US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD2436

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 002436 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2025 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KDEM, IZ, Kurdish Alliance, Parliament 
SUBJECT: TEXT OF PRESIDENT TALABANI'S NON-PAPER TO PM JAFARI 
 
REF: BAGHDAD 2427 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires James F. Jeffrey for reason 
1.4 (b) 
 
1. (C)  Below is the full text of President Talabani's 
non-paper to Prime Minister Jafari; referred to in REFTEL. 
 
2. (C) BEGIN TEXT: 
 
His Excellency the Prime Minister 
Dr. Ibrahim al-Jafari 
 
With Greetings and Respect, 
 
The Kurdish Alliance  - an equal partner in the Unified 
Coalition of Iraq - has noticed with much regret that in 
forming the Government in accordance with the Protocol of 
Agreement between the two sides, you have departed from some 
of the most important provisions of the agreement and 
violated some of the most important articles of the TAL. 
Your Excellency, it has been noticed that you are clearly 
acting unilaterally and avoiding the content and spirit of 
the agreement concluded between the Alliance and the 
Coalition as well as the TAL which should prevail until the 
completion of the permanent constitution. 
 
While we are summarizing to your Excellency our remarks, we 
look forward from now on to conformity with the facts in 
accordance with the Law and the provisions of the Agreement 
for the sake of continued brotherhood and cooperation between 
us in order not to be forced to use our rights in accordance 
with Article (2) of the Protocol of Agreement because we can 
not keep silent and accept the imposed status quo which is 
contrary to the Law and the Agreement. 
 
First: You have omitted from the oath performed by the 
Ministers a very important and a principal provision, which 
is "its Democratic and Unionist system." 
 
Second: Your speech did not mention Federalism and Kurdistan, 
the great martyrs, and the crimes of Anfal committed against 
the people of Iraqi Kurdistan while it included language and 
detailed phrases about simple matters. 
 
Third: Your long speech did not mention and condemn the 
policies of ethnic cleansing and the necessity of removing 
its impact as well as the implementation of Article 58 of the 
TAL. 
 
Fourth: You have announced important appointments without 
referring in advance to the Cabinet and the Presidency of the 
Republic and even without consulting with them.  You have 
appointed Mr. Laith Kubba as a Spokesman for the Transitional 
Government without the agreement of the more important party 
in the Coalitionan despite the fact that he (Mr. Kubba) is 
known for his chauvinistic and antagonistic position towards 
Federalism as well as his provocative statements in America 
against the rights of the Kurdish people which were confirmed 
by the TAL, despite Mr. Kubba's antagonistic position towards 
the political parties of the Iraqi opposition and his 
promotion of deceiving concepts with the Americans, which 
caused them to commit the mistakes we are still suffering 
from.  Also, the appointment of a member of the Da'wa party 
at the rank of a minister without the advance approval of the 
cabinet and the Presidency of the Republic. 
 
Fifth: You have created nine ministerial committees totally 
connected to your Excellency thus transforming the deputy 
prime ministers to ministers of state without work or 
functions despite your knowledge that Dr. Rowsch Nouri 
Shaways represents the second list in the National Assembly 
and the second nationality of the Iraqi people.  This is 
considered an aggression on the rights of the representatives 
of the Kurdish people and national consensus. 
 
Sixth: You have limited, without legal justification and any 
rights, the authorities of Dr. Barham Ahmed Salih who is the 
Minister of Planning and International Development and 
confiscated half of his rights instead of adding other rights 
as agreed with the Coalition on the day of the formation of 
the Government. 
 
Dear Respected Brother, 
 
We come now to your legal violations: 
 
First: You are ignoring the fact that the Prime Ministry is 
part of the Government.  Instead, you are acting as if you 
are the Government and you are limiting its authority to 
yourself alone, which is a clear violation of the provisions 
of Article 24 stipulating the following: 
 
Article 24: 
 
(A)   The Iraqi Transitional Government, which is also 
referred to in this Law as the federal government, shall 
consist of the National Assembly; the Presidency Council; the 
Council of Ministers, including the Prime Minister; and the 
judicial authority. 
(B)   The three authorities, legislative, executive, and 
judicial, shall be separate and independent of one another. 
 
(C)   No official or employee of the Iraqi Transitional 
Government shall enjoy immunity for criminal acts committed 
while in office. 
 
Article 25 stipulates the following: 
 
The Iraqi Transitional Government shall have exclusive 
competence in the following matters: 
 
(A)   Formulating foreign policy and diplomatic 
representation; negotiating, signing, and ratifying 
international treaties and agreements; formulating foreign 
economic and trade policy and sovereign debt policies; 
 
(B)   Formulating and executing national security policy, 
including creating and maintaining armed forces to secure, 
protect, and guarantee the security of the country's borders 
and to defend Iraq; 
 
(C)   Formulating fiscal policy, issuing currency, regulating 
customs, regulating commercial policy across regional and 
governorate boundaries in Iraq, drawing up the national 
budget of the State, formulating monetary policy, and 
establishing and administering a central bank; 
 
(D)   Regulating weights and measures and formulating a 
general policy on wages; 
 
(E)   Managing the natural resources of Iraq, which belongs 
to all the people of all the regions and governorates of 
Iraq, in consultation with the governments of the regions and 
the administrations of the governorates, and distributing the 
revenues resulting from their sale through the national 
budget in an equitable manner proportional to the 
distribution of population throughout the country, and with 
due regard for areas that were unjustly deprived of these 
revenues by the previous regime, for dealing with their 
situations in a positive way, for their needs, and for the 
degree of development of the different areas of the country; 
 
(F)   Regulating Iraqi citizenship, immigration, and asylum; 
and 
 
(G)   Regulating telecommunications policy. 
 
Is this the way you advise everybody that the Government is 
composed of the Presidency of the State, the Presidency of 
the National Assembly, the Prime Minister and the Council of 
Ministers, and that settling and prescribing the policies of 
the Government are among the duties and authorities of the 
three branches and not the Prime Minister alone. 
 
The Government Statement 
 
1- The Government statement prescribes the public policy of 
the Government. The three branches of the Government have the 
right to see, discuss and approve public policy before it is 
presented to the National Assembly. However you ignored all 
of this and did it alone. 
 
2- The Government statement did not mention Article 58 of the 
TAL as well as the suffering of the Kurdish people as a 
result of the ethnic cleansing policy. 
 
3- In preparing the Statement you violated the principle of 
agreement in accordance with paragraph (2) of Article (1) and 
paragraph (5), which necessitates political agreement before 
taking principal political, security, economic and 
administrative decisions. 
4- The Government Statement did not mention: the full 
implementation of Article 58 of the TAL leading to the 
determination of administrative affiliations of disputed 
areas including the Governorate of Kirkuk, as stipulated in 
paragraph (1) of (Fourth). 
5- The Government Statement ignored Article (3) of the 
Agreement between the Unified Coalition and the Kurdish 
Alliance. 
 
Regarding Kirkuk 
 
It appears from the Government Statement and your clear 
practical approval in your decisions regarding stopping 
payment of the amount approved by the former Government of 
Kirkuk that your Excellency is practically taking an opposing 
view contrary, if not antagonistic, to the rights of the 
Kurdish people regarding Kirkuk. 
 
1- Your Government Statement did not mention the necessity of 
the full implementation of Article 58 as stipulated in 
paragraph (1) of (Fourth). 
 
2- Your Excellency's violation of the following text stated 
in paragraph (2) of the (Fourth): 
"The Transitional Government, within a period not exceeding 
one month, shall activate the normalization procedures 
including providing funds to finance the Commission for the 
Normalization of the situation in Kirkuk and the Commission 
for Property Disputes." 
 
3- Instead of implementing the above-mentioned text, you have 
decided haphazardly and unilaterally to stop payment of the 
amount approved for Kirkuk by the former Governorate of 
Kirkuk without consulting the Council of Ministers or the 
Presidency of the State. 
 
Ignoring the issue of Kirkuk is in our view a very serious 
matter, and a clear violation of the agreement concluded 
between the Coalition and the Alliance and a clear violation 
of the TAL and the Alliance could not keep silent concerning 
this imposed status quo, let alone accepting it. 
 
END TEXT. 
 
3. (U) Minimize considered for REOs Basrah, Hillah, Kirkuk, 
and Mosul. 
Jeffrey