O 020723Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1933
INFO IRAQ COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000532 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/01/2018 
TAGS: PREL KPAL IZ KU
SUBJECT: KUWAITI FM'S VISIT TO IRAQ:  SHORT ON SUBSTANCE 
BUT LONG ON SYMBOLISM 
 
REF: A. BAGHDAD 518 
     ¶B. BAGHDAD 410 
     ¶C. BAGHDAD 125 
 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Patricia Butenis for reasons 1.4 (b) 
and (d). 
 
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Summary 
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¶1.  (C)  Summary:  Ending 20 years of senior-level bilateral 
estrangement, Kuwait's Foreign Minister visited Iraq February 
¶26.  In his meetings with Vice Presidents Abdul-Mehdi and 
Hashmi (President Talabani is in Iran) and Prime Minister 
Maliki, and over lunch with Foreign Minister Zebari, the 
Kuwaiti welcomed improved relations.  The Iraqis 
reciprocated, with Prime Minister Maliki forcefully asserting 
both publicly and privately that Iraq would never again 
threaten Kuwait.  Not much substance appears to have been 
covered during the symbolically important visit.  However, 
the two sides agreed to establish a senior-level joint 
commission to comprehensively deal with the range of issues 
that impinge on their complicated bilateral relationship, 
including debt relief, compensation, and border maintenance. 
The commission's first meeting will be in Baghdad, possibly 
as soon as the end of March, chaired by the Kuwaiti and Iraqi 
Prime Ministers.  End summary. 
 
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Historic Kuwaiti Visit 
---------------------- 
 
¶2.  (C)  Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed al-Sabah 
visited Baghdad February 26 -- the first senior-level Kuwaiti 
visit to Iraq since 1990.  A pleased Foreign Minister Zebari 
told the Charge February 28 (other topics reported Ref A) 
that the four-hour visit had gone smoothly.  Dr. Mohammed met 
separately with Vice Presidents Abdul Mehdi and Hashmi, then 
with the Prime Minister, and concluded his visit with a 
Zebari-hosted lunch at the MFA.  Zebari noted with some 
exasperation that he had tried to get both Vice Presidents to 
meet with Dr. Mohammed together, but they refused.  Dr. 
Mohammed conveyed a letter from the Amir to President 
Talabani on follow-up to the January Kuwait Summit to Abdul 
Mehdi, since he is the senior Vice President.  Zebari said he 
had stressed the need to resolve the debt and compensation 
issues as soon as possible; delaying decisions will only make 
things harder.  He said his Kuwaiti counterpart had agreed, 
but was "fed up" with the Kuwaiti parliament, which the GOK 
might suspend. 
 
¶3.  (C)  Speaking of the Iraqi-Kuwaiti relationship more 
broadly, Zebari recounted a "hostile tone" in a recent GOI 
interministerial meeting apparently held to review the 
state-of-play on negotiations on a number of bilateral 
issues, including shared oil fields, border maintenance, the 
Safwan boder crossing, and compensation issues (see Ref B). 
Zebari said his colleagues, including the Ministers of 
Justice, Interior, and Finance, and the Prime Minister's 
Legal Advisor, were unhappy with how the negotiations were 
progressing and complained that the MFA (i.e., Zebari) was 
being too accommodationist and exceeding its brief with the 
Kuwaitis.  Zebari pushed back, insisting that his mandate was 
to establish "good, professional" relations with Kuwait.  He 
said he would take the issue to the cabinet for a policy 
clarification if need be.  Zebari also confirmed Dr. 
Mohammed's public announcement that a joint commission would 
be established to deal with the full range of bilateral 
issues.  Zebari noted that he will organize these meetings, 
"so you know it will be safe."   (Comment:  Zebari's report 
of anti-Kuwaiti sentiment in the GOI is harsher than we have 
heard from many other contacts.  End comment.) 
 
¶4.  (C)  The Charge urged that Iraq appoint an ambassador to 
Kuwait.  The appointment would build on the positive momentum 
QKuwait.  The appointment would build on the positive momentum 
engendered by the Foreign Minister's successful visit as well 
as reciprocate Kuwait's posting of an ambassador to Baghdad. 
Zebari agreed but did not elaborate.  (Note:  the MFA long 
ago forwarded the name of a proposed candidate to the Prime 
Minister's office, which has yet to take action.  Relations 
between Maliki and Zebari -- and between the Prime Minister's 
Office and the MFA -- are poor.  End note.) 
 
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Positive Media Coverage 
------------------------ 
 
¶5.  (U)  The visit received positive coverage in the local 
media.  It was the third story on al-Iraqiya's (Iraqi 
national TV) February 26 evening newscast.  The three-four 
minute segment highlighted the historic nature of the visit 
and how it represented progress in the two countries' efforts 
to improve their relations, which were soured by the previous 
regime.  It aired the Prime Minister's statement that "Iraq 
should no longer be linked or viewed in relation to its 
previous leadership, as some Arab countries still do, but 
rather as a democratic country, as proved by the provincial 
elections."  The report also featured laudatory commentary 
from a Political Science Professor at Baghdad university, who 
noted it was a good start for (improved) relations between 
the two countries.  Al-Hurra ran a similar but shorter piece; 
it also noted that the compensation issue was one of the 
issues discussed during the meetings. 
 
¶6.  (U)  The Prime Minister issued a statement saying that 
post-Saddam Iraq sought "security, stability, (and) 
construction, not weaponry or dictatorship."  Noting that 
"the problems we (now) face are leftovers from the former 
regime," Maliki affirmed that "There is no way to return to 
the policy of war and adventures...Iraq today is based on a 
constitution and democracy.  Iraq has changed.  The bad image 
is over, no more terrorism, no more al-Qa'ida."  The Iraqi 
press highlighted Maliki's comments and, in generally 
accurate and balanced coverage, stressed Iraq's important 
regional role and improved Iraqi-Kuwaiti ties.  The debt 
issue figured prominently in the press coverage, with 
commentary from analysts that Iraq should not have to pay for 
the mistakes of the Saddam-era government. 
 
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The View from Kuwait 
-------------------- 
 
¶7.  (C)  Kuwait's Ambassador to Iraq Ali Mou'min told Senior 
Advisor Gray March 1 that while the Foreign Minister did not 
get into the bilateral weeds on contentious issues, his 
historic visit was a symbolically important milestone that 
has opened a new chapter of Kuwaiti-Iraqi relations.  The 
debt and compensation issues were touched upon but not 
discussed in detail.  Much of the discussion was on follow-up 
on the Kuwait Summit, including determining how funds should 
be distributed to the Palestinians (current thinking is 
through the Islamic Bank).  Al-Mou'min shared his impression 
that the Iraqi political leadership genuinely wants to put 
the painful bilateral past behind it.  He pointed to Maliki's 
forceful public and private statements that Iraq would never 
again threaten Kuwait as well as the roaring success of the 
Kuwaiti National Day reception he hosted at the Rashid Hotel 
on February 25, which 460 people attended.  He said the event 
received positive media coverage in both Iraq and Kuwait, 
including interviews with Iraqi politicians and 
parliamentarians.  Al-Mou'min said the expressions of 
goodwill he received from his Iraqi guests seemed "honest and 
genuine." 
 
¶8.  (C)  Al-Mou'min said he would propose to his Prime 
Minister that the first meeting of the joint commission take 
place after March 24, thus ensuring Kurdish leader 
availability in light of the March 20-22 Nevrouz holiday.  He 
said the joint commission would deal with the full range of 
Iraqi-Kuwaiti bilateral issues, from security to commercial. 
Al-Mou'min the delegation would be headed by the Prime 
Minister and include at least the Ministers of Finance, 
Interior, and Commerce.  He predicted that after the Prime 
Minister's visit, "lots of things will happen."  Al-Mou'min 
hoped the debt issue would not hold other issues hostage.  He 
recounted that during their meeting on the margins of the 
Kuwait Summit the Amir told President Talabani that the two 
could discuss anything but the debt issue, which he could do 
nothing about -- it was in the Kuwaiti parliament's hands. 
Al-Mou'min doubted the Kuwaiti parliament would pass a law 
abrogating Iraqi debt. 
Qabrogating Iraqi debt. 
 
¶9.  (C)  In response to S/A Gray's question whether Dr. 
Mohammed and Maliki discussed appointment of an Iraqi 
ambassador to Iraq, Mou'min said no, but noted that he had 
heard that Bahr al-Aloom Sadeq was under consideration. 
Speaking off the cuff, Mou'min said he hoped the Iraqis would 
send a Christian or a Kurd, thereby obviating the inevitable 
GOK debate over what sort of Arab the incoming ambassador was. 
 
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Comment 
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¶10.  (C)  Shortly after his arrival last fall, Ambassador 
Al-Mou'min told us his plan was to crawl, walk, then run as 
he sought to normalize Kuwaiti-Iraqi relations.  With the 
success of the gala Iraqi national day reception (billed in 
the English-language invitation as the "Liberation Day" 
reception) and the warm welcome given to the Kuwaiti Foreign 
Minister, we would say both sides are getting ready to walk. 
We note that Dr. Mohammed's visit, originally schedule to 
coincide with Kuwait's February 25 national day, was moved to 
February 26, the anniversary of Kuwait's liberation from 
Iraqi occupation in 1991.  That the Iraqis went along with 
this strikes us as another indication of the GOI's 
determination to open a new chapter with Kuwait.  The 
formation of a high-level joint commission to deal in a 
comprehensive way with the full range of bilateral issues 
will likely enhance prospects for progress, which both sides 
appear to want.  End comment. 
 
 
BUTENIS