VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGB #2783 2881406
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 151406Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5106
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS BAGHDAD 002783 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PLEASE PASS TO NSC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL OPDC IZ
SUBJECT: LETTER FROM AHMAD CHALABI TO PRESIDENT OBAMA 
 
¶1.  On October 13, 2009 Embassy Baghdad received the 
following letter from Ahmad Chalabi to President Obama.  The 
original letter will be transmitted to NEA/I/POL via pouch 
mail. 
 
Begin text of message: 
 
 
The Honorable President Barack Obama, 
President of the United States of America 
The White House 
Washington, DC 
 
Dear President Obama, 
 
Please accept my sincere congratulations on the award of 
Nobel Peace Prize of 2009. 
 
The few months of your administration have produced a 
sea-change in the perception of the United States of America 
in the World and specifically among Muslims.  Your historic 
speech in Cairo has become a beacon of hope for the coming 
era. 
 
We already feel the imprint of your policies in Iraq and we 
look forward to a strategic relationship with the United 
States of America based on respect, culture and economic 
cooperation.  We welcome your determination to discard making 
military and intelligence matters the overriding agenda of 
the United States in Iraq. 
 
The responsibility of combating extremists who claim to be 
acting in the name of Islam is primarily the responsibility 
of Muslims.  We must devise strategies to fight those 
nefarious elements and to offer a reality of hope and 
progress in synthesizing the world for Muslims in the 21st 
century.  In this respect, we hope that you can see your way 
clearly to supporting an alliance in the historical center of 
the Muslim world.  We are working to develop a Concordat 
among the modern states of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran which 
together comprise the territory known in Islamic geography as 
"Al Iqleem Al Rabi'i".  The famous Muslim historiographer Al 
Masoodi described this territory as "the heart of the world". 
This Concordat, built on peace, prosperity and tolerance, 
will have a determining effect on the entire Muslim world and 
will be the rock on which extremism in the Muslim world will 
shatter. 
 
Finally, I would like to mention that the people in Iraq are 
proud of your initiatives and wish you well in winning of the 
Nobel Peace Prize of 2009. 
 
Sincerely, 
/signed/ 
Ahmad Chalabi 
 
 
End text of message. 
HILL