US embassy cable - 03AMMAN6732

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 006732 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
 
CENTCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/20/2013 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, MARR, TU, IZ, JO 
SUBJECT: FONMIN MUASHER ON IRAQ:  TURKISH TROOPS A BAD 
IDEA, CHALABI AT IT AGAIN 
 
Classified By: Amb. Edward W. Gnehm for reasons 1.5 (b)(d) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  (S/NF)  Foreign Minister Muasher told the Ambassador 
October 19 that Jordan is not happy with the decision to 
deploy Turkish troops to Iraq, arguing that Turkey has 
"another agenda" in Iraq.  He pointed to the continued 
presence of Turkish forces in northern Cyprus as evidence 
that Turkish troops might be more complicating than 
stabilizing in Iraq.  Muasher complained that Iraqi Governing 
Council (IGC) member Ahmed Chalabi was making false 
statements that Jordan is getting USD 1.5 billion for hosting 
Iraqi police training.  He also said that the four Jordanians 
killed October 16 at a U.S. checkpoint west of Baghdad appear 
to have died in a simple car accident, not from U.S. fire, as 
reported by al-Jazeera.  END SUMMARY. 
 
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NO TURKISH, IRANIAN FORCES TO IRAQ 
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2.  (S/NF)  Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher told the 
Ambassador October 19 that Jordan is not happy with the 
decision to permit Turkish troops into Iraq.  Muasher's 
Private Office Director and PolCouns sat in.  Muasher said 
Jordan fears that the Turks have a "separate agenda" in Iraq 
other than stability.  It is clear, he argued, that most 
Iraqis do not want Turkish -- or Iranian or other neighboring 
country -- forces in the country.  "We don't trust the 
Turks," he declared, noting that Turkish forces have remained 
in Northern Cyprus for 30 years despite several UN Security 
Council Resolutions.  He said he had a difficult conversation 
on Iraq with Turkish FonMin Abdullah Gul on the margins of 
the recent OIC conference in Malaysia, with Gul eventually 
saying that the decision in principle to deploy troops to 
Iraq did not mean that forces would actually go.  Muasher 
said British Foreign Secretary Straw had made a similar point 
last week when they met in Luxembourg. 
 
3.  (S/NF)  The Ambassador argued that U.S. commanders have 
determined that they need more forces on the ground to 
restore stability.  Muasher said that this might be true, but 
the forces should not come from countries that border Iraq. 
The political difficulties created by the presence of 15,000 
Turkish forces in Iraq, he argued, would far outweigh any 
security benefit. 
 
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MORE COMPLAINTS ABOUT AHMED CHALABI 
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4.  (C)  Muasher also complained that IGC member Ahmed 
Chalabi has told the Arabic press that Jordan will get "a 
billion and a half dollars" for conducting police training in 
Jordan.  According to Muasher, Chalabi said that "Germany and 
others" had offered to conduct police training for free, and, 
in any case, the training could be done better and less 
expensively in Iraq.  All of these statements, Muasher 
asserted, are false and are directed at hurting Jordan's 
reputation.  Muasher repeated his earlier message that the 
GOJ is trying to reduce the level of rhetoric on Chalabi, but 
such statements from Chalabi make it difficult for Jordan to 
remain silent. 
 
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FOUR JORDANIANS KILLED IN A TRAGIC ACCIDENT 
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5.  (C)  Muasher said it appears that the four Jordanians who 
were killed at a U.S. military checkpoint west of Baghdad on 
October 16 died in a simple car accident.  An al-Jazeera 
report claimed that the four had been killed when U.S. forces 
fired on their car when it "failed to notice" a U.S. 
checkpoint.  Muasher commented that the GOJ had identified 
the four as Jordanian and had repatriated the bodies over the 
weekend.  The autopsies showed extreme trauma, but no 
evidence of bullet wounds.  Based on eyewitness reports, 
Muasher speculated that that the had smashed into a U.S. tank 
parked across the road while fleeing from what they thought 
were bandits.  (NOTE:  The October 19 local press carried the 
results of the autopsies on the four, and King Abdullah 
publicly described the incident as an accident.  However, 
some press reports continue to say that these Jordanians 
"were killed by the Americans."  END NOTE.) 
 
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COMMENT 
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6.  (C)  The Jordanians are concerned that opposition from 
some Iraqis to a Turkish military presence could spark 
further trouble and complicate restoration of stability in 
Iraq.  Muasher, again, showed his hypersensitivity to any 
comment from Ahmed Chalabi that is less than complementary to 
Jordan. 
 
7.  (U)  CPA Baghdad minimize considered. 
 
Visit Embassy Amman's classified web site at 
 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/ 
 
or access the site through the State Department's SIPRNET 
home page. 
GNEHM