US embassy cable - 04KUWAIT4132

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 004132 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT. FOR NEA/ARPI, IO/UNP, AND S/WCI 
GENEVA FOR STONECIPHER 
OSD FOR DPMO CRONAUER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/28/2014 
TAGS: PREL, KPOW, PHUM, AORC, KU, IZ, ICRC 
SUBJECT: TRIPARTITE COMMISSION LAUDS PROGRESS IN ID OF GULF 
WAR MISSING; CONCLUDES HELP SOUGHT BY IRAQ OUTSIDE MANDATE 
 
REF: A. STATE 247213 
     B. KUWAIT 3371 (NOTAL) 
     C. 03 KUWAIT 5736 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1.  (U)  Summary and Comment:  The 27th meeting of the 
Tripartite Commission (TPC) on Gulf War Missing was held 
November 24 in Geneva at ICRC headquarters.  In stark 
contrast to previous sessions (ref C), this meeting was 
characterized by strong cooperation among TPC members and the 
participation of a sovereign Iraqi government.  IIG Human 
Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin made an impassioned plea for 
international assistance in the enormous task of identifying 
mass grave sites, and exhuming and identifying bodies.  TPC 
members agreed on the need to assist the IIG, both 
bilaterally and through international bodies, but maintained 
the TPC was not the appropriate vehicle.  Kuwait, Saudi 
Arabia, and Iraq all closed cases of missing persons and 
discussed plans for excavation of newly identified sites. 
The U.S. reminded the TPC that the case of U.S. Navy Captain 
Michael Scott Speicher remains open.  The TPC agreed to 
reconvene November 14-15, 2005 in Kuwait and extended the 
mandate of the Technical Sub-Committee (TSC), proposing a 
January 2005 meeting in Riyadh. 
 
2.  (C)  TPC members warmly welcomed Amin to the session and, 
despite a strong shared belief that the TPC mandate should 
not be expanded or diluted in any way, listened as Amin 
detailed the situation facing his ministry and outlined his 
needs for assistance (ref A).  There were pledges of support, 
offers to share information, and Kuwait invited Amin and 
staff to tour GOK facilities for cataloguing information on 
missing persons and identifying remains.  The Kuwaitis and 
Saudis clearly sympathize with the Iraqis, but nevertheless 
want to see their open files closed before taking on any new 
projects.  They were courteous during Amin's monologues, but 
occasional moments of impatience were noticeable.  Other TPC 
members and the broader international community will need to 
help Iraq strike a balance between responding to domestic 
cries for information on Iraqi missing and dealing with its 
neighbors who think that after 14 years, they have waited 
long enough to close the files on their own missing.  End 
Summary and Comment. 
 
 
U.S.-ICRC Bilat Focus on Role of TPC 
------------------------------------ 
 
3.  (C)  The TPC meeting was preceded by a U.S.-ICRC 
bilateral meeting on November 23.  ICRC Delegate-General 
Balthasar Staehelin told Ambassador LeBaron (the U.S. 
Ambassador to Kuwait and head of the U.S. Delegation) that 
despite marked progress in the recovery, identification, and 
repatriation of Kuwaiti and Saudi remains, the TPC remained 
vital as the only neutral forum where members could discuss 
their concerns.  Moreover, the ICRC serves as a conduit for 
information on Iraqis who are in fact refugees, not missing, 
and who are not yet ready to be identified to the Iraqi 
government.  Staehelin invited U.S. input on how to sustain 
Iraqi enthusiasm for the work of the TPC, explaining that 
with hundreds of thousands of unaccounted for Iraqis, the 
challenge would be to maintain the IIG's focus on the 
hundreds of still missing Kuwaitis and Saudis, as well as 
Captain Speicher, when the needs in Iraq were so pressing. 
The Ambassador asserted that the U.S. will continue to assist 
Iraq bilaterally and through international fora, but insisted 
the TPC has a specific mandate that should not be altered. 
Also present during the bilateral meeting were Adrian 
Cronauer, OSD POW/Missing Personnel Office; Charles A. 
Stonecipher, U.S. Mission Geneva; Natalie E. Brown, Embassy 
Kuwait; Georges Comninos, ICRC Head of Operations for the 
Middle East and North Africa; Christophe Beney, ICRC Head of 
Delegation in Baghdad; and Michel Meyer, ICRC Head of 
Delegation in Kuwait. 
 
TPC Members Minus Iraq Agree not to Modify Mandate 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
4.  (C)  Prior to the actual TPC meeting, the Kuwaiti Mission 
hosted a working dinner for the American, French, Saudi, and 
British participants.  Delegations applauded the cooperative 
spirit under which TPC members are now meeting, pledged to 
help the IIG in locating the sites of mass graves and 
identifying the vast number of victims through means other 
than the TPC, and agreed that the bulk of the TPC's work was 
best handled by the Technical Sub-Committee (TSC). 
Participants also shared the opinion that there was no longer 
any real need for the TPC to meet more than annually, and 
agreed to hold the next meeting November 14-15, 2005 in 
Kuwait.  They also agreed to renew the TSC for one year, 
recommending that its next meeting occur in January 2005 in 
Riyadh. 
 
ICRC Credits Iraqis with Momentum of the Past Year 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
5.  (C)  Staehelin opened the official session by welcoming 
the Iraqi delegation and acknowledging the positive momentum 
achieved since the December 2003 meeting (ref B).  He 
remarked such progress would not have been possible without 
the courage of the many Iraqi civilians who came forward to 
share information on possible grave sites.  He expressed 
regret that most of the missing were dead, but noted that 
simply locating and identifying them brought a measure of 
solace to their families.  The French Ambassador to Kuwait, 
Claude Losguardi, and HMG's Ambassador to Kuwait, Christopher 
Wilton, echoed Staehelin's comments. 
 
Kuwait Stresses Families Need Closure 
------------------------------------- 
 
6.  (C)  Kuwait announced that of its 605 case files, 154 
were now closed.  Delegation Head Dr. Ibrahim Al Shaheen, 
Under Secretary of the Amiri Diwan, expressed the GOK's 
gratitude to the TPC and to coalition forces for creating 
conditions under which Kuwaitis could finally be brought 
home.  He said he also empathized with the Iraqi people and 
their need for closure, confiding that the remains of two of 
his nephews were recently identified and repatriated and, 
after 14 years, family members could finally sleep soundly. 
He reasserted that the mandate of the TPC should not be 
amended, but offered GOK technical assistance to the IIG in 
setting up an office and building data banks for identifying 
remains.  Similarly, Saudi Arabia's Prince Dr. Muhammed Saud 
al-Kabir Turki, Deputy Minister for Political Affairs and 
Director General for International Organization Affairs, 
announced the closure of 2 cases and agreed with the Iraqi 
desire for greater transparency and coordination when 
crossing international borders to excavate grave sites. 
 
U.S. Notes Progress and Says Speicher Case Still Unresolved 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
7.  (C)  Ambassador LeBaron praised the work of the TPC and 
welcomed the participation of the IIG.  He condemned the 
atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein's brutal regime and 
spoke of the importance of bringing comfort to the families, 
friends, and governments of the missing.  He further restated 
U.S. resolve to uncover the fate of USN Captain Michael Scott 
Speicher.  (Text of U.S. Statement provided in para 11.) 
 
Minister Amin Reports 300,000-1 Million Missing Iraqis 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
8.  (C)  Iraqi Minister of Human Rights and Head of 
Delegation Bakhtiar Amin monopolized much of the meeting with 
the indulgence of TPC members.  He said the IIG was glad to 
be an active member of the TPC and he was pleased to 
represent a new Iraq -- "one different from the past, having 
a different spirit and different vision for the future." 
Through resolution of the cases of the missing from the 
1990-1991 Gulf War, Iraq was extending a hand to the 
international community and asking to become a part of it and 
to contribute to world peace and stability.  He referenced 
the "dark forces" that threatened stability and averred 
Iraq's commitment to combat terrorism on behalf of the region 
and the world.  He reported that since the fall of Saddam 
Hussein, 283 mass grave sites and been found and, security 
permitting, Iraq intended to investigate them all and exhume 
the bodies.  This, however, is not a task Iraq can accomplish 
alone.  Amin described Iraq's national capacity to handle the 
work as "zero" and appealed to the international community 
for assistance, inviting TPC members to the January 
conference in Amman (ref A).  Amin said he was unaware of 
Kuwait's plans to resume excavation of a Karbala site and 
called for greater coordination and information-sharing so 
that sites could be protected from grave-robbers and the IIG 
could also benefit from the information revealed. 
 
 
GOK Call for Condemnation of Previous Human Rights Abuses 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
9.  (C)  On the margins of TPC proceedings, the Kuwaiti 
Ambassador said that in 2003, the GOK agreed not to address 
at the UNHRC the state of human rights in Iraq since it was 
possible that some of the POWs could have still been alive. 
With unquestionable evidence that there are no surviving 
POWs, the GOK intends to revisit the notion of a statement of 
fact and will seek U.S. and EU support. 
 
 
10.  (U)  Begin Text of U.S. Statement: 
 
The United States would like to again thank the ICRC for its 
continuing efforts to determine the fates of the many missing 
civilians and military personnel from the 1990-1991 Gulf War. 
 This is a difficult task and we commend the ICRC for its 
relentless pursuit on behalf of the families, friends, and 
governments of those still missing.  We also appreciate the 
ICRC's hosting of this 27th meeting of the Tripartite 
Commission (TPC).  In the past year, we have seen increased 
coordination among TPC members, but nevertheless welcome a 
forum where we can come together to discuss our common 
concerns. 
 
We welcome the active participation of the Iraqi Interim 
Government (IIG) to this gathering.  The attendance of Iraqi 
Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin at the September 7 
meeting in Kuwait of the Technical Sub-Committee is 
indicative of the IIG's determination to close open cases and 
forge strong, cooperative relations with its neighbors.  We 
hope this degree of consultation will continue and even 
improve following elections in January 2005. 
 
While we mourn their deaths, we are gratified that the 
remains of so many missing Kuwaitis continue to be identified 
and repatriated.  We offer our deepest condolences to their 
families and the Government of Kuwait.  We condemn the 
murders of Kuwaiti citizens at the hands of Saddam Hussein, 
but are heartened that their families can finally grieve and 
celebrate the lives of their loved ones.  Likewise, we offer 
our condolences to the families of tens of thousands of Iraqi 
citizens who died as a result of the brutal regime of Saddam 
Hussein.  The IIG faces no small task in locating hundreds of 
sites of mass graves and recovering remains of victims of the 
former regime.  Both through this committee and bilaterally, 
we stand ready to assist the people of Iraq in this important 
but sad task. 
 
We hope the enhanced consultation and coordination that 
exists among TPC members will reveal new information on the 
status of our own Captain Michael Scott Speicher.  His case 
remains open and the United States is determined to learn 
what happened to him and bring him home. 
 
 
11.  (U)  Meeting minutes will be faxed to NEA/ARPI. 
 
12.  (U)  Baghdad:  Minimize considered. 
 
 
********************************************* 
Visit Embassy Kuwait's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ 
 
You can also access this site through the 
State Department's Classified SIPRNET website 
********************************************* 
LEBARON