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Viewing cable 08HILLAH62, BABIL POLITICAL PARTIES LOBBYING TRIBAL COUNCILS

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08HILLAH62 2008-06-03 16:03 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED REO Hillah
VZCZCXRO0134
PP RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHKUK
DE RUEHIHL #0062 1551603
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 031603Z JUN 08
FM REO HILLAH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1095
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHIHL/REO HILLAH 1161
UNCLAS HILLAH 000062 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINR IZ IR
SUBJECT: BABIL POLITICAL PARTIES LOBBYING TRIBAL COUNCILS 
 
1. (U) This is a PRT Babil cable. 
 
2. (U) SUMMARY:  With mosques and religious entities all but out 
of play in the upcoming provincial election campaign, several of 
Babil's competing political parties are courting local tribal 
councils.  Senior representatives from the Islamic Supreme 
Council of Iraq (ISCI) and Sayyid Rassul's (SR) independent 
Shia-based political entity are pursuing alternatives to 
promoting their slates through religious leaders and are 
actively courting Babil's tribal councils.  END SUMMARY. 
 
3. (U) Anticipating that the pending provincial election law 
will ultimately quash the ability of parties to campaign by way 
of mosques, specifically Friday afternoon sermons, two of 
Babil's established political entities are wooing the province's 
tribal councils for campaign support and influence.  ISCI and 
SR, which are competitors, are pursuing parallel paths. 
 
4. (SBU) According to Communist Political Council (PC) member 
Qusay Nadi ali Hummadi, Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim appointed Sayyid 
Shihab al-Yassiri to serve as the ISCI regional coordinator.  IN 
this role, Sayyid Shihab not only represents the al-Hakims in 
Babil, he is also charged with composing all of the province's 
ISCI slates for the upcoming elections.  [Note:  PRT Staff has 
learned that ISCI may run as many as seven slates comprised of 
ISCI members and "independents."  In order to qualify for the 
lists, everyone must verify their religious piety and 
affiliation with ISCI, including the so-called "independents." 
End note.]  Sayyid Shihab in turn designated Abddullah 
al-Zubaidi, a Babil teacher, to form the province's main ISCI 
slate, while Shihab focuses on garnering support from the 
community, according to Qusay. 
 
5. (SBU) Babil PC member Ahmad Hashim al-Amidi told PRT staff 
that SR has his own provincial party coordinator, Hussayn 
Rashid.  [Note:  Ahmad al-Amidi is a current PC member, the 
former PC Chairman and a former SR party member.  In 2005 SR's 
party secured seven PC seats, including Ahmad's.  Sistani 
removed Sayyid Rassul as his personal representative in Babil 
several months after the 2005 elections, reportedly because 
Rassul was using his political party for personal gain.  End 
note.]  Hussayn Rashid is not well known in the province, but he 
is the brother of Khazal Rashid, the former SR-slate PC member 
who organized a sit-in protest at the PC in late 2007 in an 
effort to unseat five members who did not meet minimal 
educational requirements for membership on the council, 
including Babil Governor Salam Salih Mahdi al-Muslimawi.  Unlike 
Sayyid Shihab, Hussayn focuses primarily on the tribal councils 
in the southern part of Babil from the City of Hillah south to 
Kifl and as far east as Hashimiyah. 
 
6. (U) According to both PC members, the two parties' 
coordinators have the same modus operandi.  They attend 
gatherings at the tribe's respective receiving halls [al-Mudif], 
where they offer moral support to the tribesmen in addition to 
distributing gifts, money, and cars on behalf of their 
respective parties.  Sayyid Shihab is even known to involve 
himself in inter and intra-tribal disputes.  He attends the 
tribal hearings and upon the judges' decrees steps in and 
assumes the fine on behalf of the defendant, noting that he is 
paying the fine on behalf of the defendant as a gesture from the 
al-Hakim family.  A Hillah contractor recently told PRT staff 
that he was involved in a physical altercation which was settled 
at a tribal council on June 1.  Before he could pay the 
judgment, Sayyid Shihab, unknown to the contractor at the time, 
stood up and said, "I'm talking on behalf of Abd al-Aziz 
al-Hakim, and I'm here to pay any fines associated with this 
claim." 
 
HILLAS