US embassy cable - 03AMMAN5664

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 005664 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/04/2013 
TAGS: PREL, ODIP, IZ, JO 
SUBJECT: IRAQI MFA OFFICIALS DISCUSS WITH GOJ RESTARTING 
CONSULAR SERVICES AT IRAQ EMBASSY IN AMMAN 
 
Classified By: CDA David Hale for Reasons 1.5 (B) (D) 
 
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Summary 
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1. (C) Susan Johnson, Senior Advisor to the MFA in Baghdad, 
and two Iraqi MFA officials visited Amman from August 15 to 
20 to meet with GOJ MFA officials, officials at the Iraqi 
Embassy, and visit the Jordan-Iraq border area.  The purpose 
of the visit was to pave the way for resumption of Iraqi 
consular operations and to re-establish working channels of 
communication with Jordan as well as to assess the condition 
of the Iraqi Embassy.  End Summary. 
 
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Meeting with GOJ MFA Officials 
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2. (C) On August 17, Susan Johnson, Amb. Qusay M. Saleh, 
Iraqi MFA, Steering Committee member, and Amb. Salah Abdul 
Al-Azzawi, Head of the Iraqi MFA Consular Department, met 
with GOJ MFA officials responsible for Iraqi and consular 
affairs to discuss what steps were necessary to reopen the 
Iraqi Embassy in Amman and how the GOJ would perceive such a 
move.  The meeting also allowed Jordanian and Iraqi officials 
to open lines of communication.  The meeting at the Jordanian 
MFA, headed by Amb. Samir Masarwa, Chief of the Jordanian 
MFA's Consular Department, and attended by Amb. Zeid Lozi, 
MFA Chief of Protocol, Ali Ayed, Dir. of the Minister's 
Special Bureau, Samer Naber, Dir. of the Legal Department and 
Ali Bsoul, Minister's Special Bureau, allowed the Jordanian 
and Iraqi officials to begin a dialogue leading to reopening 
the Iraqi Embassy in Amman as a "liaison office" to provide 
badly needed consular services for the estimated 300,000 
Iraqis currently residing in Jordan. 
 
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Visit to the Iraq Embassy 
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3. (C) The visit to the Iraqi Embassy enabled Johnson and the 
Iraqi MFA officials to conduct an inventory of diplomatic, 
service and regular passports stored at the mission.  Many of 
these passports had been shipped under Iraqi MFA instructions 
from Iraqi embassies in Abuja, Beirut, Damascus, Dubai, 
Muscat and Stockholm (in addition to those passports already 
in Amman).  The Iraqi MFA wants to collect these passports to 
prevent misuse and in case they are needed in Baghdad.  As a 
result of the inventory, the CPA/Iraqi team decided to take 
possession of several hundred diplomatic and service 
passports and return them to Baghdad by air.  Three passport 
machines and approximately $1 million in cash and 94,000 
British pounds and additional regular passports were sent 
back to Baghdad by land. 
 
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Visit with Iraqi border officials 
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4. (C) On August 18, the Iraqis and Johnson visited the 
Jordan-Iraq border at Trebil/Karama.  They saw operations on 
both sides of the border and met with Jordanian and Iraqi 
border officials.  On the Iraqi side of the border, U.S. 
military officials (about 15 soldiers headed by a Captain) 
provided a tour of the facilities.  U.S. military officials 
said that, while much work remains to be done, several 
offices had been somewhat renovated and a small cafeteria had 
resumed operations and was providing meals to the 
approximately 450 local staff (Dulaymi tribesmen).  The U.S. 
military officers said that they looked for arms and looted 
antiquities in cars bound for Jordan.  Many travelers carried 
considerable amounts of cash to "do business" in Jordan and 
made no attempts to hide it.  They said they did not ask 
Iraqis found with large amounts of cash about the source of 
such funds or make any record of it.  Iraqis denied entry 
into Jordan were routinely allowed back into Iraq. 
 
5. (C) Johnson and the Iraqis also met with the Iraqi 
official responsible for border operations.  He was described 
as belonging to one of the major tribes in the area, with no 
border operations experience.  Outside the Customs building 
(the one building in somewhat decent shape) two handwritten 
notices (one in Arabic and one in English) listed the "fees" 
for entry and exit.  Discussions revealed that there is 
little accountability for collection of border fees by Iraqi 
border guards.  The U.S. military has a $30,000 a month 
contract with a tribal leader to provide the workers.  The 
salary, money and fees are collected once a month or more 
frequently and taken to a nearby town, where salaries are 
distributed among the border workers.  The disposition and 
whereabouts of any remaining funds is not well documented. 
According to the Captain, there is some discontent among the 
workers with how the salary money is distributed. 
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Jordan Border Visit 
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6. (C) The group toured the facilities on the Jordanian side 
of the border and met with Jordanian border officials.  The 
Head of the Jordanian border post met with the Iraqis and 
explained the difficulties Jordan had with no "professional" 
counterparts on the Iraqi side.  The Jordanians expressed 
concern about Iraqis presenting counterfeit or photo 
substituted passports or none at all.  They cited instances 
of Iraqis attempting to cross into Jordan illegally, either 
by hiding in transport trucks or by cutting fences and 
crossing the border on foot.  (Note:PolOff witnessed a line 
of approximately 30 cars waiting entry into Jordan, and 
heated exchanges between Iraqis and Jordanian border 
officials.  Many Iraqis complained about waiting for four 
hours in hot weather conditions, even though the line was not 
as long as it had been in previous months.)  The Jordanians 
said that Jordan and Iraq had a bilateral agreement that 
Iraqis with valid passports could enter Iraq and vice versa, 
but that now many Iraqis without valid passports were trying 
to cross.  They said that Jordan wanted to respect the 
agreement but needed cooperation from the Iraqi side.  The 
Iraqi officials recognized this problem, but wanted the 
Jordanians to make some effort to at least document the money 
and other items that were being taken out of Iraq. 
 
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COMMENT 
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7. (C) Jordanian MFA officials were enthusiastic about the 
visit of the Iraqi MFA team.  MFA Legal Advisor Samer Naber 
told us Foreign Minister Muasher has formally recommended 
that the PM and Jordanian security services approve the 
reopening of the Iraqi Embassy in Amman as a liaison office. 
According to Naber, no formal GOJ decision has yet been made. 
HALE