US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD3090

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 003090 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/26/2025 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, KDEM, IZ, National Assembly 
SUBJECT: CONSTITUTION COMMITTEE DEPUTY CHAIRMEN TELL 
AMBASSADOR THE NEGOTIATING IS ONLY BEGINNING 
 
REF: BAGHDAD 3086 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Robert Ford. 
Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY: Constitution Committee Deputy 
Chairmen Fouad Ma'asum and Adnan al-Janabi told the 
Ambassador at a July 25 luncheon that they were 
committed to the August 15 deadline.  Janabi confirmed 
that Sunni Arab representatives will rejoin the 
meetings.  Both men said negotiations at the moment 
are mired in distrust and stalled because of 
exaggerated opening positions.  They sought continued 
U.S. pressure to help convene a summit of Iraqi 
political leaders by early August that would produce 
historic but hard compromises.  Weighing in on the 
critical issue of federalism, Ma'asum said the Kurds 
were committed only to decentralized authority for 
Kurdistan.  Janabi said he believed further regional 
entity formation would need strict central government 
regulation and ought to be ruled out entirely in the 
first years of the constitution's effectiveness.  Both 
men assured the Ambassador that they were committed to 
improving provisions on women's rights and moderating 
the role of Islam in the constitution, but they warned 
that completely secular text would not be possible. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (C) The Ambassador hosted Constitution Committee 
Deputy Chairmen Fouad Ma'asum and Adnan al-Janabi at a 
luncheon July 25.  The two chairmen followed the 
meeting with a session with visiting Congressman Chris 
Shays (R-CT).  This cable describes the key points 
from both meetings, most of which were raised with the 
Ambassador and repeated separately to the congressman. 
 
--------------------------------- 
THE TIMELINE AND STATUS OF TALKS 
--------------------------------- 
 
3.  (C) The deputy chairmen expressed the following: 
 
-- COMMITTED TO AUGUST 15: Ma'asum and Janabi both 
said they believed they were on track to meet the 
August 15 deadline.  They said they were focused on 
passing August 1, the last day in which they are 
allowed to request an extension.  After that point, 
Janabi acknowledged, the National Assembly could still 
attempt to amend the TAL, but such an effort would be 
"damaging." 
 
-- SUNNIS ARE BACK ON BOARD: Janabi said Sunni Arab 
representatives had agreed to rejoin the talks (see 
ref for more info).  Now the Sunni Arab team is 
working with Iraqi government officials to put their 
own representatives on what will be an "independent" 
investigative team led by the Iraqi judiciary.  He 
said National Dialogue Council leader Saleh Mutlak is 
still pushing for a clearer international component to 
the inquiry.  Janabi praised TNA Speaker Hachim al- 
Hasani's role in working with the Sunni Arabs to meet 
their security needs and in helping draft a statement 
announcing their return.  Hasani had agreed to put 
aside funds and make arrangements so that all added 
Sunni Arab representatives receive the benefits of 
full TNA members, Janabi said.  Janabi also said 
contacts with Masood Barzani were helping keep the 
Sunni Arabs engaged. 
 
-- DRAFT TEXT IS A SHIA PROPOSAL: Both of the men said 
the draft constitution text now under discussion 
reflected Chairman Humam al-Hamudi's proposals, not 
theirs.  Despite that fact, they said they had 
accepted the document as a starting point for 
discussion. It will be amended substantially, they 
predicted.  They hoped to reorganize their staff in 
the coming days so that the entire "presidency 
council" of the constitution committee can work as one 
to issue unified draft texts.  At present, they 
admitted, each member of the triumvirate is relying on 
his own staffers. 
 
------------------------- 
THE ROLE OF U.S. PRESSURE 
------------------------- 
 
4.  (C) The deputy chairmen called for the following: 
 
-- SEEKING AN INTERNAL SUMMIT: Every side is 
exaggerating its demands at this point to strengthen 
its position before the tough negotiations ahead, both 
agreed.  Ma'asum went so far as to admit with a laugh, 
"There are exaggerated opening positions from the 
Shia, Sunni Arabs -- and the Kurds."  Janabi 
subsequently told Congressman Shays, "We are very good 
bazaar hagglers."  Both men told the Ambassador that 
they supported a summit in early August that brings 
together top Iraqi leaders.  They singled out Abd al- 
Aziz al-Hakim, Masood Barzani, and all members of the 
Presidency Council as key attendees.  They also 
suggested inviting voices the Sunni Arab community 
respects like Ayad Allawi and TNA Speaker Hachim al- 
Hasani.  They sought U.S. pressure on all sides to 
ensure this summit comes off, and Ambassador Khalilzad 
agreed to keep applying it. 
 
-- SEEKING U.S. COMMITMENT: Both men said they needed 
and appreciated the U.S. commitment to Iraq security 
and democratic development.  Ambassador Khalilzad 
reaffirmed that commitment and made clear that the 
U.S. was here at Iraqi request.  Ambassador Khalilzad 
expressed confidence that the Iraqis would succeed and 
prove to be prosperous, successful and important 
players in the region.  Ma'asum later told Congressman 
Shays that the constitution drafting process would 
have taken three to four years without U.S. pressure 
like that now being applied. 
 
----------------------- 
TWO VIEWS ON FEDERALISM 
----------------------- 
 
5.  (C) They expressed the following: 
 
-- MA'ASUM LOOKING ONLY AT KURDISTAN: Ma'asum showed 
no commitment to seeing federalism implemented 
anywhere but Kurdistan.  He said the Kurds would even 
support the existence of Kurdistan as Iraq's only 
regional entity if need be.  He would have no problem 
if the remainder of Iraq even were to act as a unified 
regional entity.  He did note, however, that the 
principle of a federal structure for all of Iraq had 
been atop the agenda since the Iraqi opposition's days 
of exile and resistance. 
 
-- JANABI LOOKING TO REGULATE FEDERALISM: Janabi, 
saying he was speaking on behalf of Allawi's Iraqiyya 
List, made no objection to the principle of 
decentralization in Kurdistan.  He even opened the 
door to the formation of regional entities throughout 
the rest of Iraq but said he would push for the 
National Assembly to have the power to regulate that 
process.  He also supported a "moratorium" on the 
formation of regional entities for a "set period of 
time."  Janabi subsequently explained his rational to 
Congessman Shays as follows, "Under the present 
circumstances and with Iranian pressure, (a premature 
federal system) could cause us to split up.  Sunni 
Arab areas do not have the resources to handle that." 
 
-- SEEKING ARTICLE 58 ON KIRKUK: Ma'asum told the 
Ambassador that the Kurds would be satisfied with 
maintaining the approach to Kirkuk formulated in TAL 
Article 58.  Ma'asum later told Congressman Shays, "If 
Kirkuk wants to join Kurdistan it can join it, and if 
it wants to remain independent it can stay 
independent." 
 
------------------------ 
ISLAM AND WOMEN'S RIGHTS 
------------------------ 
 
6.  (C) The deputy chairmen expressed the following: 
 
-- MODERATING ISLAM'S INFLUENCE: Islamism is going to 
influence the constitution, both Janabi and Ma'asum 
agreed, but they were both committed to moderating its 
influence.  "We want a secular constitution, but we 
are dealing with a wave of Islamism," Janabi said. 
Janabi said he was confident that both SCIRI leader 
Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim and Ayatollah Sistani were 
committed to moderate Islamic language in the 
document. Janabi said he specifically wanted to find 
ways to draw Sunni Arab leaders into the process while 
reducing the role of clerics.  Ma'asum subsequently 
told Congressman Shays, "I'm secular, but in Iraq it's 
very hard to shelve religion and put in a system like 
Turkey's.  On the other hand we cannot allow this 
system to become like Iran's." 
 
-- A STEP BACKWARD ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS: The Ambassador 
commented that our read of the Shia text raised 
questions about the protections of women's rights. 
Ma'asum said the draft document under discussion had 
unquestionably taken a step backwards on women's 
rights.  He expected to be able to rectify part of 
that problem and said no sides' object to allowing 
women a prominent role in political and social life. 
Both men said they were certain the constitution would 
reinstate language that guarantees women one quarter 
of the National Assembly seats.  But they expected 
that such a provision would only hold for the next two 
election cycles before being dropped.  Ma'asum 
lamented that equal rights for women and Sharia law 
are fundamentally opposed.  Inheritance rules under 
Sharia, for example, allot women one-third of an 
estate and men two-thirds, he said.  To guarantee 
equal rights for women in all areas would be to annul 
portions of the Sharia, and this Islamists cannot 
accept, he said.  The Ambassador highlighted how 
important Iraqi women would be to the reconstruction 
of Iraq, and he urged that they ensure strong 
protections in the final text. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
OTHER CONSTITIONAL ISSUES AND ANXIETIES 
--------------------------------------- 
 
7.  (C) The deputy chairmen expressed the following: 
 
-- CONTROVERSY OVER IRAQ'S "PERSIANS": Ma'asum was 
incredulous over the Shia call for the constitution to 
recognize Iraq's "Persian" minority.  Ma'asum said he 
had asked his negotiating partners, "Whom are you 
referring to?"  They pointed to Deputy Assembly 
Speaker Husayn Shahristani, who is of Iranian descent, 
as an example.  Ma'asum said the point was bizarre. 
First, he said, Shahristani identifies as an Arab, not 
a Persian.  Second, not all of the peoples of the area 
now known as Iran were really Persians in the sense 
the constitution would be implying.  Janabi expressed 
unease with the entire effort to list Iraq's 
minorities in the constitution.  He said, "I don't 
think it should go into too much detail on the 
fragmentation of Iraq." 
 
-- DISTRUST AND AMBIVALENCE ON DEMOCRACY: Ma'asum 
described the short period ahead as "critical." He 
added, "If we had mutual confidence we could bridge 
any of these issues. Trust can come from practical 
steps.  But our partners fear that we will secede. 
There are countries encouraging that fear.  Fears rule 
Iraq.  A series of fears."  Both men voiced 
ambivalence about Iraq's democratic experiment. 
Ma'asum said, "We see democracy as the sole solution 
to our problems, but some see it as a lethal virus. 
We have democratic ambitions but no democratic 
customs."  Laughing, he confessed, "We opposed the 
monarchy and now we wish we had it.  We opposed Abd 
al-Kareem Qasem and now we wish we had him."  Janabi 
said, "We are going from one crisis to another.  That 
seems to be what democracy is about."  The Ambassador 
reminded them that crafting the American constitution 
and system was often hard.  If Iraqi leaders 
demonstrate goodwill and flexibility, they can be 
successful. 
 
8.  (U) REO HILLA, REO BASRA, REO MOSUL, and REO 
KIRKUK, minimize considered. 
 
 
Khalilzad