US embassy cable - 05AMMAN1308

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 001308 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/16/2010 
TAGS: PREL, JO 
SUBJECT: JORDAN'S 1559 CONFERENCE IDEA DIES 
 
REF: A. AMMAN 1274 
 
     B. STATE 27178 
 
Classified By: Charge David Hale, Reasons 1.4 (B) & (D) 
 
1.  (C) Foreign Minister al-Mulki informed Charge late on 
February 16 that the Syrian government had rejected the 
Jordanian proposal for an Arab League ministerial in Damascus 
on February 18.  Foreign Minister Shara told him over the 
phone, he said, that if the aim of the meeting is to support 
Syria, the SARG was agreeable.  Mulki said he replied that 
the purpose was not to support Syria; the purpose was to give 
Syria a face-saving way to accept UNSCR 1559 at the behest of 
the Arab League members.  Shara rejected the idea. 
 
2.  (C) As related by Mulki, the two ministers than had an 
acrimonious exchange, with Mulki insisting that Syria had to 
implement 1559 for its own best interests, and Shara offering 
various retorts, from the alleged "unimplementablity" of the 
resolution to the fact that the Lebanese government has never 
asked Syria to do so.  At one stage, Shara asked Mulki on 
whose behalf he was acting; Mulki said he was speaking for 
Jordan and with Syrian best interests at heart to avoid a 
dangerous confrontation between the U.S. and Syria. 
 
3.  (C) Mulki has been coordinating with Arab League SecGen 
Amre Moussa.  Moussa reportedly told him that Saudi Foreign 
Minister Saud al-Feisal was also cool to the idea of a 
conference as envisioned by Mulki; he said we needed to await 
the results of the investigation of Hariri's killing. 
 
4.  (C) Comment:  This was characteristic Mulki: 
well-intentioned, supportive of the U.S., aggressive and 
direct, but with ideas too uncoordinated and crude for 
successful execution. 
HALE