US embassy cable - 04MANAMA1823

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAMA 001823 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/05/2014 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, OTRA, BA, IZ, IS 
SUBJECT: CODEL HAGEL MEETS WITH CROWN PRINCE AT GULF 
DIALOGUE CONFERENCE 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William T. Monroe, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1. (C) Summary: Bahrain's Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin 
Hamad Al Khalifa met with Senators Chuck Hagel, Dianne 
Feinstein and Lincoln Chafee and their staff on December 4 on 
the margins of the "Gulf Dialogue," an international 
conference sponsored by the GOB and organized by the 
London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies 
(IISS).  The Codel raised concerns about the future of Iraq, 
the peace process and the importance of the two upcoming 
elections in the region.  The CP underscored the importance 
of continued U.S. engagement in the region and Bahrain,s 
commitment to supporting democratic development in both Iraq 
and for the Palestinian people. End Summary. 
 
2. (C) The CP opened the meeting by thanking the Senators for 
their continued support for Bahrain.  He said he thought it 
important to first recognize the burden the U.S. carries in 
the region.  Bahrain is grateful for the significant 
sacrifices the U.S. has made for the region,s benefit. 
Senator Hagel praised Bahrain,s leadership on regional 
issues, its own reform efforts and noted the long-standing 
warm relations with the U.S.  He thanked Bahrain for its 
support of the Gulf Dialogue.  The off-the-record Gulf 
Dialogue brought together the national security leadership of 
Gulf Cooperation Council states along with its neighbors 
(notably Iraq) and key allies including the U.S., the UK and 
France.  Having the Gulf Dialogue in Manama was a natural 
fit, playing to Bahrain,s strengths.  He said it was the 
lack of strategic alliances in the region and the need to 
build those kinds of relationships that led to his support 
for IISS efforts to organize such a conference and the 
Codel,s participation. 
 
3. (C) Turning to the comments made by the CP earlier that 
morning, Hagel asked what Bahrain expected would happen after 
elections in Iraq.  The CP noted Bahrain,s own concerns 
about Saddam,s Iraq.  However, he admitted the GOB did not 
support the war at the outset.  Despite growing insecurity 
before the elections, Bahrain sees the U.S. presence in Iraq 
as ultimately a stabilizing factor in the region.  Once held, 
the elections will help to establish the legitimate 
institutions that regional governments will be able to work 
with.  The principal concern Bahrain now has is who will win 
the elections and whether those new institutions will be 
friendly to the U.S. or will more radical elements take hold. 
 He added that despite the short-term need to plus-up troop 
numbers, he believed foreign troops should eventually be 
replaced by regional peacekeepers. 
 
4. (C) Senator Feinstein raised the Palestinian elections, 
noted the need to take advantage of this historic opportunity 
for peace, and called on the CP to support Abu Mazen. 
Feinstein urged Gulf state leaders to speak out on the need 
for a two-state solution in Palestine in order to ostracize 
extremists on both sides and bring the Arab media on board. 
The CP said that Bahrain understood that the death of Arafat, 
a man he did not respect, was an opening.  Yet, while there 
is an opportunity to do things a new way, the key remained 
the same: the U.S. must be more effective in winning hearts 
and minds in the region.  Therefore the U.S. must, even if 
politically difficult, engage in a public discourse that 
demonstrates that the goal of promoting democracy in the 
Middle East includes Palestinians as well.  At the same time, 
he said, we in the region need to hold the Palestinians 
accountable for their actions.  He feared that the U.S. would 
blame any new Palestinian leadership for individual acts of 
violence he believed inevitable.  Foreign Minister Sheikh 
Mohammed bin Mubarak al Khalifa added that the most pressing 
concern for the GOB was the current leadership vacuum and 
support for Abu Mazen was secondary to successful elections. 
On Iraq, Senator Feinstein urged Bahrain to convey the 
message to the Iraqi leadership that Sunnis must be included 
in Iraq,s future or the violence will continue. 
 
5. (C) Senator Chafee noted that a common refrain was echoed 
in the conference: that U.S. interests in the Middle East are 
guided only by a desire to steal the region,s oil.  He asked 
for the CP,s views on how U.S. consumption of oil promotes 
those stereotypes and whether the U.S. is rightly vulnerable 
to that accusation.  The CP said he believed that the market 
itself, as it adapted to new realities, would help to correct 
that view.  First and most importantly, growing economies 
like China and India will soon outpace U.S. consumption. 
Second, the current rise in the price of oil, which many 
wrongly see as the region,s salvation, is due not only to 
increased consumption but inefficiencies in the refining 
process.  Once these inefficiencies are corrected and the 
price drops, then the argument that the U.S. seeks to rob the 
region of its oil becomes less persuasive. 
 
MONROE