VZCZCXRO9208
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHMOS
DE RUEHKUK #0068/01 0821214
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P R 231214Z MAR 06
FM REO KIRKUK
TO RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 0537
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0573
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHKUK/REO KIRKUK 0601

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KIRKUK 000068 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
BAGHDAD FOR POL, NCT 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  3/23/2016 
TAGS: PGOV IZ
SUBJECT: (C) PROVINCIAL LEADERSHIP LOSING SUPPORT, LOSING INTEREST 
 
REF: (A) KIRKUK 47; (B) KIRKUK 38; (C) KIRKUK 18; (D) 05 KIRKUK 223; (E) 05 KIRKUK 200; (F) 05 BAGHDAD 2925 
 
KIRKUK 00000068  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Scott Dean, Regional Coordinator (Acting), REO 
Kirkuk, Department of State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1. (U) This is a SET Tikrit cable. 
 
¶2. (C) SUMMARY.  The citizens of Salah Ad Din province by and 
large support neither the Provincial Council Chairman nor the 
Governor.  Instead, they are calling for a strong leader who 
will find jobs, improve the security situation, reduce 
corruption, and improve services.  Both the governor and the PC 
Chair seem ready to move on to other jobs after the next 
elections.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 
¶3. (C) Over the past six weeks, SET Officer in Tikrit has been 
querying citizens about the provincial leadership. 
Conversations generally centered on the Provincial Council, but 
several focused on the Governor, Hamad Hamud Shukti Al-Qaisy and 
the Provincial Council Chairman, Sheikh Rashid Ahmad Osman Al 
Jabouri.  The reaction among citizens is consistent: they want 
strong leadership.  This seems to mean finding jobs, improving 
the security situation, reducing corruption, and improving 
services. 
 
¶4. (C) Sheikh Sami Ali Bashir Al Dulaymi tells SET Officer that 
he and his tribe live in the desert, west of Tikrit.  He says 
his 10,000 tribe members have seen no increase in services in 
the last three years, and see no plans for any future increase. 
He said the PC was very weak and did not accept its 
responsibility to represent the people of the province.  Sheik 
Khanan of the Shamer Tribe said the Governor was a friend of 
his, but could not manage the province.  He needed to step aside 
to let others bring progress to the province. 
 
¶5. (C) At a recent PC meeting, Awatif Salah Muhammad from Tikrit 
accused the PC, especially the leadership, of acting like the 
mafia.  She said they were more interested in taking money from 
construction projects than in managing the province.  This got a 
lot of attention: two members offered to resign on the spot.  At 
the same meeting, Khalaf Muhammad Salah from Al Alem suggested 
the PC renovate the meeting room to remove the theater seating 
and install an oval table with microphones for each member.  He 
said this would give everyone the chance to be heard, not just 
the PC Chairman.  In a separate meeting with SET Officer, Khalaf 
said the Governor and PC Chairman were holding the province 
back.  Khalaf said that, if he were to become PC Chairman, he 
would remove them both the very day he took over.  Khalaf is 
very disappointed in the Provincial Council Chairman; they are 
both in the same political party, the Iraqi National Gathering, 
and Khalaf was a big proponent of Rashid's run to become PC 
Chair. 
 
¶6. (C) Sheikh Thamir Sultan Ahmed Al Tikriti, a former MGen. in 
the IA, said he had had very high hopes for the PC last year, 
but with the current leadership, he had lost hope in improving 
the services his people receive. 
 
¶7. (C) When SET officer speaks to less prominent citizens, the 
theme continues quite clearly: the need for strong leadership, 
VERY strong leadership.   They do not feel they have it in Salah 
Ad Din.  Comments often run like: 
 
-We need the Americans to write our constitution and give it to 
us; 
-We need the Americans to select our Prime Minister; 
-We need our SET officer to replace our PC Chairman; 
-We need our SET officer to make the Governor... (NOTE. fill in 
one of many needs END NOTE.); 
-We need the U.S. to correct the IECI mistakes and hold a new 
election; 
-We need the U.S. to force the DeBa'athification Committee to 
return our University professors. 
 
 
¶8. (C) COMMENT.  The  Governor has made huge steps forward over 
the last year.  He is, in fact, leading by example.  He speaks 
out against the AIF, he advocates for Salah Ad Din construction 
projects, and he has started visiting ministers in Baghdad to 
discuss Salah Ad Din's needs.  However, the population is 
looking for a strong, demanding leader to correct the poor state 
of affairs in the province.  If Khalif is to be believed, many 
PC members are dissatisfied with the PC Chairman, perhaps as 
many as half.  Khalif talks with us and with other PC members 
individually about the need for a new chairman.  He has not 
addressed this publicly, and has not spoken to the PC Chairman 
or the Governor about his concerns. 
 
KIRKUK 00000068  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶9. (C) That said, both the governor and the PC chair seem ready 
to move on to other jobs.  The Governor wants to graduate to 
bigger issues, perhaps even become an ambassador to a country 
like Morocco or Jordan.  He has solved several very tense 
issues, but still is not seen as the strong leader that the 
people of Salah Ad Din want.  The PC Chairman is expecting the 
PC elections to be held in June; he seems to be biding his time 
until those elections so that he can pass the baton, with all of 
its problems, to the next man. 
ORESTE