US embassy cable - 05STATE149626

S E C R E T STATE 149626 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/08/15 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, PREL, UK, JO, GCCC 
SUBJECT: STAUNCHING THE FLOW OF SAUDI SUICIDE BOMBERS TO 
IRAQ 
 
REFS: A) STATE 136754 B) RIYADH 5328 
 
CLASSIFIED BY NEA DAS GORDON GRAY FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D). 
 
 
1. (U) This is an action request. See paragraphs 3-10. 
 
SUMMARY 
 
 
2. (S) The Saudis have been aggressive in their public 
condemnation of the 7/7 London bombings, the murder of the 
Egyptian diplomat in Baghdad, and the Sharm al-Shaykh 
attacks.   We should urge the Saudis to sustain the public 
campaign discrediting Iraqi insurgents and denouncing 
extremism.  The Department requests Posts approach host 
government officials at an appropriate level to provide 
the following points. END SUMMARY. 
 
 --------------------------------------------- --- 
PUBLIC DELEGITIMATION CAMPAIGN AND TRAVEL TO IRAQ 
 --------------------------------------------- --- 
 
3. Begin Points. For Embassy Riyadh: 
 
 
Intro: 
 
-- Iraq is the President's highest priority. We appreciate 
the help you have offered to date. But we are at a 
critical moment. It is imperative that all of us, in 
particular our Arab friends, ratchet up our efforts. 
 
-- The President is convinced that one of the best tools 
we have to defeat Iranian influence and encourage Sunni 
Arab participation is a maximum effort by the Sunni Arab 
states to engage the Iraqi government. 
 
-- We know the situation is dangerous. But Americans and 
Iraqis have been dying in large numbers to secure a 
democratic future for Iraq. We do not believe it is asking 
too much for our best Arab allies to take some risks as 
well in their service of a mission that will benefit us 
all. 
 
(S-Rel KSA) Encourage the following: 
 
--   Suggest   Saudi  religious   authorities    continue  to 
highlight that suicide and suicide bombings       as seen in 
Iraq are impermissible in Islam. 
 
--   Include  the   concept   of   family   shame   over  the 
terrorist/extremist activities of relatives. 
 
-- Pass a law that relatives and friends who had any 
knowledge of a prospective suicide bomber's activities or 
 
who did anything to facilitate their activities (including 
travel to Iraq) could face criminal liability. 
 
-- Focus on need for Saudis to protect the reputation of 
Islam as a religion of peace, their personal honor, and to 
prevent their sons being led into error. 
 
-- Encourage Saudis to issue public advisories that any 
Saudi nationals traveling to Iraq without proper legal 
status could be jailed for life once there, noting that 
Iraqi courts have already handed down such sentences to 
some Saudis who entered illegally. 
 
 (S-Rel KSA) Restrict Saudi-Iraq Travel. Urge the Saudis 
to do the following to restrict travel to Iraq: 
 
-- Announce and publicize that Saudi nationals are 
permitted entry into Iraq only via the official Saudi- 
Iraqi border posts. 
 
-- Request regional assistance (chiefly from Syria and 
Yemen) to enforce the restriction. 
 
-- Publicize stiff penalties under Iraqi law for those 
Saudis traveling to Iraq via other countries; Urge passage 
of Saudi law, if necessary, to punish such movement 
severely. 
 
-- As an interim measure, support Saudi efforts to have 
Syria impose a visa requirement on Saudi citizens 
traveling to Iraq through Syria. 
 
-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
SAUDI RECOGNITION OF THE IRAQI GOVERNMENT 
--    - - - -  - - -  - - -  - - - - -  - 
 
 
4. For Embassy Riyadh: 
 
(S) Urge the Saudis, in cooperation with the ITG, to do 
the following: 
 
-- Extend an immediate invitation to Iraqi PM Ja'afari to 
visit Riyadh to discuss common concerns and interests. 
Important that SAG work with the democratically elected 
government of Iraq. 
 
-- Notwithstanding the campaign by al-Qa'ida in Iraq to 
target diplomatic officials, appoint and send to Baghdad 
an ambassador to Iraq immediately and to make clear, 
official statements in support of the democratically 
elected ITG. Should it be impossible to dispatch an 
ambassador to Iraq in the near-term, proceed nevertheless 
with the symbolic action of naming a senior official as 
Saudi Ambassador. 
 
 
-- Urge Saudis to reduce Iraqi debt beyond the Paris Club 
agreements citing the desperate need for additional Iraqi 
economic development and reconstruction. 
 
------------------------ 
 
OUTREACH TO IRAQ'S SUNNIS 
------------------------ 
 
5. For Embassy Riyadh and Embassy Baghdad: 
 
(S) Encourage the following: 
 
-- Saudis reaching out to all Iraqis, especially in the 
Sunni community, urging them to renounce violence 
unambiguously and participate peacefully in the political 
process. At the same time, very important to engage with 
the ITG and begin building relationships for the long- 
term. 
--------------------- 
AL SAUD VISIT TO BAGHDAD 
 
6. For Embassy Riyadh: 
 
(S) A senior Al Saud figure (e.g., King Abdullah, Crown 
Prince Sultan, Foreign Minister Saud al-Faysal or 
Assistant Minister of Interior Muhammad bin Nayif) should 
be encouraged to travel to Baghdad in the near term to 
denounce the insurgency and to pledge Saudi support for 
the new Iraqi Government and its fight against terrorists. 
This visit and pledge should include a Saudi-led and 
funded capacity-building initiative to improve the 
capabilities of the Iraqi CT services. Such a visit might 
also coincide with the naming of a Saudi ambassador to 
Baghdad. 
 
 ------------------------------ 
JOINT BORDER POSTS AND TRAINING 
  ------------------------------ 
 
7. For Embassy Riyadh and Embassy Baghdad: 
 
 (S) With CENTCOM assistance as appropriate, encourage 
joint border initiatives between Saudi Arabia and Iraq. 
These efforts would have the added benefit of 
demonstrating to the King that we take his concerns, 
voiced repeatedly to US officials, over Iraqi insurgents 
coming into the Kingdom seriously: 
 
-- Cultivate trust among and increase effectiveness of 
Iraqi and Saudi border control services by encouraging 
joint training, the use of common databases, documentation 
standards, and procedures, and possibly even jointly 
manned border checkpoints. 
 
-- Establish regular intelligence exchanges between the 
two border services as well as the exchange of 
immigration/customs personnel. 
 
-- Provide necessary training, equipment or other 
assistance to bolster Iraqi/Saudi border control efforts. 
 
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GCC INITIATIVES 
-------------- 
 
8. For GCC Embassies: 
 
(S) Urge GCC governments to announce that they will 
establish a fund to assist Iraqis wounded by suicide 
bombings-focusing on women, children, and Iraqi police-for 
medical treatment and recovery; include extensive media 
coverage with interviews of victims giving their personal 
stories and GCC leaders visiting them in their hospital 
beds. In addition, encourage GCC governments to establish 
a fund for the families of Iraqi security personnel killed 
in action. 
 
(S) The State Department will push the OIC Conference (to 
be held in Jeddah in December 2005) agenda to examine ways 
to discourage the suicide attack phenomenon in Iraq and to 
issue a clear denunciation of the practice. 
 
9. For Embassy Amman, Embassy Riyadh, and Embassy Baghdad: 
 
(S) Use the momentum of the recent meeting convened by 
Jordan's King Abdullah which brought together more than 
170 clerics and religious leaders to highlight their 
desire to promote the "true image of Islam." The 
declaration limits the issuance of religious edicts and 
calls for the global Muslim community to unify against 
threats to its integrity. 
 
MULTILATERAL OPPORTUNITIES 
 
 
10. For Embassy London, Embassy Riyadh, Embassy Amman, and 
Embassy Baghdad: 
 
(S) With CENTCOM assistance as appropriate, develop a 
joint approach among the U.S., UK, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and 
Jordan to press the Syrian Government to shut down the 
pipelines used by jihadists and suicide bombers to enter 
Iraq. 
 
End points. 
 
 
RICE