US embassy cable - 05AMMAN185

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 000185 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/09/2010 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, JO, IZ 
SUBJECT: IIG FM ZEBARI PLEASED WITH OUTCOME OF NEIGHBORS 
CONFERENCE 
 
 
Classified By: Charge David Hale, Reasons 1.4 (B) & (D) 
 
1.  (C) Summary.  IIG FM Zebari praised the outcome of the 
January 8 neighbors conference in Amman.  The only point of 
controversy was a Syrian stab at removing language about 
federalism, which Zebari parried.  Zebari was pleased with 
Jordan's overall help but dismissed the leadership's analysis 
here of internal Iraqi political developments as dated and 
unsubtle.  End summary. 
 
2.  (C) Iraqi Foreign Minister Zebari met with Charge on 
January 8, at Zebari's request, to provide a readout on the 
January 7 Iraq Neighbors Conference held in Amman.  He 
described the atmosphere and outcome as positive and 
constructive.  This demonstration of unity on the importance 
of full Iraqi participation in the elections, and of holding 
them on time, would encourage Sunni candidates to stay the 
course and could mitigate any threat of a Sunni voter 
boycott.  He praised the Jordanian advance work on the draft 
statement, and said there were no real controversies in the 
sessions. 
 
3.  (C) The one point of contention came from Syrian Foreign 
Minister Shara, who wanted the stock phrase about transition 
to "a united, democratic, pluralistic, federal state" 
removed.  No other participant, not even Turkey, joined the 
Syrians.  Zebari accepted a meaningless substitute of 
"federal structure" instead of "state." 
 
4.  (C) Zebari said he used the conference to stress the need 
for Syrian and Iranian help in stopping the flow of 
insurgents and weapons into Iraq.  He said the Syrians said 
they wanted to cooperate.  They claimed to have checked on 
information provided to them on the whereabouts of FREs, but 
had come up empty handed.  Zebari said he dismissed this 
response as not credible and encouraged the Syrians to be 
more aggressive. 
 
5.  (C) Before the press event began, Zebari said he had a 
word with Jordanian FM al-Mulki to tone down the Jordanians, 
recent emphasis on the Arab nature of Iraq.  While this was 
an effort to reverse some of the impact of the King's 
sectarian "Shia crescent" language, Zebari said it amounted 
to the same message about a Shia menace encoded in language 
used by Saddam.  Kurds and Shia alike resented it.  He 
claimed Mulki took the point and this shift was reflected in 
the press discourse.  Zebari was bemused by the readiness of 
the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister )who was amiable 
throughout ) to emphasize as well Iraq's Arab quality. 
Overall, Zebari assessed Jordan,s role vis--vis Iraq as 
positive, although he found Amman,s concerns about the 
political process and sectarian divides to be dated and 
unsubtle ) and said he told the Jordanians so.  They are not 
aware of the significance of cross-sectarian alliance 
building underway, Zebari said, or of the Shia leadership,s 
own recognition of the need to engage the Sunni community. 
 
6. (C) Following encouragement from Baghdad, Zebari said he 
planned to attend the ambassador-level Sharm follow-up 
session in Cairo on January 11.  He said he intends to obtain 
a similar expression of constructive support for the election 
timetable and full participation in it (State 5042 was not 
available prior to the meeting).  As for future neighbors 
events, Zebari said he looked forward to the next, 
unscheduled one in Istanbul.  However, once a sovereign Iraqi 
government was in place, Zebari expected the neighbors events 
to cease ) no one likes having your neighbors tell you how 
to run your life, he said. 
 
HALE