VZCZCXRO1922
OO RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHMK #0449 1901404
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 081404Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY MANAMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7977
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0115
RHBVAKS/COMUSNAVCENT  PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY

UNCLAS MANAMA 000449 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
BAGHDAD FOR TUELLER AND ERELI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINR IZ BA
SUBJECT: BAHRAIN NOMINATES AMBASSADOR TO BAGHDAD 
 
 ¶1.  (SBU) Ambassador Saeed Al-Faihani, an advisor to Bahrain's Foreign Minister, confirmed to Charge an al Jazeera report that Bahrain had nominated an ambassador to Iraq. Faihani said the GOB requested Iraq's agrement July 7 for Salah Ali Al-Maliki. Faihani said al-Maliki works in the ministry's international organizations department, and recently returned from a two-year tour in New York.

¶2. (SBU) A former MFA colleague of Maliki's described him to poloff as a Sunni, in his mid-thirties, and married to a Qatari woman who lives in Qatar with their two children.

¶3. (SBU) In recent weeks, the MFA has offered the job to at least three others, who declined. One was Saeed Al-Majed, foreign affairs director for the opposition (Shi'a) Wifaq party. Bahrain's last chief of mission in Baghdad, CDA Hassan Malallah Al-Ansari, was withdrawn after being injured in a July, 2005 attack. ********************************************* ******** Visit Embassy Manama's Classified Website: XXXXXXXXXXXX********************************************* ******** HENZEL