US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD2472

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 BAGHDAD 002472 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/12/2025 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KDEM, IZ, Kurdistan Democratic Party KDP 
SUBJECT: FINAL TEXT OF PRESIDENT TALABANI'S LETTER TO PM 
JAFARI 
 
REF: A. BAGHDAD 2427 
 
     B. BAGHDAD 2436 
     C. BAGHDAD 2446 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires James F. Jeffrey for reason 
1.4 (b) 
 
1. (C) President Talabani's Chief of Staff Kameran Karadaghi 
passed to Charge Staff Assistant the final text of a letter 
Talabani had dispatched to ITG Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari, 
noting explicitly that the text had been drafted by Talabani 
and cleared by KDP chief Masoud Barzani.  In the brief 
meeting, Karadaghi echoed Talabani's frustrations of Jafari's 
"dictatorial" administrative style, and cited as an example 
Jafari's recent executive order ardning and releasing all 
Iranian detainees held by Iraq (see point seven in the 
letter's text below).  Elaborating, Karadaghi claimed that 
Jafari had taken advantage of Talabani's travel to Suleymania 
and Vice President Ghazi al-Yawar's European vacation to 
exclude the Presidency Council and curry favor with Iran 
after the recent trip of Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal 
Kharazi.  Karadaghi concluded by noting that the PM's office 
rescinded the order only after three written communiques were 
dispatched from the President to the PM. 
 
2. (C) Below is the full and final text of President 
Talabani's letter to Prime Minister Jafari, as referenced in 
REFTELs: 
 
3. (C) BEGIN TEXT: 
 
His Excellency the Prime Minister 
Dr. Ibrahim Jafari 
 
With Greetings and Respect, 
 
The Kurdish Alliance - an equal partner of the United Iraqi 
Alliance - has noticed with much regret that in forming the 
Government in accordance with the Protocol of Agreement 
between the two sides, you have strayed 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 (6) 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 federalist 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 spokesman for the Transitional 
Government without the agreement of the more important party 
in the Coalition and 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 (NOTE: This likely 
refers to CPA-era Health Minister and now Secretary General 
for the Council of Ministers Khider Abbas.  END NOTE). 
 
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 the national consensus. 
Consequently, he can not be ignored and deprived from his 
authorities. 
 
Sixth: You have limited, without legal justification and any 
rights, the authorities of Dr. Barham Ahmad 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.  The danger of this injustice lies in the 
exclusion of the Kurdish ministers from everything related to 
the economy and finance as well as their exclusion from 
everything related to the armed forces. 
 
Seventh: You issue hasty decisions in violation of the laws; 
such as the pardon you gave to all Iranian prisoners without 
consulting with the ministers and the Presidency. 
 
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: 
 
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. 
 
This way it becomes clear to all that the Government is 
composed of the Presidency Council, 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. But we have 
noticed, with deep regret, that you are acting as if you 
alone are the Iraqi Government and are completely ignoring 
the Council of Ministers and the Presidency of the National 
Assembly. 
 
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 funds required for the normalization of 
relations in 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." 
 
(NOTE: Paragraph (3) has been taken out, when compared with 
the previous text. END NOTE) 
 
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. 
 
Your Excellency the Prime Minister, 
 
In our concern for the historical relationship of struggle 
and the need to enforce the TAL and to abide by the agreement 
signed between the Kurdish Alliance and the United Iraqi 
Alliance, we ask you: 
 
First: For organized coordination and cooperation between all 
parties of the Iraqi Government; i.e.: the Presidency 
Council, the Presidency of the National Assembly and the 
Council of Ministers and the establishment of a clear 
mechanism for accomplishing this so that the 3 branches of 
the government can assume their duties as outlined in Article 
25. 
 
Second: For continuous and daily coordination with their 
excellencies Dr. Rowsch Shaways and Dr. Barham Salih as 
representatives of the second party participating in the 
governmental coalition, with respect to political, economic 
and security issues and other issues as stated in the 
agreement and before taking important decisions unilaterally. 
 
Third: To start the implementation of Article 58 of the TAL. 
 
Fourth: To immediately activate the normalization procedures 
in Kirkuk Governorate, including providing the necessary 
funds for the functioning of the Normalization Commission and 
the Property Claims Commission. 
 
Fifth: To issue orders to the Ministry of Finance to pay the 
grant given to the Kirkuk Governorate by the former Deputy 
Prime Minister. 
 
Sixth: To concentrate in your speeches on democracy and 
federalism. 
 
Seventh: To mention the tragedies, suffering, and martyrs of 
the Kurdish people and condemn the policy of ethnic cleansing 
and take legal measures to repeal the decisions of the 
Saddamist Revolutionary Command Council issued concerning 
this criminal policy. 
 
 
With our deepest respect, 
 
//Signed/// 
 
President 
Kurdish Alliance List 
Jalal Talabani 
09 June 2005 
 
END TEXT. 
 
4. (C) COMMENT: Our earlier indications from DPM Rowsch 
Shaways that the text of this letter had been co-authored and 
cleared by SCIRI leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakeem appear to be 
untrue based up the text itself and conversations with 
Talabani and SCIRI member Vice President Adel Mehdi.  Mehdi, 
however, has noted that both the Kurdish Alliance and SCIRI 
continue to lobby Jafari for the restoration of Barham 
Salih's responsibilities as ITG donor coordinator.  END 
COMMENT 
 
5. (U) Minimize considered for REOs Basrah, Hillah, Kirkuk, 
and Mosul. 
Jeffrey