US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD3068

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 003068 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/24/2025 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PREL, IZ, TU, SY, Sunni Arab, Security, Parliament, National Assembly 
SUBJECT: TALABANI PONDERS HOW TO REACH OUT TO SUNNI ARABS, 
UPBEAT ABOUT IRAQ'S FOREIGN RELATIONS 
 
REF: BAGHDAD 3044 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1.  (C) Summary:  President Talabani told Ambassador 
Khalilzad that the Sunni Arabs have to be brought back into 
the constitution-drafting process, and agreed with the 
Ambassador's point that the Iraqi Government should provide 
security for their negotiators to facilitate that return. 
Talabani noted other steps that will or could be taken to 
reach out to the disgruntled Sunni Arab population, including 
an independent investigation of alleged Interior Ministry 
abuses of Sunni Arab prisoners and targeted releases of Sunni 
Arab imams now in detention.  Talabani confirmed there would 
be a summit of Iraqi political leaders to finalize the draft 
constitution.  The Ambassador urged Talabani to stand up for 
strong protection of human rights and women's rights. 
Talabani pledged he would do so. 
 
2.  (C) Summary, cont.:  Talabani said the U.S. and Iraq must 
maintain pressure on Syria to stop its help to Iraqi 
Baathists seeking to destabilize Iraq.  He mentioned he had 
spoken to Jordan's King Abdallah July 22 and urged Abdallah 
to invite some Iraqi Shia to Amman so that Iran does not have 
a monopoly on their goodwill.  He opined that Iran probably 
would support the Iraqi Government since its Shia political 
friends are in power.  Talabani reiterated that he condemns 
PKK terrorist acts against Turkey, but added that Turkey 
should take political steps to resolve the PKK problem.  End 
summary. 
 
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IRAQI GOVERNMENT CONFAB 
----------------------- 
 
3.  (C) President Talabani warmly greeted Ambassador 
Khalilzad on July 23 and pledged to work closely with him in 
the months ahead.  Talabani noted that the Iraq Transitional 
Government (ITG) had held a big meeting earlier that day. 
The three members of the Iraqi Presidency Council, the 
Speaker and the Deputy Speakers of the National Assembly, the 
Prime Minister, and the Deputy Prime Ministers and Judge 
Midhat representing the judicial system had attended, 
according to Talabani.  The President said they had discussed 
mainly the constitution drafting process and the need to get 
Sunni Arabs re-engaged.  The Ambassador said it is important 
to bring the Sunni Arabs into the constitution process, and 
they will need personal security.  Talabani readily agreed. 
He said the Sunni Arabs initially thought they would not need 
personal security, but the murder of Mijbil Shaykh Issa had 
shown they were wrong.  Talabani reported that Prime Minister 
Jafari had promised to provide the Sunni Arabs cars and arms 
and funds to pay for bodyguards.  Talabani also said the 
Sunni Arabs want more time to discuss draft text produced by 
the national assembly sub-committees.  The President thought 
this a reasonable request. 
 
4.  (C) Talabani added that the discussion among the 
government leadership on July 22 was very heated at times. 
In particular, he said, TNA speaker Al-Hassani and Prime 
Minister Jafari had had sharp exchanges.  Talabani noted that 
they had agreed in the meeting to set up a special committee 
under the Iraqi judiciary to investigate the Sunni 
allegations of the security forces' abuses against Sunni 
Arabs.  Talabani confided that he is unsure of the extent of 
the abuses,  but he thinks there is a problem. 
 
5.  (C) Talabani said the Iraqi detainees held by the 
Coalition are an issue that must be resolved.  He said a 
committee needs to be set up to investigate charges against 
each detainee.  If there is evidence against them, their 
cases should go to an Iraqi court for judgment.  If there are 
doubts about the evidence, the detainees should be released 
with guarantees from their families or local imams or tribal 
leaders.  Talabani said it would be useful releasing some of 
the Sunni Arab imams in detention.  He doubts that all the 
religious men detained are supporting terrorism.  Talabani 
added that arresting suspects at night is not helpful. 
Arrest operations should be conducted in daylight and with 
judicial orders to demonstrate there is rule of law in Iraq. 
Arresting persons at night who are later reported dead makes 
it difficult to say whether they were arrested by security 
forces or killed by terrorists dressed as security forces, 
said Talabani.  Judicial orders would help clarify 
responsibility for killing. 
 
 
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CONSTITUTION SUMMIT 
------------------- 
 
6.  (C) Talabani said that the key political leaders of Iraq 
should come to Baghdad to finalize a deal on the 
constitution.  It would be important for these leaders to 
represent the government and the national assembly as well as 
other interested parties.  For example, Muhsin Abdel-Hamid 
from the Iraqi Islamic Party, and a representative of the 
Arab Nationalist Front should receive invitations.  Toward 
this end, Talabani appreciated the DCM's recent visit to 
Kurdistan where he had urged Kurdish Regional Government 
President Masoud Barzani to come to Baghdad (Ref A). 
 
7.  (C) The Ambassador urged Talabani to weigh in during the 
constitutional discussions to support strong measures 
protecting human rights in general and women's rights in 
particular.  Talabani said he would do so.  The Iraqi 
President pledged that he would not accept Iraq's becoming an 
Islamic Republic. 
 
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TALABANI ON JORDAN:  REACH OUT TO SHIA 
-------------------------------------- 
 
8.  (C) Turning to Iraq's foreign relations, Talabani said he 
had received a telephone call from Jordan King Abdallah on 
July 22.  Talabani said he had admonished Abdallah for 
alienating Iraq's Shia population.  (Talabani recalled that 
Abdallah's father Hussein had had good relations with Iraq's 
Shia and in particular with the brother of former SCIRI 
leader Mohammad Bahir al-Hakim.  The brother, Mahdi al-Hakim, 
lived in Amman.)  Talabani said he urged Abdallah to open the 
door to Iraqi Shia and invite some to visit Amman.  Talabani 
said that Abdallah agreed.  Talabani added that he had urged 
King Abdallah to convince his fellow Jordanians to cease 
celebrating the murder of Iraqi civilians in places like 
Baghdad and Hillah.  Even their silence would be insulting; 
they should be condemning the murders of Iraqis just as the 
Arab world condemns terrorist acts in places like Sharm 
ash-Shaykh.  Talabani concluded that the Arab world needs a 
comprehensive policy against terrorism in the region; 
fashioning such a policy might even warrant an Arab League 
summit.  In the meantime the Iraqi government would approach 
the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic 
Conference to raise the need for greater international 
cooperation. 
 
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SYRIA IS A SPECIAL CASE 
----------------------- 
 
9.  (C) Talabani said that Syria is a special case.  The 
Syrians remain in contact with Iraqi Ba'athists trying to 
destabilize Iraq from inside Syria.  Their handover of an 
Iraqi Ba'athist (Sibawi) was not serious because he had 
already been negotiating his return to Iraq.  Talabani urged 
that the United States maintain pressure on Syria.  Bashar 
al-Assad is different from Saddam Hussein and will not risk 
regime change in Syria.  Arab leaders like Egypt's Mubarak 
and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah need to weigh in 
with the Syrians, Talabani said. 
 
------------------------------------- 
IRAN - THEY WILL BE HELPFUL, PROBABLY 
------------------------------------- 
 
10.  (C) Talabani opined that Iran wants to help normalize 
the situation in Iraq.  In Talabani's analysis, Iran's 
friends are now in power in Baghdad, and the Iranian 
government should be supportive.  Talabani noted that the 
Iranians had suggested a three-way summit in Tehran between 
Iraq's Prime Minister, the Syrian President, and the 
Iranians.  Since this would have looked to outsiders like the 
Shia were arranging the affairs of Iraq, Talabani urged the 
Prime Minister to maintain pressure on Syria.  Talabani 
cautioned that Iran's relations with Ayatollah Sistani could 
affect overall relations between Iraq and Iran.  Sistani is 
insisting that the Iraqi Shia be independent of Iran.  They 
have rebuffed Iranian efforts to start construction projects 
in Najaf, for example.  Talabani is not sure that the 
Iranians easily accept that independence. 
 
------------------------------ 
TURKISH RELATIONS GOOD OVERALL 
------------------------------ 
 
11.  (C) Talabani said Iraq's relations with Turkey are 
generally good now.  Grinning widely, he said the Turks like 
him because as President of Iraq he reinforces Kurdistan's 
place inside a unified Iraq. Talabani said he has advised the 
Turks to pay attention to Shia Turkmen and to invite them to 
Ankara to counter-balance Iran's influence with the 
Shia-Turkmen.  Talabani noted that Ankara recently invited 
Shia Turkmen leader Abbas Bayati to Turkey.  Talabani said 
the Turks seem satisfied with Talabani's proposal that a 
definitive determination of Kirkuk's status be deferred two 
or three years.  (COMMENT.  Not all Iraqi Kurds agree with 
this proposal.  END COMMENT.)  Turning to PKK acts of 
violence, Talabani said that he condemned the PKK's terrorist 
operations against the Turks.  He added, however, that the 
Turkish government should take steps towards the PKK 
militants who want to stop fighting.  An amnesty would be 
useful.  So far, the Turkish army has rejected this idea. 
 
12. (U) REO HILLA, REO BASRA, REO MOSUL, and REO KIRKUK, 
minimize considered. 
Khalilzad