US embassy cable - 02AMMAN6699

S E C R E T AMMAN 006699 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/14/2012 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, IZ, SY, JO 
SUBJECT: MUASHER ON CAIRO AL MINISTERIAL:  SHARA, IRAQ AND 
THE QUARTET ROADMAP 
 
Classified By: Amb. Edward W. Gnehm for reasons 1.5 (B) and (D) 
 
1.  (C)  NEA DAS David Satterfield called on Foreign Minister 
Marwan Muasher November 13.  Ambassador, PolCouns, Muasher's 
personal aide Ali al-Ayed, and private office staffer Ashraf 
Zeitoun also attended. 
 
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ARAB LEAGUE PRESSES IRAQ TO ACCEPT 1441 
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2.  (S)  Muasher said that the Cairo Arab League ministerial 
meeting had dealt mostly with Iraq.  Most delegations had 
urged Iraqi FonMin Sabri to announce official Iraqi 
acceptance of UNSCR 1441 at the meeting, but Sabri said he 
had no specific guidance from Baghdad.  His only substantive 
comment on 1441 was that "Iraq has always accepted the return 
of inspectors -- the rest of the resolution is technical 
detail that we are studying."  Muasher said Saudi FonMin 
Prince Saud pressed hard for quick Iraqi acceptance of 1441, 
arguing that if Iraq did so, the AL could "lend support and 
make Iraq's case." 
 
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SHARA ON SYRIA'S UNSC VOTE ON IRAQ 
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3.  (S)  Muasher commented that Syrian FonMin Shara gave a 
long intervention explaining Syria's UNSC vote for 1441. 
Shara said Syria had worked within the tight "margins of 
movement" set by UNSC members, and had tried to improve the 
resolution as much as possible.  Shara claimed that Syria had 
gotten assurances from (unnamed) permanent UNSC members that 
this resolution would not be used as a pretext to launch 
military action against Iraq.  Syria voted for the resolution 
because it needed to remain within the international 
consensus on Iraq.  Shara, Muasher said, concluded by asking 
Iraq to comply with 1441. 
 
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SYRIA ON 1441 EQUATES TO JORDAN ON ROADMAP? 
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4.  (S)  Muasher commented "We are always under pressure from 
Syria for giving in to less than perfect initiatives."  He 
said that, following Shara's statement, he spoke and compared 
Syria's efforts in the UNSC to improve UNSCR 1441 with 
Jordan's efforts with the Quartet to improve the MEPP 
Roadmap.  Muasher said he argued that the Roadmap will not be 
perfect from an Arab point of view, but Jordan, like Syria in 
the UNSC, must work within externally imposed boundaries.  In 
the end, however, Jordan had had "the time to coordinate with 
our Arab brothers that Syria did not have." 
 
5.  (S)  This comment, an obviously amused Muasher said, made 
Shara "climb right up the wall."  Shara responded that there, 
in reality, was no such thing as a road map -- he had asked 
A/S Burns to see a copy when he last traveled to Damascus and 
had gotten no response.  Muasher said he shot back that the 
Roadmap, once publicly announced and endorsed by the Quartet, 
would be the considered opinion of the international 
community on the Peace Process and Syria would have to accept 
it.  "Don't pretend it doesn't exist," Muasher said he 
argued, "Try to improve it."  Muasher ended by observing that 
the Ba'ath party in general -- and the Syrian Ba'ath in 
particular -- fostered a mentality that was very hard to 
reconcile with reality. 
 
6.  (U)  Amb. Satterfield has cleared this message. 
GNEHM