PUBLIC OUTRAGE OVER BLACKWATER DECISION GENERATING

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000020 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/03/2020 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KJUS ASEC IZ SUBJECT: PUBLIC OUTRAGE OVER BLACKWATER DECISION GENERATING HEAVY FALLOUT Classified By: Charge d'Affairs Robert Ford for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) . ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Public outrage has erupted within Iraq over the decision of U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina to dismiss the charges brought against Blackwater employees for their role in the deaths of 17 Iraqis on September 16, 2007. GOI spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh condemned the decision on January 1 and called on the U.S. Department of Justice to appeal the decision. Al-Dabbagh pledged the Iraqi judicial system would prosecute the Blackwater employees involved. He also indicated that the GOI might expel former Blackwater employees out of Iraq, potentially complicating security services for the Embassy. A Prime Ministry staffer acknowledged to us the political necessity of reacting and the Prime Minister on January 4 vowed to pursue legal remedies, according to press reports. Members of the Iraqi Parliament have even raised holding a referendum on the Security Agreement (SA). Other Iraqi politicians, religious leaders, and journalists have expressed strong outrage at the judicial decision and called for extraditing the Blackwater employees to Iraq, taking the case to an international court, or for additional legal action to be taken in the U.S. So far our security contractors' operations have not been affected, but they both need license renewals from the Ministry of Interior. This message contains an action request at paragraph 10. END SUMMARY. -------------- GOI CONDEMNS BLACKWATER DECISION... -------------- ¶2. (C) Reacting to the news of Judge Ricardo Urbina's decision to dismiss charges against five former employees of Blackwater in the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqis in Baghdad in 2007, GOI spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh took to the airwaves on January 1 to denounce the decision as "unjust and unacceptable." He went further, calling for the U.S. Department of Justice to appeal the decision and for the Iraqi judicial system to take necessary steps to prosecute the Blackwater employees in Iraq. On January 2, Abdullah Emir, chief of staff to PM Advisor Sadiq Rikabi, characterized Al-Dabbagh's statement to Poloff as a "political necessity" given the PM's need to "look tough" in order to fend off opposition politicians who seek to make this a campaign issue. Emir said the PM has to placate the Iraqi public, which doesn't comprehend the nuances of the judicial decision. Despite the tough rhetoric, Abdullah said that the GOI had not firmly staked out its position or next steps with respect to the dismissal of charges, adding that the Minister of Justice had been non-committal and the PM was probably waiting for legal advice before going forward. (On January 4, media reports quote the Prime Minister from Najaf vowing to continue with a lawsuit against Blackwater.) ¶3. (C) Fareed Yaseen, advisor to VP Abd al-Mahdi, told Pol M/C on January 3 that the GOI and Iraqi public would be gravely disappointed if the U.S. Department of Justice chooses not to appeal Urbina's decision. Former Assistant Minister for Reconciliation Sa'ad Mutalibi, a current advisor to the Cabinet told Poloff that the GOI planned to pursue unspecified legal action against the Blackwater employees either in U.S. courts or internationally with an emphasis on testimony from the victims of the shootings. On January 4, Pol M/C met with Parliamentary Speaker Ayad Samarra'i who said that the PM had told him that the GOI would pursue its civil case in the U.S. Samarra'i said that Parliament's Qcivil case in the U.S. Samarra'i said that Parliament's options were generally limited to debate and discussion. It had no authority for direct action on the case. Other MPs have taken bolder positions, however, and suggested that the COR could retaliate by calling for a referendum on the Security Agreement (see paragraph 7). -------------- --- ...WANTS FORMER BLACKWATER EMPLOYEES OUT OF IRAQ -------------- --- ¶4. (C) In statements to international media on January 3, al-Dabbagh said that the GOI was now "investigating" to determine if current or former Blackwater personnel are still in the country, including those who might be working for other companies. Al-Dabbagh advised that Iraq does not want them on its soil. (Comment: The Embassy contract for Presidential Airways, a subsidiary of Xe, the company that replaced Blackwater, ends today, January 4. Presidential Airways has not provided any services or support since December 23, 2009. However, there are many former Blackwater employees at other private security companies in Iraq, most notably Triple Canopy and DynCorps providing security services to us. End Comment.) Separately, the Minister of Human Rights, Wijdan Selim, requested a meeting with Pol M/C to discuss the GOI's position on the case, which will be reported septel. -------------- -------------- RELIGIOUS LEADERS AND POLITICIANS APPEAL FOR EXTRADITION -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) During Friday prayers on January 1, influential Shia imam and the head of Parliament's Human Rights Committee, Sheikh Muhammad al-Haydari (INA/independent),asked rhetorically if "the killing of innocents is considered a defense of U.S. national security?" He added that the GOI should demand extradition of the five guards to face prosecution in Iraq. MP Amir Thamir (INA/Solidarity),who also serves on the Human Rights Committee, said that the decision showed "disdain for the blood of innocent Iraqis by the U.S. judiciary," a sentiment echoed by the Iraqi Lawyers Union. On the same day, imam Sheikh Na'il al-Musawi said during prayers that the Blackwater decision "shows that Iraqi blood has no value to the Americans." On January 3, Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) General Secretary Osama al-Tikriti said that an international court should be formed to assess the damages incurred by Iraqis as a result of Blackwater's presence in the country and that compensation should be paid. MP Omar Khalaf Jabouri (Iraqiyya/INDF) went further, arguing that the GOI could retaliate for the Blackwater decision by releasing all Iraqi defendants sentenced to death for killing Americans in Iraq, a sentiment echoed by MP Omar Haikal al-Jabouri (Tawafuq) in an address to the Parliament on January 4. The day before, Haikal al-Jabouri had told Poloff that the court decision would inevitably harm U.S.-Iraqi relations, arguing that "even educated Iraqis" misunderstand the reasons for the acquittal and "most Iraqis believe the U.S. struggled to establish justice and rule of law in Iraq, but this decision runs contrary to justice." MP Safea Suheil (INA/independent) accused the Ministries of Human Rights and Justice as well as the Iraqi ambassador in Washington of not doing enough to follow through on the case. Suheil also called on the Parliament to form a delegation to go to the U.S. Congress to present the case and call for a fair punishment for those involved. -------------- OUTRAGE IN MEDIA -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Condemnation of the Blackwater decision was also pervasive in the Iraqi and pan-Arab media. The decision has received extensive television coverage with lead stories on Iraqiyah and on pan-Arab channel Al-Arabiya and others. A January 3 editorial by Basim al-Shaykh in the independent newspaper Al-Dustour commented that "failure to seek retribution from the criminals and acquitting (sic) them of what they have done to the Iraqi people is a bad omen for the Americans who will pay the price of a deepening hatred against them. These feelings will only be defused through bringing those killers to justice." Another editorial by Sattar Jabbar in the sensational al-Bayyna al-Jadeedah claimed that "if the U.S. judiciary system is self-respecting and respects the Iraqi people it would not dare to commit to such an immoral disgrace that reveals its 'phoniness.'" -------------- SECURITY AGREEMENT REFERENDUM UP NEXT? -------------- ¶7. (C) As a result of the fallout from the Blackwater decision, Iraqi politicians appear poised to grandstand on the Security Agreement. On January 3, MP Omar Haikal al-Jabouri passed a letter to Poloff from the Independent National Tribal Gathering which cited the "risky QNational Tribal Gathering which cited the "risky consequences" of the decision including the "credibility" of the Security Agreement. In a separate meeting on January 3 with Pol M/C, MP Humam Hammoudi (ISCI bloc leader),the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee and one of our more thoughtful interlocutors in the COR, said that the Blackwater decision had raised conversations in Parliament as to whether the SA had been violated because the United States and Iraq did not address the case jointly. Hamoudi also said that the committees of Human Rights, Foreign Affairs, as well as Security and Defense were looking into the implications of the decision for the SA. On January 4, MP Ali al-Adeeb (Dawa bloc leader) told POL M/C that some blocs in Parliament thought the Blackwater decision violated the SA and that Tawafuq and Al Hadba members of Iraqiyya were "pushing for a referendum on the SA." Al-Adeeb said that while support for a referendum on the SA was not universal, it would grow if the United States failed to respond in a "just fashion." The same day, Haikal al-Jabouri read a statement in Parliament in which he said that if the U.S. Justice Department did not appeal the case, Iraq would be forced to carry out a SA referendum on March 7 and that he would urge Iraqis to vote against it. Reports from Parliament indicate that a decision has been taken to have the Legal Committee "look into" options to add a referendum on the Security Agreement to the March 7 general elections. -------------- IRAQIS DO NOT UNDERSTAND LEGAL NUANCES -------------- ¶8. (C) A consistent theme in our engagements with Iraqi contacts and in Iraqi media reporting on the dismissal of the case against Blackwater employees has been a failure to grasp the legal nuances behind Judge Urbina's decision, in particular the decision to dismiss the testimony of Iraqi witnesses. For example, Dr. Jaber al-Jaberi, senior political advisor to DPM Rafi al-Issawi, and a sophisticated interlocutor, told Poloff that the legal basis for Judge Urbina's decision was not clear to him, and therefore was likely not clear to most Iraqis. He stressed that most Arabic language press coverage of the decision has focused on the failure of the U.S. legal system to acknowledge the suffering of Iraqis involved in the incident, not the legal reasons behind it. In addition, most Iraqis do not intuit the concept of an independent judiciary and therefore suspect that the U.S. executive branch orchestrated dismissal of the case. On January 4, MP Qassim Daoud (Shia/independent) told Pol M/C that it was "very important for political reasons" for the case to be appealed by the USG. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶9. (C) So far, Iraqi official reactions have been sharp in terms of rhetoric but the government has not taken any measures to retaliate in any way. We are monitoring that carefully, especially with contacts at the Ministry of Interior. This is especially important because both Triple Canopy and DynCorps that provide us ground convoy and air operations respectively need license renewals at the Ministry. Interior Minister Bolani is out of the country now but sent word that he would like to see outgoing Legatt and discuss during his farewell call the Blackwater issue. (Other Emboffs will attend this meeting if it occurs.) -------------- ACTION REQUEST -------------- ¶10. (C) All of our contacts urge that the United States publicly acknowledge the suffering of the victims' families. (Many have received small compensation payments from the Embassy, but we should not mention this, obviously.) Our contacts also recommend we publicly explain in simple terms the legal reasoning for the decision. The fact that Iraqi lawmakers and other might exploit the judge's decision to revive calls for a referendum on the Security Agreement shows we need to address in some fashion Iraqis' perception that justice has not been served. Cleared media guidance acknowledging the suffering of the Iraqi victims' families, explaining the basis of the decision and, if appropriate, indicating what steps the U.S. Justice Department intends to take to appeal the decision is urgently needed. FORD