US embassy cable - 03COLOMBO623

S E C R E T COLOMBO 000623 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, S/CT, NEA, NEA/NGA, 
DS/DSS/ITA; NSC FOR E. MILLARD 
 
NEW DELHI FOR POL/REGIONAL AFFAIRS 
 
LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL 
 
E.O. 12958:  DECL: 04-10-13 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PINS, PTER, ASEC, CE, IZ, External Relations 
SUBJECT:  Iraqi Charge phones Ambassador, saying he is 
calling from embassy of "liberated Iraq"; Asks to meet 
 
(U) Classified by Ambassador E. Ashley Wills. 
Reasons 1.5 (B,D). 
 
1.  (U) This message contains an Action Request.  Please 
see Para 3. 
 
2.  (S/NF) The Ambassador received a phone call from 
Iraqi Charge Wajdi Mardan Abbas this morning (April 10). 
Abbas said he was calling from the "embassy of liberated 
Iraq" and wanted to express his deep appreciation to the 
U.S. for its role in Iraq.  In doing this, he kept 
repeating "thank you, thank you, thank you."  Abbas 
added that he wanted to come and meet the Ambassador as 
soon as possible in order to discuss a "letter" sent by 
a "friend" to the U.S. embassy.  Abbas did not go into 
the matter further.  The Ambassador was non-committal in 
his response. 
 
3.  (S/NF) ACTION REQUEST:  Mission has no information 
about the letter mentioned by Abbas.  From what we 
understand, Abbas is an Iraqi intelligence operative. 
Clearly, he is in bail out mode given the recent events 
in Baghdad.  GSL contacts have also told us that he may 
have recently requested political asylum in Sri Lanka, 
but this is not confirmed.  We also recently heard that 
he had let his household staff go.  We would appreciate 
it if Washington could get back to us ASAP with 
instructions on how to handle Abbas and his request to 
meet.  END ACTION REQUEST. 
 
4.  (U) Minimize considered. 
 
WILLS