PRT MUTHANNA: DE-BA'ATHIFICATION AS POLITICAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000483 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/I E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/22/2020 TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM IZ SUBJECT: PRT MUTHANNA: DE-BA'ATHIFICATION AS POLITICAL SPORT THREATENS GOVERNMENT JOBS AND ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS REF: A. BAGHDAD 397 ¶B. BAGHDAD 395 ¶C. 10 BAGHDAD 415 ¶D. 10 BAGHDAD 410 ¶E. 08 BAGHDAD 4075 Classified By: PRT Team Leader John Kuschner for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d ). ¶1. (U) This is a PRT Muthanna reporting cable. ¶2. (C) SUMMARY AND COMMENT: Anti-Ba'athist sentiment is now the political weapon of choice in Muthanna. The Provincial Council recently enacted a law to purge all civil servants who might have been associated with the banned party, even if only for employment purposes. If enforced, the legislation would adversely affect the functioning of many provincial offices. END SUMMARY AND COMMENT. DE-BA'ATHIFICATION TO INCLUDE CIVIL SERVANTS -------------- ¶3. (SBU) A number of leading political parties are using the de-Ba'athification question as a parliamentary election issue in Muthanna. On February 9, Governor Ibrahim Salman al-Mayali (Da'wa/State of Law Alliance-SLA) rallied more than a hundred protesters in Samawah to demonstrate in favor of Ba'athist exclusion from the election. More recently, five Provincial Council (PC) members (two Sadrists, two from the SLA, and one from the Iraq National Alliance/INA aligned with the Zayadi tribe locally) called on the Governorate Election Office (GEO) to purge any Ba'athists from the thousands of poll workers hired for Election Day. At a private meeting with the PRT on February 15, GEO Director Mutamed Namaa largely rejected that call noting that he does not work for the PC and he could not investigate the several thousand poll workers prior to Election Day. ¶4. (C) The PC went a step further in an emergency session on February 14 by enacting a law to eliminate former Ba'ath party members from all provincial government departments. The law directed all government offices in Muthanna to provide the provincial de-Ba'athification commission lists of employees, job titles, addresses, and salaries to aid in the investigation. Although the legislation empowers the commission to make exclusion determinations, the membership, authority, and operation of the commission are not delineated in the text of the law. This follows other similar provincial-level de-Ba'athification efforts in Baghdad (Ref A),Karbala (Ref B),Wasit (Ref C),and elsewhere (Ref D). ¶5. (C) The PC Chairman, Lateef Hassan Al Hassani (ISCI), told PRT LES that he was concerned about the legislation's implementation. Hassani collected enough PC member signatures to have the legislation reconsidered. He pointed out that the law was overbroad and "very extreme." He especially worried that too many people working in the security forces, Muthanna University, judiciary, and other key governmental departments would lose their jobs. PRT LES attended the next full PC meeting on February 16, at which Hassani stated, "We all do not want the Ba'ath to return to Iraq, but at the same time there are many Ba'athists who have proved their honesty and faithfulness to the New Iraq." The Sadrist and SLA PC members immediately challenged his position. The controversy abated only after Hassani referred the draft to the Legal Committee for review. Later, he privately told PRT LES that if it is not killed in committee, he will try to block the legislation by not signing it. ¶6. (C) COMMENT: It is an open question as to whether Hassani's strategy will be effective, but the issue is far from settled. The new provincial law directing the de-Ba'athification of the civil service is of great concern Qde-Ba'athification of the civil service is of great concern to the PRT. Although more reasonable voices, such as PC Chairman Hassani, are calling for calm, others, such as Governor Mayali, are using the issue to incite passions among the populace and as a political issue. (NOTE: The Governor is not running for a parliamentary seat. He serves as a local SLA leader. END NOTE.) De-Ba'athification as a political strategy is exposing a rift between two leaders who walk in lockstep on most major policy issues. Even though the province is almost entirely Shi'a, many of the older technocrats in Muthanna's civil service belonged to the Ba'ath party for employment purposes. Removing them via this witch hunt would not only harm institutional knowledge in local directorates, but also significantly degrade the already tenuous technical capabilities of the province. END COMMENT. FORD