US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD2364

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002364 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/01/2025 
TAGS: PGOV, KDEM, IZ, Sunni Arab 
SUBJECT: CODELS BIDEN AND WELDON DISCUSS CONSTITUTION 
PROGRESS WITH IRAQI CONSTITUTIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN 
 
 
Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Henry Ensher. 
Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) 
 
1.  (C/NF) Summary.  Transitional National Assembly 
(TNA) Constitutional Committee chairman Shaykh Humam 
al-Hammudi apprised CODELS Biden and Weldon of the 
status of the constitutional process May 30.  Al- 
Hammudi said the committee expected to make a decision 
on how to include Sunnis at its June 2 meeting, either 
by allowing various Sunni groups to choose 
"influential" Sunnis or to hold political caucuses in 
under-represented governorates.  A 7-person committee 
led by Constitutional Committee deputy-chair Adnan al- 
Janabi is reaching out to the Sunnis and consolidating 
views.  Al-Hammudi also noted that dividing the 
committee into thematic sub-committees would help them 
meet the August 15 deadline, as would using the TAL as 
a starting point.  End Summary. 
 
2.  (C/NF) CODELS Biden and Weldon on May 30 met with 
the TNA Constitutional Committee chairman and Supreme 
Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) 
deputy Shaykh Humam al-Hammudi to discuss progress on 
Sunni inclusion and the constitution.  This was al- 
Hammudi's first meeting with a congressional 
delegation. 
 
3.  (C/NF) Al-Hammudi stressed the principles that 
would guide Iraqis in drafting their constitution - 
democracy, pluralism, and federalism.  He added that 
Iraq would operate according to the rule of law and 
would consider Islam the state religion, while 
providing freedom for other religions, and would 
respect the role of women.  The constitution committee 
would face the arduous task of putting these 
principles into details, but Hammudi thanked the UN 
and other organizations for providing information that 
would assist the process. 
 
4.  (C/NF) Regarding Sunni inclusion in the 
constitutional process, Al-Hammudi noted that the 
constitutional committee was looking at two different 
ways in which to add Sunnis to the committee.  The 
first is to add 13-15 "influential" Sunnis to the 
already existing 55 members.  The second would be to 
hold partial elections for 13-15 representatives from 
the various under-represented governorates.  While al- 
Hammudi acknowledged the second approach is more 
democratic, he feared it would require too much time. 
Al-Hammudi assured the CODEL that the committee would 
accept whomever the Sunnis choose in either approach 
and described a 7-person committee of constitutional 
committee members, led by deputy chairman Adnan al- 
Janabi who is taking the lead on reaching out to 
Sunnis to see how the Sunnis want to choose their 
representatives. Al-Hmmudi also noted the 
constitutional committee would make a final decision 
on which approach to take on June 2. 
 
5.  (C/NF) In response to Senator Biden's question of 
whether Sunnis would be accorded "voting rights" on 
the committee, Al-Hammudi indicated the committee's 
decisions would be conducted on the basis of 
"tawafaq".  (Note:  Al-Hammudi preferred to translate 
this word as "middle ground" rather than "consensus" 
or "agreement".  End Note.)  Al-Hammudi also noted 
that unofficial Sunni representatives will be 
participating in the process while they are choosing 
the official Sunni members.  Senator Biden expressed 
that the Shia were expressing the marks of "true 
statesmen" in reaching out to Sunnis, especially as 
they were the ones to risk their lives by voting in 
the elections.  Al-Hammudi responded that Iraq is not 
like Pakistan, in which there are genuine divisions 
and problems between Sunni and Shia. 
 
6.  (C/NF) Rep. Mark Green asked al-Hammudi whether he 
thought Arabic would be the only recognized language 
in the new constitution.  Al-Hammudi responded that 
Arabic had been considered the only official language 
in the past; however, TAL recognized both Arabic and 
Kurdish as Iraq's official languages.  Al-Hammudi 
noted that it remains to be seen what the committee 
and TNA will choose on this topic. 
 
7.  (C/NF) On Rep. Green's question of the status of 
Ba'thists' ability to participate in government, 
Hammudi said only criminals and high-level Ba'thists 
would be prevented from serving in government, 
according to the de-Ba'thification policy. 
 
8.  (C/NF) Members of the CODEL asked about progress 
towards achieving the August 15 deadline.  Al-Hammudi 
responded that the constitutional committee will be 
divided into sub-committees to enable them to tackle 
various constitutional topics expeditiously.  In 
addition, al-Hammudi hoped the committee would use the 
TAL, an already established common reference point as 
the starting point for the constitution, which would 
also speed up the process. 
 
9.  (U) REO HILLA, REO BASRA, REO MOSUL, and REO KIRKUK 
minimize considered. 
Jeffrey