THE FUTURE OF BAGHDAD'S LOCAL COUNCILS

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000401

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/15/2020
TAGS: PGOV KDEM IZ
SUBJECT: THE FUTURE OF BAGHDAD'S LOCAL COUNCILS

REF: A. (A) 08 BAGHDAD 562

B. (B) 07 BAGHDAD 2044

C. (C) 07 BAGHDAD 2040

D. (D) 06 BAGHDAD 840

Classified By: PRT Baghdad Team Leader Tom Lynch for reasons 1.4 (b) an
d (d).


THIS IS A BAGHDAD PRT MESSAGE.


1. (C) SUMMARY: As the American military drawdown in Iraq
progresses, members of Baghdad sub-provincial councils remain
anxious. Threats to their positions, salaries, lives and
political independence have taken a toll even though
legislation approved by parliament on January 25 may deliver
some relief. Their institutions -- Neighborhood Councils
(NCs) and District Councils (DCs) -- have been associated
with the U.S. presence since 2003. The councils'
relationships with other governance institutions have grown
more difficult as those institutions have stood up and the
United States has transferred power to them. However, recent
national legislation has guaranteed council members' pensions
and employment until local elections are held, probably in
the autumn of 2010. Although a U.S. innovation, Baghdad's
local councils are likely to survive as legitimate Iraqi
institutions. END SUMMARY.

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Do Not Abandon Us
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2.(C) Members of the local councils have been expressing
anxiety and decrying the absence of USG support since early

2009. The local councils were established by Coalition
Provisional Authority (CPA) order in 2003, and U.S. military
and civilian officials worked with them daily. The U.S.
Government spent millions of dollars directly on the local
councils and indirectly involved them in hundreds of millions
of dollars worth of capital improvement projects. The
downsizing of the USG presence means that District Councils
(DCs) and Neighborhood Councils (NCs) now work with the GOI,
and many council members are complaining loudly. In an
October 8, 2009, Washington Post article about the U.S.
operational military withdrawal last June, the head of the
Sadr City DC, Hassan Shama, complained, "The U.S. Army and
the U.S. Embassy have abandoned us."

3.(C) Although this sense of abandonment is largely about
politics and access to resources, it is also about security.
As Iraqis closely affiliated with the U.S. presence, local
council members feel vulnerable. They have paid a heavy
price for their service. The vice-chair of the Adhamiyyah
DC, Omar Rahman Rahmani, (protect accordingly) in
northeastern Baghdad),told PRToffs that seven Provincial
Council members have been killed, 253 NC or DC members have
been killed and three times that number of family members
have been killed since 2003, implying that their association
with the United States made them vulnerable. When the United
States pulls out of the country entirely, Shama claimed, "We
will be killed."
4.(C) (COMMENT: Local council members' perception that they
would be targeted specifically has not borne out. Since the
June 30, 2009, operational military withdrawal, six
assassinations have been attempted (one successful) of local
council members, but five assassination attempts (all
unsuccessful) have been attempted against members of the
Provincial Council (PC). The building housing Baghdad PC and
Governorate was devastated by a massive car-bomb on October

25. It seems that terrorists are targeting local governance
in general, not local councils in specific. END COMMENT)

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Birth of the Local Councils
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5.(SBU) In 2003, the CPA created the local councils as a
venue for citizens to voice their concerns about the
provision of municipal services (ref B). As such, the CPA
Qprovision of municipal services (ref B). As such, the CPA
created nine District Advisory Councils (DACs, Arabic )
majlis beladiyyah) to correspond to the municipal service
districts. Each district in turn was divided into
neighborhoods, and the CPA then created Neighborhood Advisory
Councils (NACs, Arabic - majlis mahali) to serve them.
Members of the NACs were chosen by neighborhood caucuses.
Each NAC selected a member to represent it on its respective
DAC. In turn, DACs then chose members to serve on the
Baghdad City Council. The first Baghdad City Council meeting
took place in July 2003 and in April 2004, CPA Order 71
formalized the status of the councils as organs of local
government. (NOTE: After the end of the CPA, DACs and NACs
became simply DCs and NCs ENDNOTE)
6.(SBU) Local councils do not provide essential services.
They provide oversight, issue guidance and influence
priorities for the service providing agencies (ref A). The
Amanat is the primary service provider in the city, but other
providers are national ministries, such as Electricity,
Health and Education. The role of the NCs and DCs is to
identify and communicate local needs to these providers and
facilitate communication among these institutions.

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A History of Conflict
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7.(C) National and provincial elections were held in January
2005 . The Baghdad Provincial Council (PC) that was returned
was overwhelmingly dominated by the Supreme Council for the
Islamic Revolution in Iraq (now ISCI). This new PC claimed
that it was the only legitimate governing body in the
province, based on being elected during an official,
UN-sanctioned vote (ref C). The PC moved aggressively to
monopolize the organs of local government. It installed a
former Badr Corps commander as governor; abolished the
Baghdad City Council, and replaced the head of the Amanat
(ref D). Although the PC did not abolish the local councils,
their relationship was openly antagonistic.

8.(C) The Baghdad PC was transformed as a result of the
January 2009 provincial elections. ISCI went from holding a
commanding majority to holding only three seats. The PM's
Da'wa party took over, commanding one seat shy of an absolute
majority. The elections also brought into force the
Provincial Powers Law (PPL),which replaced CPA Order 71 as
the basis for provincial and local government.

9.(C) What was not transformed was the relationship between
the PC and local councils, which continues to be difficult.
In some ways it has improved. The new PC has explicitly
embraced the local councils as extensions of its authority.
While, the previous PC viewed the main role of the local
councils as project supervision, PC Chairman Kamil al-Zaidi
refers to the local councils as the "hands" and "eyes" of the
PC. (COMMENT: PRT has observed that the new PC is markedly
more active than its predecessor and works harder to reach
out to the local councils. END COMMENT.) Yaqoub al-Bakhaty,
chair of the Rashid DC, commented to Team Leader that PC
leadership has visited him officially, whereas the previous
PC never even called.

10.(C) While the PPL established the PC as the supreme
legislative authority in the province, it did not mention the
terms "majlis beladiyyah" (DC) or "majlis mahali" (NC).
Thus, at the same time it empowered the PC, it removed the
basis for legitimacy of DCs and NCs. The PC took on an
explicit oversight role, one which the local councils
resented. As part of this role, the PC began to review local
council members' qualifications. Many DC and NC members lack
the requisite educational requirements or participate in
prohibited outside employment and the PC has indicated that
it will seek to remove them. While the PC portrays this as
part of its oversight role, local council members tell PRT
that they see it as a ploy to remove opponents of religious
parties.

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Essential Differences
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11.(C) Members of the local councils present themselves as
apolitical secularists. The PC, in contrast, is dominated by
Shi'a religious parties. The Chair of the Karkh DC Abu
Sataar Al Rubaii (protect accordingly)claims that "the
Islamic-backed parties are pushing this (conflict) and want
total control of the local councils only for power."

12.(C) This religious difference is exacerbated by the fact
that local councils and the PC are practicing different kinds
Qthat local councils and the PC are practicing different kinds
of politics. The DCs and NCs were created to provide
representation to specific areas of the city. The CPA
explicitly prohibited partisan activities and encouraged
local councils to be technocrats. The PC, in contrast, was
elected on province-wide party lists (both in 2005 and 2009).
Many local council members find party-based politics
undemocratic. Jamaal Hleeb Khalaf, Rusafa DC Chair,
commented, "Militias became political parties. Terrorists
formed many political parties and also ex-Ba'athist,s formed
their own parties. They all figured out that if they did not
form political parties they would be left out of the
political process. They do not really believe in democracy or
understand it." (COMMENT: Even though the local council
members may find them distasteful, party politics can hardly
be described as undemocratic. END COMMENT)

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Money
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13.(C) Much of the tension between the PC and the local
councils comes down to money. The CPA created the local
councils but did not provide them an independent funding
mechanism. They were dependent upon a mix of USG funding
(Commander's Emergency Response Fund (CERP),Quick Response
Funds(QRF) and other funding types) and GOI funding
(primarily salaries). Now they are entirely dependent upon
GOI funding via the PC. The PC uses this fiscal authority to
reinforce its political authority. Further, the local
council members want to receive pensions for their service
(as former members of the PC have). Uncertainty on this
issue has caused personal consternation among the large
number of local council members who might lose their jobs to
PC-sponsored reform.

14.(C) Money is also at the root of many PC complaints about
the local councils. The PC alleges that many members of the
local councils are corrupt. Local council members are
alleged to have steered reconstruction projects to companies
in exchange for kickbacks and to have solicited bribes to
certify contractors' performance for the Amanat. PRT has not
been able to verify the degree of corruption in project
implementation at this level, but this remains a subject of
furious disagreement between the PC and local councils.

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A Step in the Right Direction
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15.(C) On January 25, the Council of Representatives (CoR)
passed a law resolving much of this tension. The legislation
(The First Amendment to the Law of Governorates) amends the
PPL by assuring local council members (using the Arabic terms
for NCs and DCs) of pensions for their service and confirming
them in their seats until they are replaced by local
elections. Although the legislation has not yet been
officially published in the CoR Gazette, this is welcome
news. As Bakhaty put it, "Now the local councils can
breathe."

16.(C) (COMMENT: Some questions remain unresolved regarding
the legislation. Although several local council members have
described the law very favorably, they may be reading more
into it than is written. For instance, the Deputy PC
Chairman Dr. Riyadh al-'Adhadh (previously a DC and Baghdad
City Council member) informed PRT Baghdad that this
legislation would make the DCs and NCs legally equivalent to
Qadas and Nahiyas. However, an initial reading of the
legislation suggests that this only applies to pensions. END
COMMENT)

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Comment
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17.(C) Baghdad's local councils are here to stay. Although a
CPA innovation, the Iraqi government, both provincial and
national, has recognized their importance. They provide a
needed link between geographic areas, citizens and provincial
government. The recent CoR legislation provides an anchor
for the DCs and NCs until local elections are held, probably
sometime in 2011.

18.(C) PRT Baghdad will continue to meet with members
individually and monitor their interaction with the rest of
the Iraqi government. However, the nature of our engagement
has changed, as it should. For logistical and practical
reasons, Baghdad PRT cannot be present in the city or its
administration as it was in the past. For political reasons,
Baghdad PRT should not. The local council structure has been
a successful innovation, but it must now be responsive to the
Iraqi government, not the American one. While the U.S.
Government retains an ethical stake in the wellbeing of
individual council members who worked with the United States
during the worst years of conflict, the institutions of local
Qduring the worst years of conflict, the institutions of local
government are now fully Iraqi.

For more information on PRT Baghdad and Baghdad governance,
please see our Intellipedia site at:
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/PRT Baghdad
For more information about the Baghdad Provincial Council,
please see:
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Baghdad Provincial Council

FORD