VZCZCXRO9287
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #0503/01 0521527
ZNY CCCCC ZZH ZDK
P 211527Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5838
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 000503 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/21/2018 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PINS PINR KCRS IZ
SUBJECT: PRT SALAH AD DIN:  PROVINCIAL COUNCIL AND ITS 
CHAIR AWAKEN 
 
REF: BAGHDAD 409 
 
BAGHDAD 00000503  001.3 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: PRT Salah ad Din Team Leader Rick Bell 
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (U) This is a PRT Tikrit, Salah ad Din reporting cable. 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶2. (C) After months of meeting sporadically and without 
achieving quorum, the Salah ad Din Provincial Council (PC) 
has been increasingly active, meeting with quorum and 
efficiently conducting its business.  PC Chairman Sheik 
Rasheed Osman has also become increasingly visible and vocal 
as evidenced by his interest in Samarra governance issues. 
End Summary. 
 
Provincial Council Awakes 
------------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) After months meeting sporadically and without quorum, 
the Provincial Council has become increasingly active and 
efficient.  For the first time since July, the PC has met in 
quorum for consecutive weeks.  This is a welcome change from 
the general inactivity of the PC which took hold in November 
and continued through January.  Deliberations over its 2008 
budget, spurred by an increase of more than 60 billion ID 
(approx. USD 46 million) that was announced after it passed 
its first 2008 budget, were the key driver for this new 
flurry of activity. 
 
¶4. (C) In addition to budget deliberations, the PC has been 
active in local governance issues.  The PC replaced the 
Yethrib (a village outside Balad) City Council (CC) Chair at 
the request of the Yethrib Mayor.  This happened in a full 
and open PC session.  (Comment: The Yethrib CC chair, 
according to PRT Balad Satellite lead, was ineffective and 
his removal was a welcome event.  End Comment.)  At a PC 
meeting last week, an entire session was spent reviewing the 
status of stalled 2007 Provincial Capital projects with 
responsible Directors General (i.e., heads of provincial 
offices of ministries), a rare exercise of its oversight 
role. 
 
PC Chair Out and About 
---------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) Over the past month, PC Chairman Sheik Rasheed Osman 
has been more visible then ever in the past.  Rasheed takes a 
very legalistic view of his responsibilities and the role of 
the PC and views events through a legal lens.  When the 
Province,s privately owned satellite TV station came to the 
PC with a funding request, Rasheed first checked with the PRT 
to find out who legally owned it and then declined to fund it 
because it was in his words a private business.  (Note:  The 
station was initially funded by the Coalition Forces and 
ownership was turned over last year to the station manager. 
Provincial officials would very much like to take control of 
the station and appear to have the money and agreement to do 
so as soon as the current owner/manager gives up the station 
due to his inability to make it economically viable.  End 
Note.) 
 
¶6. (C) Rasheed has also weighed in on the leadership 
situation in Samarra.  Mahmoud Khalaf, the GoI-appointed 
mayor, visited Tikrit last week.  (Note: Mayor Khalaf was the 
former Samarra Mayor who was reappointed by the GoI in early 
February (Reftel). End Note.)  In a meeting between the two, 
Rasheed was quite forceful in expressing his displeasure that 
the Mayor,s appointment did not follow the normal procedure 
in which the City Council appoints the Mayor by a majority 
vote.  (Comment:  The Samarra City Council in theory exists, 
but is not active. End Comment.)  Rasheed made clear that 
once a new and representative City Council is ratified by PC 
vote, the Mayor should be appointed by them, as directed by 
Iraqi law.  While Rasheed said he accepted the mayor,s 
appointment and looked forward to working with him, his 
displeasure was evident. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶7. (C) The rejuvenation of the PC and the increased activity 
of Sheik Rasheed are extremely welcome.  We expect the 
provincial elections due in October will make the PC more 
geographically representative with Sunni Arabs' expected 
participation in this round of elections.  The new PC should 
be well situated to aggressively carry out its duties, thanks 
to the extensive progress already made in budget formulation, 
including lateral coordination among the governor, PC and 
Directors General, and vertical coordination between the 
 
BAGHDAD 00000503  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
provincial and local levels. End Comment. 
 
Bio Note 
-------- 
 
¶8. (C) Rasheed Osman, "Sheikh Rasheed," is the Salah ad Din 
PC Chairman and hails from Ash-Shirqat.  Rasheed is a shrewd 
political operator.  Rasheed initially ran the PC in a 
dictatorial fashion, but after a bit of a revolt by its 
members, the PC adopted rules of procedure, and Rasheed now 
runs meetings in a much more open fashion.  He is a former 
Brigadier General in the Iraqi Police Service.  He was also 
an executive in the Iraqi Northern Oil Company.  He does not 
appear to understand English.  He is an independent, despite 
an affiliation with the Reconciliation and Liberation Party. 
He has been accused of steering provincial capital projects 
to his Al Juboori tribesmen.  He has told Poloff in 
confidence that he will not run in the next election. 
CROCKER