VZCZCXRO6220
PP RUEHBC
DE RUEHBC #0063/01 3490850
ZNY EEEEE ZZH
P 150850Z DEC 09
FM REO BASRAH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0947
INFO RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 0525
RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHBC/REO BASRAH 0985

UNCLAS E F T O SECTION 01 OF 02 BASRAH 000063 
 
SENSITIVE NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OEXC SCUL SOCI PREL PGOV IZ IR
SUBJECT: ERA OF CLOSER COOPERATION BEGINS WITH BASRAH UNIVERSITY 
 
REF: BASRAH 061 
 
BASRAH 00000063  001.3 OF 002 
 
 
==================== 
Introduction/Summary 
==================== 
 
¶1.  (SBU/NF) In a December 3 meeting, Basrah University's new 
chancellor, Dr. Saleh Najim, reviewed the status of the 
province's premier academic institution and related plans to 
create a new university devoted solely to petroleum and mineral 
studies.  The PRT outlined possible avenues of cooperation, 
which received an enthusiastic response from Chancellor Najim, 
who hopes such cooperation will diminish Iranian influence at 
the university.  The chancellor signed documents that formally 
launch new U.S. programs to support agricultural and legal 
studies at the university.  The pro-American chancellor's 
approval of these programs, and his enthusiastic endorsement of 
other proposed cooperation, sets the stage for a sustained and 
mutually beneficial relationship with this important Basrah 
institution.  End Introduction/Summary. 
 
============ 
Basrah U 101 
============ 
 
¶2. (U) Basrah University is the premier high-education 
institution of Basrah province.  Chancellor Najim informed us 
that the university has some 30,000 students studying in its 15 
colleges, and another 1,000 students doing post-graduate work. 
Its two campuses in Basrah city house professional schools for 
law, medicine, dentistry, and nursing.  According to the 
chancellor, 20 Basrah University students have received 
scholarships from the Ministry of Education to study in the U.S. 
this year.  The Ministry of Education has asked Chancellor Najim 
to help establish a second university in Basrah, one that will 
be devoted solely to petroleum and mineral studies.  The new 
university, modeled after King Fahd University for Petroleum and 
Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, will be located near the new 
Sports City complex being built on undeveloped land within 
Basrah city limits.  Najim said the new university is expected 
to take two years to complete once started. 
 
================================== 
New Prospects for U.S. Cooperation 
================================== 
 
¶3. (U) During the meeting, PRT section heads discussed possible 
avenues of U.S. cooperation with Basrah University.  These 
include seeking greater involvement in USG educational and 
cultural exchange programs, support for the establishment of a 
TOEFEL center at the university, training for the university's 
English instructors, increased cooperation in legal training for 
law students, and opportunities for collaboration with 
universities in the United States. (Note:  Basrah University 
currently has a relationship with the Colorado School of Mines 
that is not meeting its expectations.  Without going into 
details, but suggesting that the relationship may be on paper 
only and no longer viable, the Chancellor said Basrah University 
might be partly to blame.) The PRT also discussed two proposals 
to support the engineering department and dental school that are 
expected to be funded under CERP and QRF. 
 
============================================ 
An Opportunity to Diminish Iranian Influence 
============================================ 
 
¶4. (SBU/NF) Chancellor Najim was enthusiastic about these 
opportunities and expressed support for them.  Having spent time 
in Texas, the chancellor said he respected the U.S. and wanted 
to increase cooperation with the USG and American academic 
institutions.  He hoped increased U.S. cooperation with the 
university would diminish Iranian influence (reftel), which had 
grown under the previous chancellor to include training of 
students and faculty in Iran.  Chancellor Najim wanted to 
reverse course, and said that he had rejected an offer by the 
Iranian Consul General to finance a journal that would be 
published by Basrah University's Iranian studies department. 
 
============================================= =============== 
Launching Programs to Support Agricultural and Legal Studies 
============================================= =============== 
 
¶5. (U) PRT used the meeting to formalize two new programs at the 
university.  The Chancellor signed letters of sustainment for 
three CERP-funded agricultural testing labs (water, soil, and 
palm date tissue) worth almost one million dollars. 
Establishment of these laboratories was one of the 
recommendations made by the Borlaug Group after conducting an 
extensive assessment of Basrah's agricultural sector. 
Chancellor Najim also signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 
the terms of the Access to Justice program, designed and 
 
BASRAH 00000063  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
implemented by the PRT's Rule of Law section.  Under the 
program, the university's law students will partner with lawyers 
from Basrah's Bar Association to provide legal representation to 
detainees in Iraq's criminal justice system. 
 
======= 
Comment 
======= 
 
¶6. (SBU/NF) PRT cooperation with Basrah University will increase 
substantially over the near- and long-term now that Dr. Saleh 
Najim has taken over as its chancellor.  UK-educated and 
westernized, Dr. Najim understands the advantages of cooperation 
with the U.S. and welcomes it.  Having developed a good working 
relationship with the new chancellor when he was Dean of the 
Engineering School, the PRT is well positioned to build a strong 
and fruitful relationship with Basrah University.  This is a 
welcome change from the recent past when the former chancellor, 
either because of inertia or suspected pro-Iranian sentiments, 
made our dealings with the university difficult, most recently 
by blocking the Access to Justice project proposed by the PRT's 
Rule of Law section.  Chancellor Najim's approval of this and 
other programs, and his enthusiastic endorsement of other 
proposed cooperation with the U.S., set the stage for a 
sustained and mutually beneficial relationship with this 
important Basrah institution. 
NALAND