VZCZCXYZ0007
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGB #1920 1961611
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 151611Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3940
INFO RUCNDMI/HUMANITARIAN DEMINING COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0826
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 001920 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/I/POLMIL, NEA/I 
DEPT ALSO FOR PM/WRA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/16/2019 
TAGS: KHDP PARM PGOV PREL IZ
SUBJECT: U.S.-SUPPORTED DEMINING EFFORTS IN IRAQ FACE FORK 
IN THE ROAD 
 
REF: BAGHDAD 1816 AND PREVIOUS 
 
Classified By: A/PMA W. S. Reid for reason 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary: The Ministry of Defense (MOD) will block the 
Iraqi Mine Clearance Organization (IMCO) from doing demining 
in Iraq, according to Deputy Minister of Environment Dr. 
Kamal Latif, who also heads the Directorate for Mine Action. 
IMCO is a NGO that the Department's Weapons Removal and 
Abatement (WRA) Office initiated and subsequently sustained 
with grants creating indigenous, private Iraqi capacity to 
mitigate the threat of landmines and explosive remnants of 
war (ERW).  While widely praised by the UNAMI, Dr. Kamal, and 
other demining experts in Iraq, IMCO and its Executive 
Director, Zahim Mutar, drew the ire and suspicion of MOD 
Senior Advisor GEN Mohan and other MOD officials (reftel). 
The recently signed agreement between Ministry of Environment 
(MOEnv) and MOD gives MOD power to veto specific projects, 
which it has preemptively exercised by providing official 
notice that it will reject any IMCO project.  Embassy's 
Political Military Affairs Section and PM/WRA have already 
begun discussions about how to: 1) address contracts with 
IMCO; 2) transfer assets and funds to other NGOs in Iraq; or 
3) otherwise recoup and redeploy our humanitarian 
investments.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (C) Dr. Kamal asked to meet with Emboff July 13 following 
an earlier conversation he had the same day with GEN Mohan 
and MOD Senior Legal Advisor Dr. Ghaleb.  Dr. Kamal explained 
that he had hoped to soften the MOD officials' position 
against IMCO and then invite them to meet with Embassy 
officials to discuss a new way forward.  Dr. Kamal said that 
he was surprised by GEN Mohan's intransigence and his claims 
that IMCO was guilty of corruption and undermining internal 
security.  GEN Mohan for the first time accused Mutar of 
being a closet Ba'athist.  Emboff commented to Dr. Kamal that 
not only were GEN Mohan's claims unsupported, they were 
increasingly outlandish, which Dr. Kamal acknowledged with 
dismay and resignation. 
 
FIRST UPSIDE: IMCO OUT OF LEGAL JEOPARDY 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (C) Mutar called Emboff July 12 to report that his lawyer 
told him July 11 that MOD-sponsored criminal charges against 
him had been dismissed.  Mutar supplied a translation of the 
court decision July 15 that states IMCO's actions in 
destroying small arms and light weapons, under Mutar's 
leadership and with MNF-I's involvement, did not violate 
Iraqi law.  He thanked the Embassy profusely for tracking the 
issue and raising awareness about it.  This resolution means 
that Mutar currently does not live with the threat of 
imprisonment and that the GOI will not dissolve IMCO and 
seize its assets.  (Comment:  The dismissal represents some 
encouraging news for Embassy projects because, if GOI were to 
expropriate resources that WRA had supplied for humanitarian 
purposes, it would have caused considerable bilateral 
consternation.  Second, Executive Director Mutar now has the 
option of retiring or stepping down from an organization 
which he has inadvertently mired in controversy, if he so 
chooses.  In any case, the Embassy will not have any 
self-imposed obligation to bail him out of trouble.  End 
comment.) 
 
SECOND UPSIDE: NEW OPPORTUNITIES 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) IMCO is slated to receive USD 3.1 million in 2009 
for ERW abatement in Iraq and USD 3.4 million to build a new 
Qfor ERW abatement in Iraq and USD 3.4 million to build a new 
compound.  These obligations will need to be reconsidered 
quickly in light of IMCO's inability to engage in operations 
other than training.  Per July 14 conversation with PM/WRA 
official, one option other than defunding the project is to 
transfer financial support (as well as physical assets) to 
MAG (Mine Assistance Group) or other NGOs that GEN Mohan has 
not indicated he plans to prevent from operating in Iraq, 
especially those in the KRG where the MOD cannot block 
operations. (Comment: Because we received this definitive 
word that IMCO cannot operate before FY 2009 monies have been 
obligated, we have the opportunity now to decide how to shift 
resources and deepen investment elsewhere, rather than pursue 
a losing cause.  End comment.) 
 
 
HILL