US embassy cable - 04AMMAN695

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 000695 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/28/2014 
TAGS: PREL, ECON, ETRD, IZ, JO, ELTD, KTER 
SUBJECT: JORDANIAN BUSINESSMAN RELATES DANGERS OF DOING 
BUSINESS IN IRAQ 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires David Hale for Reasons 1.5 (b), (d) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  (C) A Jordanian businessman, Dureid Mahasneh (please 
protect), told PolOff January 26 of the dangers his 
transportation and shipping company has experienced while 
operating in Iraq.  After paying protection money to keep his 
Baghdad warehouse free from attack, the facility was 
subsequently burnt down.  He claimed the arsonists were 
members of the Iraqi "resistance" who targeted the enterprise 
for its "collaboration" with the U.S. military.  Mahasneh 
also negotiated and paid a hefty ransom for the release of a 
kidnapped employee in Basra.  End Summary. 
 
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UP IN FLAMES 
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2.  (C) On January 26, PolOff met with Dr. Dureid Mahasneh, a 
former Jordanian government official who helped negotiate 
Jordan's peace treaty with Israel, and who is now a 
businessman.  Mahasneh is CEO of Amman-based Middle East 
Shipping Services (MESS), which maintains offices in Baghdad, 
Basra and Umm Qasr inside Iraq.  According to Mahasneh, MESS 
provides transportation and shipping services for contractors 
within Iraq, most notably Bechtel Corporation. 
 
3.  (C) Mahasneh told PolOff that conducting business within 
Iraq was a risky affair, and gave two specific examples to 
illustrate the dangers his company had faced.  First, 
Mahasneh said that after renting a warehouse in Baghdad, the 
storage facility came under machine gun fire and, later, a 
mortar attack when it became known that the warehouse 
contained SUVs and other valuable equipment designated for 
U.S. contractors.  MESS eventually had to pay "protection 
money" to a group of Iraqis who accused the company of 
collaborating with coalition forces. 
 
4.  (C) Despite Mahasneh's providing cash for "protection," 
the MESS warehouse was burned to the ground a little over one 
month ago.  Since nothing was taken from the building before 
it was set ablaze, Mahasneh believes that this was meant as 
an act of "resistance" to the U.S. presence in Iraq, rather 
than a criminal operation.  When PolOff asked Mahasneh if he 
had ever approached the CPA for security assistance, he 
replied that he had not for fear of confirming accusations 
that his company was directly in league with U.S. troops. 
Mahasneh eventually leased another warehouse in Baghdad, but 
at more than seven times the cost of the former building. 
Given the shortage of adequate facilities available in 
Baghdad, owners were charging outrageous prices and getting 
away with it, according to Mahasneh. 
 
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NEGOTIATING A RANSOM 
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5.  (C) Moving to his second story, Mahasneh recounted that 
last month one of his supervisory employees (a Jordanian) was 
kidnapped in Basra and held for ransom.  Mahasneh went to 
Basra to negotiate the ransom price, which he reduced from an 
initial demand of $100,000 to $30,000.  After paying this 
amount, the employee was freed without harm, but Mahasneh is 
wary of the precedent he may have set.  He said that he would 
not return to Iraq unless he was truly needed, given the 
security situation. 
 
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COMMENT 
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6.  (C) Mahasneh did not try to characterize his experience 
in Iraq as typical for companies doing business there, nor 
did he have any immediate plans to cease MESS operations in 
Iraq.  Still, his stories reflect the real risks for 
companies seen to be associated with U.S. reconstruction 
efforts in Iraq. 
 
7.  (U) 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. 
HALE