US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD3156

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 003156 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/30/2025 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, IZ, National Assembly 
SUBJECT: BEATING BACK ANY ATTEMPT TO EXTEND CONSTITUTION 
DRAFTING PERIOD 
 
 
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission David M. Satterfield for reasons 
 
 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1.  (C)  In a meeting with Poloffs today, Constitutional 
Committee Chairman Humam Hammudi indicated that he was 
seriously considering a request to the Transitional National 
Assembly for a delay of 2-4 weeks in the August 15 
constitutional drafting deadline.  Hammudi said he had 
discussed this idea with constitutional experts provided by 
the United Nations, and that he believed it would be possible 
to have the delay without affecting either the October 15 
referendum and December 15 elections deadlines.  He said he 
had proposed the idea of requesting such a delay to members 
of the Presidency Council for their consideration.  Hammudi 
indicated that the delay would be requested in advance of the 
August 1 date, as required by the Transitional Administrative 
Law (TAL).  In explaining the cause for delay, Hammudi 
emphasized the extremist demands on federalism-related issues 
now being made by Kurdish members of his committee.  He 
stressed the need to have the Kurdish leadership - and 
especially Masud Barzani - personally engaged in order to 
facilitate the necessary compromises. 
 
2.  (C)  Poloffs made clear to Hammudi that formally 
requesting a delay would be a mistake, and would send signals 
to the world that the Iraqi political process is hitting 
serious obstacles.  (In response, Hammudi suggested it might 
be possible to avoid requesting a delay by August 1, but to 
have the Committee continue its work past August 15 
nonetheless - a proposal which would raise a different set of 
issues.)  Tonight and tomorrow, we will make the rounds of 
the Iraqi political elite to stress the need to keep up work 
on the constitution through the August 15 deadline.  The 
Ambassador will meet with President Talabani, PM Ja'afari, 
and SCIRI leader Hakim.  We will also reach out to TNA 
Speaker al-Hassani and Deputy Speaker Shahristani.  We do not 
anticipate problems in heading off the notion of a request 
for an extension of the deadline at this point. 
 
3.  (C)  In addition, we will be working with Talabani to 
schedule a political summit of the most senior leaders on 
August 4.  The Ambassador will seek to ensure that Barzani 
will travel to Baghdad to participate in the meeting.  We 
will also continue our work on all fronts to moderate the 
demands of the various factions and help facilitate a 
compromise by August 15. 
 
4.  (C)  Comment:  Another Shia member of te cnsttution 
drafting committee warned us today that the committee might 
seek to extend the drafting period.  We have consistently 
warned the committee, and Iraq's political leadership, 
against this idea, and they understand how seriously we take 
this.  We anticipate that we can forestall any request to the 
Presidency Council with the stepped up engagement outlined in 
para 2 above. End Comment. 
 
5.  (U) REO HILLAH, REO BASRAH, REO KIRKUK, REO MOSUL 
minimize considered. 
Khalilzad