US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD2413

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002413 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, KDEM, PREL, KISL, IZ, Sunni Arab, National Assembly 
SUBJECT: JANABI PREDICTS IMMINENT PROGRESS ON SUNNI ARAB 
INCLUSION IN CONSTITUTION PROCESS 
 
Classified By: Classified by David M. Satterfield, Charge d'Affaires, f 
 
or reasons 1.4. (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) Summary: Adnan Janabi, deputy chairman of the 
Constitution Committee and the leader of its effort to bring 
in Sunni Arabs, told Charge on June 6 that he expects to 
complete his assignment by the end of this week.  He is 
expanding the group of Sunni participants and has requested 
that it present its candidates in time for a Committee 
session on June 9.  Janabi said that the key sticking point 
is the number of Sunni Arabs to be added to the committee. 
The Kurds want to keep Sunni Arab representation below their 
own and some Sunni Arabs are pushing for as many as 40 
percent of the body.  Janabi said he is pushing for 15 
additional members.   He is looking for the USG to hang back 
so he can convince a suspicious Sunni Arab community that the 
constitution drafting process is going to be purely Iraqi. 
End summary. 
 
2. (C) Deputy Constitution Committee Chairman Adnan Janabi 
briefed the Charge June 6 on the status of efforts to expand 
Sunni Arab representation in the drafting process.  Charge 
expressed full USG support for his efforts to expand 
political participation in the process.  He reviewed the 
following key areas: 
 
-- AN EVOLVING SUNNI ARAB CONFERENCE: Janabi said that the 
Sunni Arab outreach meeting last June 2 successfully brought 
together some fifty leaders from all walks of the Sunni Arab 
community.  The meeting effectively "re-established contact 
lines" with many disaffected Sunni Arabs, Janabi said.  He is 
now working to expand attendance for the June 9 meeting by 
bringing in more representatives from civil society and 
professional syndicates, particularly the Iraqi Lawyers' 
Union, which is headed by a Sunni Arab from Mosul.  Janabi 
said other Sunni Arab groups have also since asked to be 
included and he has agreed to add them all. 
 
-- CHOOSING THE REPRESENTATIVES: Janabi said that Sunni Arabs 
from the conference he held would meet June 7 to come up with 
a list of at least half their candidates for positions on the 
constitution committee.  Janabi said he is pressing his 
colleagues on the committee itself to accept any names that 
come forward.  He said that some members have expressed 
reservations about allowing the appointment of "bloody 
Saddamist criminials."  Janabi said he has argued that the 
only legitimate restriction that can be put on Sunni Arab 
participants is that they comply with the TAL criteria, which 
forbid any high-ranking Ba'athist or criminal from serving on 
the TNA. 
 
-- STATUS OF THE ADDED MEMBERS: Janabi said he believes the 
TNA will agree to pass a special motion welcoming additional 
Sunni Arabs to drafting process as equal members.  The motion 
will stop short of legally inducting them to the TNA, but it 
will give them the "cover of legitimacy" that some have 
requested, he said.  More importantly, Janabi said, the 
committee will operate on the basis of consensus rather than 
majority rule. 
 
-- NUMBER OF ADDED MEMBERS: Janabi said that he supports 
adding 15 Sunni Arabs to the committee, which would bring the 
total number of Sunni Arabs to 17.  Janabi acknowledged that 
he is going to face obstacles from Sunni Arabs and Kurds in 
particular in pushing this number.  Some Sunni Arabs are 
pushing for 42 percent membership in the committee, a 
percentage matching that of the Iraqis who did not 
participate in the January elections.  Janabi said that some 
Sunni Arabs are using this specious methodology to calculate 
the number of Sunni Arabs in the country.  They will need to 
be convinced to back down, he said.   Kurds on the other hand 
will need to be convinced to raise the bar.  They are 
apparently pushing for adding only 12 Sunni Arabs to the 
committee, he said.  This would bring the total number of 
Sunni Arabs to 14, one less than the number of Kurdish 
representatives.  Janabi said that this number had already 
leaked, and he would not defend it.  Janabi said that he had 
met with President Talabani on June 6 and enlisted his 
support in convincing the Kurds to raise their threshold.  In 
any event, he said, the number of additions is really 
irrelevant as long as the committee agrees to operate by 
consensus. 
 
-- THE PROS AND CONS OF OUTSIDE SUPPORT: Janabi said that the 
best help the USG can offer the constitution-drafting process 
is to remain distant enough from it that it is seen to be 
purely Iraqi.  He also said he thought international 
financial and technical support to the drafters would be best 
offered via the United Nations. 
 
-- COMMITTEE'S PUBLICITY PLAN: Janabi said the committee will 
aim to publicize its work through supplements in newspapers 
and televised debates.  The effort will be to do such 
publicity in a way that it informs the public without 
dividing it, he said.  "It will be on our terms," he said. 
"We don't want to split the society.  It is very important 
that Iraqis see at as being inclusive and moving forward." 
 
-- MEETING AUGUST 15 DEADLINES:  Janabi confirmed that the 
Constitution Committee has already agreed on a set of core 
principles and will be ready to get down to drafting 
immediately upon resolution of the Sunni Arab inclusion 
issue.  Janabi said he is confident that the committee can 
meet its August 15 deadline and predicted that contentious 
issues like Kirkuk will be kept out of the constitution 
process and pursued through the executive branch and the 
Article 58 committee. 
 
-- OTHER THREATS TO SUNNI INCLUSION: Janabi used the occasion 
of the meeting to remind the Charge that Sunni Arab outreach 
is most threatened by a De-Ba'athification process that has 
been used to purge Sunnis rather than criminals from 
government jobs.  He also warned that triumphalist rhetoric 
from Shia Islamist groups about their victory in the January 
elections only inspires fear in the hearts of Sunni Arab 
citizens. 
 
3. (C) COMMENT: Charge plans to meet PUK leader and Deputy 
Constitution Committee Chairman Fu'ad Ma'asum to encourage 
him to be flexible on the number of Sunni Arabs allowed into 
the committee.  We will sit down with the Shia leadership 
after Janabi convenes his June 9 meeting to review the 
results and press for progress.  Janabi was optimistic, and 
he has grounds for hope after the strong turnout at his June 
2 session, but he may be overly optimistic about the prospect 
for results on June 9.  The Sunni Arabs were never able to 
come together on an accepted list of ministers for Jafari's 
government, so it is unlikely that they will achieve such 
harmony on their nominees for this committee.  Furthermore, 
other Sunni contacts are already grumbling to us that Janabi 
is biased toward the National Dialogue Council at the expense 
of other important Sunni Arab voices.  Harmony may be 
elusive, but Janabi is to our eyes making an honest effort to 
look beyond the constitution and use this process to make a 
major step forward on Sunni Arab inclusion in the entire 
political process.  For the time being we are giving Janabi 
some political space, while continuing our engagement with 
ITG leaders and those of other political groupings to move 
the Sunni inclusion and constitution drafting process 
forward.  END COMMENT. 
 
4. (U) REO HILLA, REO BASRA, REO MOSUL, and REO KIRKUK, 
minimize considered. 
Satterfield