VZCZCXRO1931
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHMOS
DE RUEHIHL #0032/01 0591624
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 281624Z FEB 06
FM REO HILLAH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0560
INFO RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 0545
RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHIHL/REO HILLAH 0607

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HILLAH 000032 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  2/28/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR KISL IZ
SUBJECT: NAJAF COUNCIL OF REPRESENTATIVES MEMBERS' BIOGRAPHICAL 
INFORMATION 
 
HILLAH 00000032  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Alfred Fonteneau, RC, REO Al Hillah, Department 
of State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1. (U) This is a SET Najaf Cable. 
 
¶2. (U) Najaf Province was allocated eight seats in the recently 
elected Council of Representatives (CoR). The United Iraqi 
Alliance (UIA) won seven of the eight seats. The eighth Najaf 
seat went to a candidate from the Iyad Allawi-affiliated 
National Iraqi List (NIL). Biographical information follows for 
five of the eight representatives. 
 
¶3. (U) Candidates who ran on the first, second and fourth 
positions on the UIA slate from Najaf Province are based in 
Baghdad and are not known by SET Najaf local staff and contacts. 
The first is Haider Saeed Ismael. The second Najaf UIA 
representative is Qassim Daoud, former National Security Advisor 
under ex-Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. The fourth is Bassem Jassem 
Noor. 
 
JINAN JASSEM MOHAMMED ALI 
------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) The third UIA representative, and first female, is 
Jinan Jassem Mohammed Ali. Ali was born in Najaf in 
approximately 1968. She has been a member of the Supreme Council 
for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) since 1987. Several 
of her cousins were executed during the 1991 Shi'a uprising. Ali 
is married to a man known to have strong connections to powerful 
Najaf clerics, and she has one child. She has degrees in 
medicine from the Kufa University College of Medicine and the 
University of Baghdad. A Provincial Council member in 2004, Ali 
runs her own clinic and has been active in women's rights, in 
the SCIRI women's office, and as a columnist in local 
newspapers. 
 
¶5. (C) Ali has met regularly with SET Najaf since her tenure on 
the Najaf Provincial Council and met recently with a visiting 
British diplomat. She has been cooperative and friendly during 
these meetings, has avoided criticizing the U.S. and Coalition 
Forces in public appearances and can be considered to have a 
generally favorable impression of the U.S. 
 
LIQAA JAAFER MUNTADHER AL-YASEEN 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Liqaa Jaafer Muntadher Al-Yasseen is the fifth UIA 
representative elected from Najaf. Born in 1967 in Najaf, 
Al-Yasseen is married and has two children. She is a Sadrist and 
currently serves as the Director General of the Najaf Maternity 
Hospital. She earned a degree in medicine from the University of 
Baghdad in 1990. She earned an additional degree in gynecology 
in 1996. Al-Yasseen has run a private clinic and previously 
worked for the Najaf Department of Health from 2003 until 2005. 
 
 
¶7. (C) Al-Yasseen has met with SET Najaf occasionally as part of 
her duties as a Department of Health official. She worked with 
SET Najaf, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officers and other 
Coalition Forces officers during the U.S.-funded renovation of 
the Najaf maternity and teaching hospitals, and because of this 
can be considered to have a more favorable view of the U.S. 
presence in Iraq than many of her fellow Sadrists. 
 
QAIS SAAD HASSAN AL-AMEERI 
--------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Qais Saad Hassan was elected to the CoR from the sixth 
position on the UIA slate. Born in Najaf in 1972, Al-Ameeri is 
married and has three children. His wife is the daughter of one 
of the leaders of the Bani Hassan tribe. He has a 2003 
bachelor's degree in law from Babil University, where he studied 
at night. Al-Ameeri is an independent Shi'a Islamist loosely 
affiliated with the gathering led by Hussein Al-Shahristani. In 
the January 2005 elections, he worked with Hamed Al-Khafaf, an 
aide to Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani. Al-Ameeri maintains a 
private law office in Najaf and is active in the Kufa courts. He 
is active in Najaf human rights and non-governmental 
organization (NGO) circles. 
 
¶9. (C) Al-Ameeri has not met with SET Najaf but has 
relationships with many of SET Najaf's contacts in the Najaf 
human rights advocacy and NGO community. He is believed to have 
moderate views of the U.S. because of U.S. support for human 
rights and NGOs. 
 
NASSAR SAGHEER DORBI 
-------------------- 
 
HILLAH 00000032  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶10. (SBU) Nassar Sagheer Dorbi was elected to the CoR from the 
seventh position on the Najaf UIA slate. Dorbi was born in 1965 
in Baghdad's Sadr City, where his father ran a grocery store. He 
moved to Kufa, Najaf Province, in 1990. Dorbi is married and his 
wife is a veterinarian. He earned a bachelor's degree in 
veterinary medicine from University of Mosul in approximately 
¶1988. He is a moderate Sadrist whose affiliation began following 
the assassination of Mohammed Sadiq Al-Sadr, Moqtada Al-Sadr's 
father. 
 
¶11. (C) Dorbi used to regularly attend Friday prayers at the 
Kufa Mosque in Najaf when Moqtada Al-Sadr preached there in 
¶2004. He has close contact with many Sadrist clerics and 
officials and regularly attends Najaf ceremonies commemorating 
the death of Mohammed Sadiq Al-Sadr. While not considered a 
hardline Sadrist, he considers the U.S. presence in Iraq as an 
"occupation," and believes that the Coalition should withdraw. 
He has agreed to meetings several times with SET Najaf, but has 
never followed through on the meetings, offering excuses before 
the meetings actually occur. This suggests that he might be 
willing to meet U.S. officials outside of Najaf. 
 
RADHWAN HUSSEIN ABBAS AL-KILIDAR 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) Radhwan Hussein Abbas Al-Kilidar is the sole Najaf CoR 
representative elected from the National Iraqi List. He joined 
the list as a member of Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National Accord 
(INA). Al-Kilidar was born in Baghdad in approximately 1960 and 
moved to London in 1990 after members of the Saddam Hussein 
regime killed his uncle and cousin. He earned a bachelor's 
degree in history from Baghdad University in approximately 1980. 
Al-Kilidar is married. He holds British citizenship, and his 
family lives in London. He is a liberal who began working 
against the Hussein regime while in exile in London. After the 
2003 liberation, he returned to Iraq, where he worked briefly 
with the Imam Ali Shrine Custodian Committee. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Al-Kilidar travels frequently between Iraq and the 
United Kingdom. He returned to the UK soon after he arrived in 
Iraq in 2003 in response to the murder of Sayid Abdul Majeed 
Al-Khoei in Najaf. He regularly visited the Najaf branch of the 
Al-Khoei charitable endowment. 
FONTENEAU