Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09BASRAH53
2009-09-24 06:52:00
CONFIDENTIAL
REO Basrah
Cable title:  

BASRA JOURNALIST DISCUSSES MALIKI VISIT, JOURNALISTIC

Tags:  SOCI SCUL KPAO KMDR PGOV IZ 
pdf how-to read a cable
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DE RUEHBC #0053/01 2670652
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 240652Z SEP 09
FM REO BASRAH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0921
INFO RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD 0499
RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHBC/REO BASRAH 0959
RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BASRAH 000053 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/24/2019
TAGS: SOCI SCUL KPAO KMDR PGOV IZ
SUBJECT: BASRA JOURNALIST DISCUSSES MALIKI VISIT, JOURNALISTIC
CHALLENGES, U.S. IRAQ LEGACY

BASRAH 00000053 001.2 OF 003


CLASSIFIED BY: John Naland, PRT Team Leader, PRT Basra, US State
Department.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BASRAH 000053

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/24/2019
TAGS: SOCI SCUL KPAO KMDR PGOV IZ
SUBJECT: BASRA JOURNALIST DISCUSSES MALIKI VISIT, JOURNALISTIC
CHALLENGES, U.S. IRAQ LEGACY

BASRAH 00000053 001.2 OF 003


CLASSIFIED BY: John Naland, PRT Team Leader, PRT Basra, US State
Department.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)

1. (C) Summary. Local journalist and close PRT contact Majed
Al-Brekan (strictly protect) dismissed Prime Minister Maliki's
recent visit to Basra, ostensibly undertaken to deal with water
shortages, as "entirely political," and said that that "all his
promises were just talk." On the challenges of being a
journalist in Iraq, he cited security concerns, and the need to
not directly challenge the government, but rather "educate" the
public about the government's actions and "promises." Al-Brekan
said that Basra Governor Shiltagh's public efforts to bring
greater transparency are just "all propaganda," and that it is
now actually harder than ever to get information from the
provincial government. Al-Brekan accused the Governor's press
officials of handing out cash-filled envelopes to journalists at
a recent press conference, and said that, in turn, many of these
journalists will provide the favorable coverage that these
bribes seek. In response to PRTOffs questions about what the
multi-year U.S. "legacy" in Basra and Iraq will be, he said that
U.S. efforts and sacrifices "were not worth it," that there was
"nothing to show for it," and it was "all a bad experience."
End summary.

Prime Minister's "political visit" to Basra
===========================================


2. (C) Local print and radio journalist Majed Al-Brekan
(strictly protect) spoke dismissively of Prime Minister Maliki's
September 9-10 visit to Basra. While the trip was ostensibly
made to address, or to demonstrate concern for, Basra's water
shortages, Al-Brekan said that the trip was "entirely
political." He said that a Maliki-Governor Shiltagh press
conference capping the end of the trip was "not good." He said
that Maliki "promised a lot, and talked good, but it was just
all talk." He said that both Maliki and Shiltagh spoke only in
"the future tense," knowing full well that these projects, even
if acted on, would not address the present water shortages in

parts of Basra Province.

Challenges to being a journalist in Basra
=========================================


3. (SBU) Al-Brekan said that as a journalist, he has not covered
any one particular area, but follows those issues of most
importance to Basrawis. He said that in the past he focused
more on security-related matters, but as security has generally
improved, he finds himself focusing more and more on economic
issues. Al-Brekan cited the problems that hamper the
development of a more mature media establishment, including the
lack of financial viability of fledging newspapers and radio
stations. He did acknowledge, however, that many of these
problems were by no means unique to Iraq.


4. (C) Al-Brekan also cited the many "challenges" that an Iraqi
journalist like himself, a critic of local and national
government, faces. He said that his life had been threatened
many times in the past, and was the target of an assassination
squad in March 2007. After this event, he said that his
crewmembers and their families fled to Baghdad for safety, but
he stayed in Basra. (Note: Al-Brekan's own father, also a
journalist, was killed by the Jaysh al-Mahdi militia in 2007.
End note.) He said that journalists, especially during an
election season, are better off, "for their own good," not to
focus too much on the "typically unmet and wild promises and
lies" that politicians make during this time. Instead, they can
"raise awareness" of the issues. As an example, he cited the
ongoing water shortfalls and salinity problems. Instead of
focusing on the government's "wild promises," which will only
bring scorn, or worse, to the journalist, a journalist should
focus on the actual costs and time needed for these promised
programs, and let the reader judge just how realistic these
promises are. (As an example, he said that Maliki and
Shiltagh's plan to lay water pipes from Al Qurnah to Al Faw
would cost one billion dollars and take years.) In passing, he
said that this was not at all the first such water crisis in
recent times, and during each such crisis, there is "a lot of
talk," but eventually the problem fades away, and nothing is
ever done.


5. (C) Al-Brekan also mentioned the recent complaint being heard
in local media circles that Iranian companies are dumping
industrial waste into the Shatt al Arab waterway in southern
Iraq, affecting drinking water and irrigation. He complained
that, as this is a "controversial subject," provincial
government environmental offices were not responding to media
inquiries, or asking him not to bring up this subject.

Unmet promises of government transparency
=========================================


6. (C) Al-Brekan said that despite a recent Governor Shiltagh
public directive to all government officials to "open up" to

BASRAH 00000053 002.2 OF 003


local media and exhibit "greater transparency," this has not
occurred. He said that, after all, Basra-based directors
general (DG) "still work for the national government, so they
are not going to change due to this [directive]." He said that
even in the Governor's office itself, there was "no detectable
signs" of greater transparency, and concluded that Shiltagh's
call is "just all propaganda." Continuing on this theme, he
said that despite a recent PRT-sponsored media relations
workshop that sought, among other things, to improve relations
between the local media and local DGs, it is now actually even
harder to get information from DGs, and journalists are forced
to "go around them" in order to "learn what is going on."

Charges corruption
==================


7. (C) Al-Brekan was critical of the "low journalistic
standards," and said that, as bad as local government can be at
times, journalists "can also be part of the problem." He said
that at a recent provincial press conference, a Governor's
spokesman was openly handing out envelopes to journalists with
50,000 Iraqi dinar, or around $42, in each. He lamented that
this is an increasingly common occurrence, and that journalists
who receive these kinds of favors "will not hesitate to follow
up with favorable press coverage" for these "benefactors."


8. (C) At the same time, Al-Brekan acknowledged that these kinds
of occurrences are not unique to Iraq, and that corruption in
journalism is a worldwide phenomenon. However, he apparently
drew a line as to just how similar Iraqi media standards are to
those of other nations. In response to a PRTOff's comment that
journalists and media companies in some countries are sometimes
accused of withholding favorable coverage (or threatening
negative stories) in exchange for money from or access to public
figures, Al-Brekan immediately shot back. He said that this
sort of problem would "never occur in Iraq," because if "anyone
ever tried that, the person making the threat would be dead in a
matter of moments."

U.S. "legacy" in Basra "not good"
=================================


9. (C) In response to PRTOffs open question about what Basrawis
will recall of the United States's multi-year presence in Basra
and Iraq, Al-Brekan said that our efforts and sacrifices, and
the Iraqi sacrifices, "were not worth it," and that there is
"nothing to show for it." He said that he does "not see any
good that has come of the U.S. efforts" -- only a "bad
experience." He did not see any imminent changes to U.S.
policy, and that while President Obama might have "slightly
different policies [than former President Bush]," it will "not
be a lot."

Biography
=========


10. (SBU) A native of Basra and a self-described "Iraqi
patriot," Majed Al-Brekan has worked as a radio and print
journalist for several years, including with USG-funded Radio
Sawa. He enjoys the respect of the local media community, and
is known for his aggressive reporting style. He is also known
to hold generally secular, non-sectarian, political views.
Al-Brekan has been a close PRT contact for three years, has met
many visiting senior State Department officials from Baghdad and
Washington during this time, and to whom he is invariably candid
and straightforward. Al-Brekan has told PRTOffs that the media
is the key element in creating the "new Iraq" because the media
is the "main tool for public education." He has said that
"building roads and water lines are important, but the national
rebuilding effort cannot succeed without Iraqis learning new
ways of thinking," a task in which the media will play a big
role. Al-Brekan participated in the Edward R. Murrow Program
for Journalists/International Visitor and Leadership Program in
October 2008 and openly describes himself as pro-American. A
"secular" Muslim, he is married with two children, and speaks
little or no English.

Comment
=======


11. (C) Al-Brekan's longstanding and close PRT and Embassy
Baghdad ties, as well as his openly pro-American outlook, could
lend some credibility to his negative comments about the U.S.
"legacy" in Basra. He does not appear to have an axe to grind
or secret agenda. Unfortunately, this negative view of the
U.S. "legacy" in Basra is not an uncommon view here. Despite
USG-provided figures that around $2.5 billion has been spent on
hundreds of projects in Basra Province since 2003 (some actually
executed by the United Kingdom on our behalf),contacts
routinely state that they "see no evidence" of our work.

BASRAH 00000053 003.2 OF 003


Al-Brekan and many contacts contend that for the vast majority
of Basrawis, far and away the top priorities are the provision
of electricity and water. Yet for whatever reason, the
situation since 2003 is not greatly changed in these areas, and
power and water supply is largely the same as it was in 2003
(partly due, no doubt, to security concerns hampering
rehabilitation efforts). While Basrawis can sometimes blame all
their problems on outsiders, on the other hand, fair or unfair,
many Basrawis appear to judge the U.S.-led intervention in Iraq
through the prism of the provision of essential services, and
through this prism, we come up short.
NALAND