VZCZCXRO1889
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #0727 0711903
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 111903Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6177
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000727 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/11/2018 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PINS KCRS IZ
SUBJECT: PRT SALAH AD DIN:  LOCAL AND PROVINCIAL OFFICIALS 
BECOMING INCREASINGLY ENGAGED AND RESPONSIVE 
 
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) Local district and subdistrict governments have over 
the last several months shown increasing signs of engagement 
with the Salah ad Din Provincial Government and a commitment 
to meeting the basic needs of their people.  Even Samarra, 
long bedeviled with confused and ineffective governmental 
institutions, is beginning to engage with the Provincial 
Government.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶3. (C) Throughout Salah ad Din Province, local district 
(Qada) and subdistrict (Nahiya) mayors and city councils have 
been increasingly vocal in their interactions with Provincial 
government officials, requesting assistance to fulfill the 
basic service needs of their people.  The catalyst for this 
increased interaction stems directly from the 2008 budget 
development process.  After complaints from localities that 
capital projects were allocated by the Provincial Council 
(PC) without their input, the PC reopened the budget and 
allowed localities to suggest revisions.  Leaders in Ad Dawr, 
the district south of Tikrit, were especially pleased with 
the revisions to their project list, and have told us that 
their interaction on the budget taught them how they must be 
proactive and forceful in pleading their case.  They also 
noted their satisfaction with the way the PC responded to 
them, something they felt was lacking in the past.  (COMMENT: 
AD Dawr, because of the Sunni election boycott in 2005, does 
not have a single member on the PC.  They have told us that 
they are excited about the upcoming elections and will be 
active participants in the voting.  END COMMENT.) 
 
¶4. (C) In Balad District, PRT budget coaching served as an 
impetus for the mayors and city council chairs of Balad, 
Ishaki, Yethrib and Al Dulu'iyah subdistricts to form an 
informal district council to press issues of common concern 
with the Provincial government.  Balad Mayor Amer Abood, the 
most proactive local official in the Province (and a Shia), 
will head the new council.  He will schedule meetings every 
15 days with Provincial Directors General (DGs) and will 
press not just the needs of Balad city, but those of the 
entire district.  He is pushing Governor Hamood to restart 
monthly meetings between Provincial DGs and local directors, 
a practice that has been dormant.  In a sign of 
reconciliation, the Shia Mayor and City Council Chair have 
agreed to spend two weeks assisting Yethrib, a Sunni 
subdistrict of Balad struggling with governance issues, to 
develop more effective governmental institutions. 
 
SIGNS OF LIFE EVEN IN SAMARRA 
----------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) Even Samarra is on the cusp of developing a more 
effective government.  The recently-appointed mayor is well 
regarded in the city by both the GoI and the Province, but 
there is lingering dissatisfaction that he was appointed by 
the GoI with the consent of the Governor rather than elected 
in a local process.  A recent visit to Samarra brought 
Governor Hamood, PC members, and Provincial DGs together with 
local officials.  Salah ad Din PC members pledged in the 
strongest terms their support for the efforts in Samarra and, 
in a real first for the PC, seemed committed to providing 
aggressive oversight of rebuilding efforts in that city.  The 
last remaining piece of the Samarra governance puzzle is the 
establishment of a City Council.  Various factions in the 
city have brought lists to the PC for a vote, but the PC has 
not voted on any, telling all comers that it will not vote on 
any list unless it is truly representative of the people of 
Samarra.  (COMMENT: The PC's interest in ensuring a 
representative City Council appears genuine and not driven by 
narrow political or tribal concerns.  END COMMENT.) 
 
 
¶6. (C) COMMENT:  Lessons learned by local officials during 
the budget process have not been forgotten.  They have turned 
their focus from securing their piece of the budget to 
demanding improvements in basic services delivery from 
Provincial officials, who are becoming serious about hearing 
local concerns and working to fix them. END COMMENT. 
CROCKER