CWC: WRAP-UP FOR OCTOBER 19-30, 2009

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000659

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR ISN/CB, VCI/CCA, L/NPV, IO/MPR,
SECDEF FOR OSD/GSA/CN,CP>
JOINT STAFF FOR DD PMA-A FOR WTC
COMMERCE FOR BIS (BROWN, DENYER AND CRISTOFARO)
NSC FOR LUTES
WINPAC FOR WALTER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL CWC
SUBJECT: CWC: WRAP-UP FOR OCTOBER 19-30, 2009

REF: A. THE HAGUE 632

B. THE HAGUE 617

C. THE HAGUE 627

D. THE HAGUE 628

E. THE HAGUE 634

F. THE HAGUE 638

G. THE HAGUE 658

This is CWC-67-09


1. (U) This is an action request -- see para 14.

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SUMMARY
--------------


2. (SBU) Following the 58th Executive Council (refs
A-F),no official meetings have yet been held. The
Western European and Others Group (WEOG) met on
October 20 and 27, with little discussion. Delreps
met privately with Iraqi Delegate Muhanned Al-
Miahi, and Secretary for the Policy-making Organs
Alexander Khodakov on October 27 and October 29,
respectively. An initial analysis of turnover of
the top structure of the Technical Secretariat (TS)
was sent (ref G).

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WEOG
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3. (SBU) German Ambassador Werner Burkart chaired
the WEOG meeting on October 20. He and many other
delegates congratulated Ambassador Uzumcu, with a
general theme of praise for the process, the role
of the Chairman, the conduct of all the candidates,
and the consensus reached at EC-58. The meeting
was subdued, with little discussion of the EC
issues and avoidance of analysis of the DG result,
as five WEOG countries had fielded candidates.
U.S. Delrep expressed appreciation for the hard-won
compromise on low concentrations, for the EU's
public questioning of Libya's deadline extension
request, and for Ambassador Lohman's facilitation
of the discussions with Iran on report language for
the EC visit to the U.S.


4. (SBU) Dutch Ambassador Lohman noted that the
decision text for the budget may cause future
difficulties; the Swiss co-facilitator did not
attend this meeting. The Swedish delegate noted
that Libya had provided more information on their
destruction plans following the EU request, and he
briefed the group on the last-minute negotiations
on the budget language that provided some
safeguards that the Council would determine numbers
of inspections and not the "industry cluster." He
also noted that with the major decisions (DG and
budget) completed, issues such as Articles VII and
XI will likely dominate the Conference of States
Parties (CSP). The French delegate described the
EC session as "fruitful" but warned against the
precedent of factual reports being changed and
negotiations "behind the curtain" (with no
specifics on which negotiations). She said that
WEOG as the next EC Chair should take a firm hand
in guiding discussions. The UK delegate credited
the Chairman with greater control over procedures
and the improvement in draft texts being circulated
in a timely fashion. She also noted that the
Iranian delegation left the meeting angry and could
become more difficult in the CSP. Italian Delegate
Cornacchia thanked everyone for their support to
his facilitation on low concentrations.


5. (U) At the next regular WEOG meeting on October
27, Coordinator Ruth Surkau outlined the required
appointments for the CSP and for the 2010 WEOG
members for the Executive Council (EC). She cited
the traditional role played by the U.S. and WEOG
Coordinator country (currently Germany) in
representing WEOG in the General Committee of the
CSP. U.S. Delrep and German Ambassador Burkart
stated the availability and willingness of their
delegations to again play the role of CSP Vice
Chair. Surkau also asked for two delegations to
volunteer for the WEOG seats on the Credentials
Committee. Surkau later sent an e-mail to all WEOG
delegations under a silence procedure for the Vice
Chairs and requesting volunteers for the
Credentials Committee. Although no one volunteered
at the meeting, Belgium, the UK and Greece have
since expressed interest in the Credentials
positions. On the question of who will chair the
CSP, no delegation knew whether the Eastern
European Group had made a final decision between
Ambassadors Verba (Lithuania) and Tomova
(Slovakia).


6. (U) New WEOG members to be elected to the EC for
a two-year term in 2010 will be: Canada, Denmark,
Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey. The Benelux
countries have revised the originally agreed
rotation to have Luxembourg take the EC seat now;
they have not decided yet whether Belgium will take
the next rotation. Surkau raised the question of
interest in the EC Chair which will go to WEOG in
May; no one responded.


7. (U) The group had no news on upcoming
consultations on Articles VII, XI, and X, nor on
the EC Chairman's consultations on destruction
deadlines or the Open Ended Working Group on
Terrorism (Australian Chair Mike Byers was not
present at the meeting). UK Delegate Lee Litman
announced that he will be chairing a meeting on
universality the week of November 9 to discuss
draft decision text for the CSP. Irish Delegate
Michael Hurley stated that he would be consulting
with interested delegations on the parameters of
"unforeseen circumstances" but did not intend to
present anything to the CSP. Surkau noted that the
Russian statement on unforeseen circumstances had
been issued as a national paper. (Del Note: At a
later social engagement, Delrep was informed by
Byers that he and Hurley are intending to hold
consultations on their respective subjects on
November 19.)

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IRAQ FOLLOW-UP
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8. (SBU) On October 27, Delrep met with Iraqi
Delegate Muhanned Al-Miahi to provide a summary of
the early October bi-lateral meetings in Washington
and to review the status of the TS visit to Iraq,
assessment plans for the bunkers at Muthanna, and
reporting requirements for recovered chemical
weapons in Iraq.


9. (SBU) Al-Miahi stated that, consistent with the
discussions in Washington, the Iraqi delegation had
formally requested the Director-General to consider
sending TS representatives to Erbil, rather than
Baghdad, to conduct the initial visit related to
Iraq's destruction plans. He indicated that this
request was favorably received and that detailed
logistics planning is underway, with a trip likely
to occur in November, prior to the CSP.


10. (SBU) Delrep and Al-Miahi reviewed
presentations and materials pertaining to the
status of the bunkers in Muthanna provided bi-
Qstatus of the bunkers in Muthanna provided bi-
laterally in Washington in October. Al-Miahi said
that he had reviewed these with his colleague
Mohaned Alhelli from the Iraq National Monitoring
Directorate during the week of the EC, and Alhelli
believed that the information provided in the U.S.
paper was not entirely correct based on his
practical experience with and personal knowledge of
the bunker contents. Al-Miahi stated that Alhelli
would return to The Hague on November 26 to attend
the National Authority events and would remain
through the CSP; he would be available to meet with
the U.S. delegation and technical experts to
further discuss the matter.


11. (SBU) Al-Miahi and Delrep discussed a potential
meeting with the TS to review the presently
understood status of the bunkers in Muthanna and to
verify the treaty requirements. Al-Miahi stated
that this could be arranged during Alhelli's visit
and offered that the discussion might include
potential donors. Al-Miahi emphasized that the
Iraqi delegation is interested in pursuing detailed
discussions with potential international donors and
coordinating their efforts (specifically mentioning
Germany, the UK, and Canada).


12. (SBU) Delrep and Al-Miahi discussed the
destruction of and related reporting on recovered
chemical weapons in Iraq. Delrep communicated the
issue that since their accession, Iraq is
responsible for reporting to the TS on recovered
chemical weapons. As the United States continues
to destroy such recovered weapons and report to the
government of Iraq through the Ministry of Defense,
as previously directed by the Iraq government, the
information is not being reported to the TS as
required. Delrep explained that the United States
is currently engaged in training a Chemical Defense
Company (CDC) in Iraq to perform the destruction
function with an aim to transition this activity to
the Iraqi CDC in its entirety in April 2010.
However, the reporting requirement presently sits
squarely with Iraq and has since entry-in-force in
February 2009.


13. (SBU) Al-Miahi explained the challenges of
communications between Iraqi ministries and further
stated that no ministry is interested in taking
responsibility for this information. Delrep
provided copies of communications to the Ministry
of Defense and he expressed surprise that these
would be sent to a personal email account, rather
than a government email address, explaining that
this was largely against routine procedure within
the Iraqi government. He stated that the recipient
remains responsible for the receipt of this
information. However, he inquired about the status
of an agreement in writing that outlined the
arrangement between the U.S. and Iraq for these
situations. (DEL COMMENT: It is clear that the
Iraqi officials need to be further educated on
their responsibility to report to the TS and that
this education is necessary at multiple levels
within the GOI. END COMMENT.)


14. (SBU) ACTION REQUEST: Del recommends that
ISN/CB consider sending a technical or subject
expert to meet with Alhelli in advance of the CSP.

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CSP PREPARATIONS
--------------


15. (SBU) On October 29, Delreps met with Secretary
for the Policy-making Organs Alexander Khodakov to
discuss the agenda for the CSP and specifically to
Qdiscuss the agenda for the CSP and specifically to
alert Khodakov to the inclusion of a senior-ranking
Department of Defense representative in the U.S.
Delegation. Delreps described that the National
Statement would likely be delivered by two
individuals with the majority of the address from
the delegation Representative and a portion
delivered by the Alternate, senior official.
Khodakov discussed seating arrangements, order of
delivery, and speech length, and concluded that
this is an agreeable approach.


16. (SBU) Khodakov projected that the General
Debate would extend through Tuesday, December 1,
and potentially into December 2. He opined that
although many of the agenda items are in good
standing from the success of the last EC session,
Article VII may pose a challenge as the mandate
needs to be renewed by the CSP and stated that this
may be linked politically with Article XI language.
He said the Iranian request for a victims' network
could re-surface, although it had not at EC-58, and
he expects some Iranian mischief on the U.S.
destruction deadlines. Khodakov also noted that TS
Head of Public Affairs Michael Luhan had requested
that the agenda item on the Director-General's
appointment be moved up to December 3 in order to
receive greater media coverage and timely inclusion
in the news cycle. Khodakov expressed the hope
that, with five days for the CSP rather than four,
and after the completion of so much work at EC-58,
including the DG decision and the budget, the CSP
would run smoothly and possibly finish early.


17. (U) BEIK SENDS.

LEVIN