PRT SALAH AD DIN: BOMBS AT TIKRIT UNIVERSITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 003156

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/I

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/06/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV KTER IZ
SUBJECT: PRT SALAH AD DIN: BOMBS AT TIKRIT UNIVERSITY
SIGNAL TILT AGAINST INSURGENCY?

Classified By: PRT Team Leader David Stewart for reasons: 1.4 (b) and (
d).


1. (U) This is a Salah Ad Din Provincial Reconstruction Team
(PRT) message.


2. (C) SUMMARY The normally quiet University of Tikrit
experienced two bomb incidents on November 22 and 23. In the
past, this would have sent students and professors scurrying
away from any American contact. Yet, just hours after the
first incident, university deans met at the campus, main
library with the PDoff, the economic team met with accounting
professors, and students were visiting the Provincial
Reconstruction Team (PRT)-sponsored study abroad center.
Conversations with senior University officials indicated they
would not be deterred by terrorist threats. The motivation
for these scare tactics and the response of the University
offer one clear message: change is underway at an institution
once regarded as sympathetic to terrorists and insurgents.
END SUMMARY


3. (U) The University of Tikrit, located just north of Tikrit
city limits, was off limits to the U.S. for much of the past
18 months. According to military analysts, insurgents used
it as base of operations, launching mortar rounds on to the
nearby American base and actively recruiting on campus. The
university community did not want to engage with Americans.
Within the last year, however, we have seen the University
administration change course and embrace active partnership
with the PRT, Coalition Forces, and American universities.
Now students and professors alike welcome American soldiers
to campus for English lessons and informal chats and the
administration is pursuing partnerships with six American
universities. The PRT Team Leader has also begun teaching a
monthly course at the College of Education. One sign of
increasing freedoms on campus occurred during the first
class, when a female student publicly challenged her Baathist
professor's proposal. Only days ago the President of the
University extended the first invitation to American
officials to dine at his home, and the following day he
traveled to Baghdad to meet with the Minister Counselor for
Public Affairs.


4. (C) But on the morning of November 22 a bomb exploded
along the main avenue of the sprawling campus. No
significant damage was reported. When PRToffs arrived around
11 AM at the University,s central library (located only a
few meters away from the site of the bomb),activity appeared
to be normal and the library was filled with students.
PRToffs visited the Study Abroad Center and conducted several
meetings over the course of the next four hours. No one
mentioned the incident, nor did they seem alarmed. To the
contrary, students approached PRT members in front of their
peers to inquire about study opportunities in the United
States--this on a campus where, until recently, even speaking
to an American was cause for retaliation. Student Mustafa
Tawfiq (strictly protect),for example, told PRTOffs that
after he expressed interest in the Fulbright program earlier
this year he received a text message telling him to stay away
from the Americans on campus.


5. (C) A flier claiming credit for the attack said it was in
retaliation for the increasing "corruption" of the students
at the University, specifically citing the more revealing
clothing that women have been wearing and "cooperation with
the occupiers." (Note: PRToffs traveling to the University
on a regular basis have observed that student attire,
particularly for women, has gradually become more relaxed
over the past year. End Note.) Military analysts have
Qover the past year. End Note.) Military analysts have
determined that the flier itself was likely written by
someone without a college education and bears the hallmarks
of Al Qaeda, suggesting that the attack probably did not
originate from University students or professors.


6. (C) Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) conducted a search of the
campus and discovered another bomb hidden in a trash can in
front of the President's office plus a cache of more
explosive devices in a separate area. Conversations with
senior University officials indicated they would not be
deterred by terrorist threats. A senior advisor to the
University President insisted that the PRT continue with
student-soldier chats and TOEFL classes scheduled for the
following day, but Coalition Forces (CF) decided to cancel
them as a precautionary measure. Other University officials
with whom the PRT spoke echoed these sentiments, saying that
their programs with Americans would not be deterred by these
incidents.


7. (C) COMMENT: Instead of serving as an ominous sign of a
continuing strong insurgency at the campus, placement of

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these devices may instead be the mark of a marginalized
extremist movement. Not so long ago, letters, threats, or
phone calls sufficed to intimidate students or professors.
Radical and criminal elements used to operate with
impunity--but times appear to be changing. This emerging
openness to risk engaging with Americans may be forcing these
actors to resort to more desperate measures. Despite these
attacks, however, University of Tikrit students and
administrators alike appear to have made a conscious decision
to reconnect with the world from which they have been cut off
for so long. PRT and Brigade strongly believe these changing
attitudes need to be encouraged and supported. END COMMENT.
HILL