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PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHMOS #0044/01 1011119
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 111119Z APR 06
FM REO MOSUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0468
INFO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUEHLU/AMEMBASSY LUANDA 0062
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0045
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 0049
RUEHMOS/REO MOSUL 0487

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSUL 000044 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  4/11/2016 
TAGS: PREL PINS PINT PGOV PHUM IZ MARR
SUBJECT: NINEWA: SCIRI REP BLAMES SUNNIS, USG FOR PROBLEMS WITH 
GOVERNMENT FORMATION 
 
MOSUL 00000044  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Cameron  Munter, PRT Leader, Provincial 
Reconstruction Team Ninewa, State. 
REASON: 1.4 (a), (b), (d) 
 
 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1.  (C) SCIRI provincial spokesman Aref Yousef believes delays 
in the formation of a new central government are the fault of 
Sunni Arab political parties and the USG.  Yousef says Sunni 
coalitions Tawafoq Iraqi Front (Iraqi Accord Front) and Iraqi 
Front for National Dialogue (Al Hewar Iraqi Front) are 
responsible for not compromising on government formation and for 
inciting violence throughout the country.  Statements by the USG 
in Iraq are also contributing to tensions, claims Yousef.  He 
fingered U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Khalilzad of "choosing" the 
side of Sunni Arabs in government talks.  Yousef requests that 
the USG be more neutral in its dealings with all political 
parties and ethnicities in the country.  Regarding militias, 
Yousef admits Badr Brigades has a presence in Ninewa but denies 
they are operating as a militia here.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) PRT PolOff met with Supreme Council for Islamic 
Revolution of Iraq (SCIRI) provincial spokesman Aref Yousef in 
Mosul on April 9. 
 
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HIGH EXPECTATIONS AND SUNNI LETDOWN 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (C) SCIRI provincial spokesman Yousef claimed that the Iraqi 
people were hungry for government stability, but that Sunni Arab 
political parties and the USG hindered its formation.  He said 
the Iraqi people, especially the Shia community, were "let down" 
after high expectations coming out of last December's national 
election.  As a result security has crumbled, talks have been 
stalled, and the situation would continue to worsen every day if 
there was no government.  Yousef recommended that problems be 
handled through the political process and not by armed conflict 
between Sunnis and Shia.  Tawafoq Iraqi Front coalition (led by 
the Iraqi Islamic Party "IIP") and the predominantly Sunni-Iraqi 
National Dialogue Council (INDC) were the biggest perpetrators 
of terrorism, claimed Yousef.  The USG could help fix the 
problem by asking more secular and neutral leaders from the 
Sunni Arab community -- such as Vice President Sheikh Ghazi Al 
Yawar and Mithal Al-Aloosi of the Iraqi Nation (Al-Umma) Party 
-- to help negotiate the new government's formation instead. 
Both Al-Aloosi and Al Yawar could be relied upon to help build 
consensus and "eliminate" terrorist elements of the two larger 
Sunni Arab parties, he said.  When asked whether the situation 
would cool down if Prime Minister Ibrahim Al Ja'afari stepped 
aside, Yousef disagreed.  The problem was much larger than 
Ja'afari, he claimed.  Rather, Iraqis would accept any 
leadership as long as the government was formed. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
USG ALSO AT FAULT FOR LACK OF NEW GOVERNMENT 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (C) Yousef claimed public statements by U.S. Ambassador to 
Iraq Khalilzad have hindered efforts to form the new government. 
 "His outlook should be impartial," said Yousef of the 
Ambassador.  Instead, claimed Yousef, Khalilzad appeared to be 
"favoring" Sunni Arab political parties over others, especially 
the Shia.  And as a result the Shia were demonstrating against 
the USG.  When pressed for more specifics Yousef said it was not 
necessarily Khalilzad's statements that Prime Minister Ibrahim 
Al Ja'afari should step down.  Rather, it was how Khalilzad 
"attacked" the Ministry of Interior (MOI), saying that the 
country could be heading down the path of civil war, claimed 
Yousef.  He said he could not understand why Khalilzad would 
support Sunni Arabs in the political process when they 
originally "objected" to the democratic process in Iraq and were 
responsible for "encouraging terror." 
 
-------------------------- 
NO SHIA MILITIAS IN NINEWA 
-------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (C) Yousef said he could not speak about whether there were 
Shia militias causing problems in southern Iraq.  However, he 
did claim that Badr Brigade members were residing in Bartalla in 
eastern Ninewa.  He said Badr forces came to Ninewa in the 1980s 
 
MOSUL 00000044  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
during the Iran-Iraq War, and comprised of Shia, Sunni, Yezidis, 
and Christians.  By 1988, the Badr were only sporadically 
engaged in fights with Saddam Hussein's forces, he said.  Today, 
the approximately 50 remaining Badr members were "without 
weapons" and had successfully transitioned to a social 
assistance organization.  The "new" Badr Brigade held education 
and religious courses for women and sports leagues for youth, he 
claimed.  Yousef deflected questions about allegations of MOI 
death squads and the Mahdi Militia.  He implicated Sunni Arabs 
with security problems in the country instead.  Problems in 
Mosul with kidnappings, threats, and assassinations were caused 
by Sunni Arab aggression, he claimed.  Shia could no longer live 
safely in the city, said Yousef, and that was why SCIRI moved 
its headquarters out of Mosul late last year. 
 
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COMMENT 
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¶6.  (C) Iraq's largest political party, SCIRI is a tiny minority 
in Ninewa, with most of its support coming from Shia Turkoman in 
Tal Afar in the west and Shia Shabek in Al Hamdaniya and Bashiqa 
districts in the east.  We noticed a change in Yousef's attitude 
towards Sunnis, especially with regards to the two largest Sunni 
Arab political parties, IIP and INDC, which he blames for 
stalling new government formation talks in Baghdad.  After the 
December election Yousef was very encouraged and spoke about 
reaching out to all groups, especially Sunni Arabs in Ninewa. 
Now that has changed, which is not a good sign for Shia-Sunni 
harmony in Ninewa. 
MUNTER