US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD3044

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 003044 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/20/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KDEM, IZ, Kuristan Regional Government 
SUBJECT: KURDISH LEADER BARZANI WANTS WEAK CENTRAL 
GOVERNMENT TO PREVENT FUTURE IRAQI OPPRESSION 
 
REF: BAGHDAD 2981 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires David M. Satterfield for reasons 1.4 ( 
 
b) and (d) 
 
1.  (C) Summary:  Kurdish Regional Government President 
Masood Barzani and his advisors want a constitution that 
purposely leaves the central government weak as a means of 
ensuring that Kurds do not again suffer from Arab tyranny. 
Barzani emphasized that he does not agree to references to 
Islamic shari'a in the draft constitution text.  He wants 
strong references to human rights and women's rights, an 
issue the Charge stressed was of vital importance to the U.S. 
as well.  The Kurdish President said that the Kurds have an 
opportunity to establish a federal system that will prevent 
future oppression from Baghdad.  This was vital, he 
underlined.  Barzani let his advisors explain the Kurdish 
demand that the Kurdish regional government own the natural 
resources in Kurdistan.  They said that the central 
government could not be trusted to share revenues fairly. 
The Charge urged them to look at the revenue issue not just 
from a domestic angle but also to consider its international 
aspects and find wording that would best enable the Iraqi 
government to work with the international financial 
community.  Barzani said he would attend a political summit 
in Baghdad to close the negotiations on the constitution if 
it is held.  End Summary. 
 
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Individual Freedoms are Essential 
--------------------------------- 
 
2.  (C)  Kurdish Regional Government President and KDP leader 
Masood Barzani told the Charge July 20 that the TAL was a 
good basis for a constitution.  He said the July 18 draft of 
the constitution received from National Assembly constitution 
committee chairman Shaykh Hamudi represents a big step 
backwards.  It could delay finishing the final draft past the 
August 15 date in the transition law - something Barzani said 
he would prefer to avoid.  Charge reiterated the strong U.S. 
opinion that the August 15 date must be respected.  Iraq, and 
Iraq's Kurds, is approaching a key moment.  The constitution 
must be finished on time, but it must be the right 
constitution that includes individual freedoms and guarantees 
of human rights and women's rights.  Barzani had stood up for 
these freedoms in the past.  Charge urged Barzani come to 
Baghdad for a political summit to bring the current 
negotiations to a close. Charge underscored the importance 
the President attaches to Barzani's positive, personal 
engagement on the constitution and-in this context-extended 
an invitation for Barzani to come to Washington to meet with 
the President later this year as appropriate. Barzani said he 
was honored by the invitation and looked forward to the 
visit. 
 
3.  (C)  Barzani said he would come to a political summit in 
Baghdad, although he might not appear for the first day or 
two due to the optics in Erbil.  He insisted he was involved 
in the negotiations from a distance.  A Kurdish parliamentary 
delegation would go to Baghdad July 22 to advise the Kurdish 
leadership in the capital.  The Kurdish President underlined 
his support for religious freedom and women's rights.  He 
scoffed at the idea of mentioning Islamic shari'a in the 
constitution; he wondered whether it would be shari'a derived 
from Sunni or Shia teaching. 
 
-------------------------------- 
Federalism Key to Kurdish Rights 
-------------------------------- 
 
4.  (C)  KDP Politburo member Faisal Merani referred to the 
recent Kurdish proposal (ref) and said that the Kurds wanted 
constitutional guarantees with respect to the administration 
of Iraq and its security arrangements.  The proposal came 
originally from the Kurdish parliament and was aimed to be 
the starting point of discussions with Sunni Arabs and Shia. 
Masood Barzani said that the current moment represents an 
opportunity for the Kurds who have suffered throughout their 
history.  The Kurds accepted being part of Iraq, he said, but 
not "with a knife at their throats."  The Kurds now had a 
chance to secure their rights through "historical and 
geographical" federalism. 
 
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Revenue Ownership - Aiming to Hobble Baghdad 
-------------------------------------------- 
5.  (C) Charge urged the Kurds to find a way to finesse 
ownership of natural resources so that they were not 
officially divided between the central government and the 
regions or governorates.  Revenue sharing in subsequent 
budget laws were what many advanced countries used, and the 
international financial community would be able to work far 
more easily with Iraq were ownership of the resources not at 
question.  Barzani's Kurdish colleagues reacted strongly. 
His son Masrur (who is responsible for security in the 
Kurdish Regional Government) said ownership of the resources 
is the Kurds' right.  The Arabs had long begrudged the Kurds 
of their rights.  Ownership, allocation and management of the 
resources are all at issue.  Masrur underlined that if the 
Kurds have at least some part of the oil resources in 
Kurdistan then they could deal from a position of strength 
with the Iraqi central government. 
 
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The Kurds Search for Guarantees 
------------------------------- 
 
6.  Parliament Speaker Adnan Mufti chimed in that the Kurds 
had renounced an independent country - a huge concession made 
on the basis of realism.  They worry, however, that the 
currently weak central government will grow strong again and 
oppress the Kurds or other groups in the future.  He wondered 
if guarantees from the U.N. that the new constitution would 
be respected could be secured and whether they would have any 
weight.  Masood Barzani commented that guarantees were vital 
but would be hard to find.  The U.S. would not stay in Iraq 
in forever.  If it did, that could constitute a guarantee 
that the constitution would be respected.  He saw nothing 
that could take its place if it departed.  Barzani wondered 
how then Iraqi society would contain a future dictator in 
Baghdad.  Already, he observed with real bitterness, Prime 
Minister Jafari changed the oath taken by ministers to remove 
mention of a federal Iraq.  This is a bad harbinger.  His son 
Masrur then concluded that the Kurds want a constitution that 
stops domination.  Ownership of the revenues would be a means 
to that end. 
 
7.  (C) Charge agreed that Iraq had been a republic of fear 
and should never be so again.  He urged the Kurds to look 
beyond the domestic angle of the revenue question and 
remember the international aspect:  the international 
financial community would be less eager to work with the 
central government in Baghdad if the ownership of the natural 
resources was left with local authorities. 
 
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The Current Budget and the Kurdish Worry 
---------------------------------------- 
 
8.  (C) Separately with PolCouns, KDP Politburo member Fadil 
Merani noted that the Shia and Kurds had agreed that the 
Finance Ministry had promised to transfer 17 percent of the 
Iraqi oil revenues to the KRG.  Instead, the KRG had received 
only a small portion.  (He said the Iraqi Finance Ministry 
was calculating revenues at USD 25 / barrel, while the real 
sales price was closer to USD 60.)  He was adamant that the 
KRG had raised the allegedly missing payments with the 
Finance Ministry in Baghdad and with Prime Minister Jafari 
but had received no satisfaction.  There was no higher 
authority to appeal to, Merani stated.  PolCouns asked 
whether an annual budget law negotiated with the Kurds and 
other elected leaders in Baghdad could not resolve the 
problem.  Merani shot back that the Shia were not respecting 
the current agreement.  There was no court visible in Iraq 
that would be able to compel the Finance Ministry to respect 
a future budget law. 
 
9.  (C) Comment:  This was by far the most substantive 
meeting we have had with Barzani on constitutional issues. 
Their unhappiness from the experience with Jafari has 
exacerbated older Kurdish fears of Arab tyranny.  It is now 
evident that the Kurdish push to control resources is about 
both weakening the central government and ensuring that the 
KRG gets its money.  We will keep pushing on the revenue 
ownership question while we push them to look more ways to 
secure workable guarantees.  Interestingly, while Masood 
Barzani said he was involved in the constitutional 
negotiations, he seemed not aware of the details.  Instead, 
he turned to his colleagues to chime in on details, and they 
were eager to speak out. 
10. (U) REO Basrah, REO Kirkuk, REO Mosul, REO Hillah, 
minimize considered. 
Satterfield