 13 following
an earlier conversation he had the same day with GEN Mohan
and MOD Senior Legal Advisor Dr. Ghaleb. Dr. Kamal explained
that he had hoped to soften the MOD officials' position
against IMCO and then invite them to meet with Embassy
officials to discuss a new way forward. Dr. Kamal said that
he was surprised by GEN Mohan's intransigence and his claims
that IMCO was guilty of corruption and undermining internal
security. GEN Mohan for the first time accused Mutar of
being a closet Ba'athist. Emboff commented to Dr. Kamal that
not only were GEN Mohan's claims unsupported, they were
increasingly outlandish, which Dr. Kamal acknowledged with
dismay and resignation.
FIRST UPSIDE: IMCO OUT OF LEGAL JEOPARDY
--------------
3. (C) Mutar called Emboff July 12 to report that his lawyer
told him July 11 that MOD-sponsored criminal charges against
him had been dismissed. Mutar supplied a translation of the
court decision July 15 that states IMCO's actions in
destroying small arms and light weapons, under Mutar's
leadership and with MNF-I's involvement, did not violate
Iraqi law. He thanked the Embassy profusely for tracking the
issue and raising awareness about it. This resolution means
that Mutar currently does not live with the threat of
imprisonment and that the GOI will not dissolve IMCO and
seize its assets. (Comment: The dismissal represents some
encouraging news for Embassy projects because, if GOI were to
expropriate resources that WRA had supplied for humanitarian
purposes, it would have caused considerable bilateral
consternation. Second, Executive Director Mutar now has the
option of retiring or stepping down from an organization
which he has inadvertently mired in controversy, if he so
chooses. In any case, the Embassy will not have any
self-imposed obligation to bail him out of trouble. End
comment.)
SECOND UPSIDE: NEW OPPORTUNITIES
--------------
4. (SBU) IMCO is slated to receive USD 3.1 million in 2009
for ERW abatement in Iraq and USD 3.4 million to build a new
Qfor ERW abatement in Iraq and USD 3.4 million to build a new
compound. These obligations will need to be reconsidered
quickly in light of IMCO's inability to engage in operations
other than training. Per July 14 conversation with PM/WRA
official, one option other than defunding the project is to
transfer financial support (as well as physical assets) to
MAG (Mine Assistance Group) or other NGOs that GEN Mohan has
not indicated he plans to prevent from operating in Iraq,
especially those in the KRG where the MOD cannot block
operations. (Comment: Because we received this definitive
word that IMCO cannot operate before FY 2009 monies have been
obligated, we have the opportunity now to decide how to shift
resources and deepen investment elsewhere, rather than pursue
a losing cause. End comment.)
HILL