US embassy cable - 03KUWAIT3619

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 003619 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/NGA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/06/2013 
TAGS: PREL, KU, IZ 
SUBJECT: (U) KUWAITI SHI'IS DESCRIBE TRIP TO NAJAF AND 
KARBALA, OFFER ADVICE 
 
 
Classified By: ADCM John G. Moran for reasons 1.5 (d) 
 
1. (C) Summary:  A group of prominent Kuwaiti Shia 
businessmen recently briefed the Ambassador on their visit to 
the Shia spiritual centers of Najaf and Karbala.  The group 
met with Shia leaders who shared their concerns that the 
security situation in the holy cities had still not been 
properly addressed.  The Shia leaders, who included Grand 
Ayatollah Ali Sistani and Mohammed Bahr Al-Oloum, also gave 
the Kuwaitis advice to pass on to the USG on how to stabilize 
the situation in Iraq.  End Summary. 
 
2. (C) The Ambassador met with prominent Kuwaiti businessmen 
Jawad Bukhamseen and Abdul Ilah Marafie on July 18. Also 
present were two of Bukhamseen's sons, Anwar and Raed, and 
Poloff (notetaker).  Bukhamseen and Marafie had recently 
returned from a trip which took them into the Shia holy 
cities of Najaf and Karbala.  There, they met with Shia 
clerics Mohammed Bahr Al-Oloum, Mohammed Baquer Al-Hakim, 
Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Sayed Mohmammed Saeed Al-Hakim 
and Shaikh Ishaq Al-Fadhli and discussed with them the 
current situation in Iraq. 
 
Increasing Security 
 
3. (C) Bukhamseen said all of the clerics expressed their 
gratitude to the coalition for its liberation of Iraq, but 
were deeply troubled that the security situation had not 
markedly improved since the officially declared end of major 
combat operations.  For example, despite issuing fatwahs 
calling on his followers not to commit acts of violence 
against coalition forces and reminding them that they "are 
not allowed to take revenge," i.e fatwahs aimed at 
maintaining stability, Grand Ayatollah Sistani has found the 
security situation so threatening that he has stopped 
attending Friday prayers. Bukhamseen said the clerics 
proposed that the provision by the coalition of forces 
specifically charged with guarding religious shrines and the 
lives of religious leaders would do much to restore stability 
to the region. 
 
Remove all Ba'athis 
 
4. (C) In addition, the clerics were concerned that coalition 
forces were installing and/or empowering local officials who 
were at best, not accountable to the people, or at worst 
Ba'athi officials from the old Saddam regime.  The clerics 
urged coalition forces to conduct thorough background checks 
on all officials being installed and to increase the security 
of the holy cities. 
 
Countering Satellite Stations 
 
5. (C) Bukhamseen said Bahr Al-Oloum was distraught at the 
seeming inability of the coalition to counter Arab satellite 
channels, although the cleric understands that much has been 
asked of the coalition in a very short period of time.  Bahr 
Al-Oloum told the visitors he and his colleagues constantly 
try to reinforce to their followers that the stations are 
working against their interests as Iraqis, but they are 
fighting an uphill battle.  Bukhamseen suggested to the 
Ambassador that the USG should offer key Iraqi journalists 
the opportunity to visit the U.S.  This, he said, might be an 
effective way to garner their goodwill, as well as educate 
them. 
 
Encouraging the return of the Diaspora 
 
6. (C) Both Bukhamseen and Marafie made suggestions about 
what the USG and the CPA could do to further their goals in 
Iraq.  For example, they said, the goal of growing the 
economy and encouraging investment in Iraq would be made much 
easier if exiled Iraqis were given preferential tax treatment 
to return and invest in the country.  In addition to helping 
grow the economy, this would bring back many Iraqis who have 
been exposed to Western ideas about justice and democracy, 
which they said, are bound to rub off. 
 
Addressing Psychological Trauma 
 
7. (C) Marafie said it was also important for the CPA to 
begin addressing the psychological trauma of the Iraqi people 
by building memorials to those who had fallen during the 
Saddam Hussein era.  The Ambassador agreed this was a good 
idea, and suggested that local exhibits featuring names 
and/or photos of dead and/or missing loved ones would be a 
good way to go about this task. 
 
Building economic ties through trade shows 
 
8. (C) Bukhamseen, who already has plans to build two hotels 
in Najaf and Karbala as well as a re-bar factory and a 
bottling plant in Basra, and has already started distributing 
boxed juices in Iraq (via his company, ABC), said that the 
security sitaution in Iraq was prohibiting even small-scale 
trade and barter.  He proposed that a secure exhibition space 
be developed near Baghdad, where local Iraqi companies could 
come to do business with Kuwaiti and American firms. 
Bukhamseen said he would periodically organize armed convoys 
to protect shipments of goods to the exhibition area. 
Bukhamseen said the exhibition areas would serve the dual 
purposes of supplying the existing huge demand in Iraq, and 
allowing companies a foothold in the Iraqi market. 
 
Comment 
 
9. (C) Both Marafie and Bukhamseen are very successful 
Kuwaiti Shia businessmen with strong historical ties to the 
Shia community of southern Iraq.  Marafie's grandfather 
gilded the dome of the Imam Ali mosque, and built many other 
mosques in Southern Iraq.  They are clearly well connected 
and not afraid to take risks in Iraq for their own benefit 
and to create employment for Iraqis.  They are exactly the 
kind of entrepreneurs we should encourage to enter the Iraqi 
market -- preferably with U.S. partners. 
 
10. (U) Baghdad minimize considered. 
JONES