Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
90BAGHDAD3296
1990-06-07 11:24:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Baghdad
Cable title:  

INTELLECTUAL LEADERSHIP

Tags:  PINS IZ 
pdf how-to read a cable
R 071124Z JUN 90
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 4115
C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 03296 

E.O. 12356: DECL:OADR
TAGS: PINS IZ
SUBJECT: INTELLECTUAL LEADERSHIP

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 03296

E.O. 12356: DECL:OADR
TAGS: PINS IZ
SUBJECT: INTELLECTUAL LEADERSHIP


1. CONFIDENTIAL - ENTIRE TEXT.


2. FOR THE LAST TWO DAYS, THE HEADLINE NEWS HAS
BEEN SADDAM'S MEETINGS WITH A "GROUP" WHICH IS
MAKING THE FINAL CHANGES IN THE DRAFT CONSTITUTION
PRIOR TO DISCUSSION BY THE RCC AND THE PARTY'S
REGIONAL COMMAND.


3. WE THINK DEPARTMENT'S BIOGRAPHIC FILES SHOULD
REFLECT THE NAMES OF THE SIX-MEMBER GROUP WHO
SADDAM HAS SPENT SO MANY HOURS WITH ON THIS
IMPORTANT PROJECT AND WHOSE VIEWS, THEREFORE,
WE ASSUME HE VALUES. ALL SIX, WEARING THEIR
PARTY UNIFORMS, ARE PICTURED IN THE MEDIA
SITTING IN WHAT IS OFTEN USED AS THE CABINET ROOM.
THEY ARE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTERS SA'DUN HAMMADI AND
TARIQ AZIZ, FLANKING THE PRESIDENT, PRESUMABLY
REFLECTING THEIR SENIOR STATUS. NEXT TO TARIQ
AZIZ IS SPEAKER SALIH (WHO IS CHAIRMAN OF THE
BAGHDAD BRANCH OF THE PARTY); AND THEN AHMAD
HUSAYN AL-SAMARA'I. THE LATTER CARRIES THE RANK OF
A CABINET MINISTER HAVING BEEN MINISTER OF YOUTH;
HE.IS NOW SYG OF THE PRESIDENT'S DIWAN AND, WE
ARE TOLD, HIS "FRIEND." FLANKING SA'DUN IS
MINISTER OF INFORMATION JASIM AND, FINALLY, HAMID
YUSUF HUMMADI.


4. HUMMADI, WITH WHOM THE AMBASSADOR FIRST HAD
A SUBSTANTIVE EXCHANGE WHEN SHE WAS TRAPPED WITH
HIM IN AN ELEVATOR DURING THE DOLE VISIT LAST
MONTH, IS A TIKRITI AND A GRADUATE OF BAGHDAD
UNIVERSITY IN ENGLISH. DEPARTMENT WILL HAVE
HIS BASIC BIO, WHICH SHOWS HIS APPOINTMENT IN
EARLY 1979 AS THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE
PRESIDENT'S DIWAN, THEN LATER THAT YEAR AS THE
PRESIDENT'S PERSONAL SECRETARY. HIS ENGLISH IS
EXCELLENT, AND WE ARE TOLD HE STUDIED WITH
TARIQ AZIZ, WHO IS HIS GOOD FRIEND. HIS POWER IS
CONSIDERABLE; E.G., A CALL FROM HIM STOPPED THE
MINISTER OF INTERIOR IN HIS TRACKS AFTER HE HAD
ORDERED THE REMOVAL OF THE CHECKPOINT IN FRONT
OF THE EMBASSY LAST MONTH, AND WE WERE IN RECEIPT
OF PROFUSE APOLOGIES FOR SEVERAL DAYS AFTER THAT.


GLASPIE