US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD3410

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 003410 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/18/2025 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, IZ, Parliament, Shia Islamists, Kurdish Alliance 
SUBJECT: CONSTITUTION UPDATE:  SHIA AND KURDS TRYING TO 
CLOSE DEAL AS EMBASSY WORKS TO KEEP SUNNI ARABS IN GAME 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD, REASON 1.5 (B) AND (D). 
 
1.  (C) Summary:  The Embassy is trying to bridge the gaps on 
an agreed constitution text between the Shia Coalition and 
Kurdish Alliance that control the National Assembly.  The 
major issues still separating Shia Coalition and the Kurdish 
Alliance are guarantees about sustained national unity, 
provincial or national control of oil revenues and future 
hydrocarbon sector development, the division of national and 
provincial authorities and the future of Kirkuk.  Spurred by 
the Embassy, the Kurds put forward proposals on August 18 
that leaned in favor of the provinces, and the initial 
response from the Shia was that these leaned too far away 
from the proper role for the central government.  The Shia 
did agree to drop the idea of a constitutional council.  As 
of August 18 late afternoon we await Shia responses to the 
Kurdish proposals tabled midday.  Meanwhile, the Embassy was 
also reviewing constitutional issues with the Sunni Arab 
negotiators whose positions, especially on federalism, were 
frequently at variance with Kurdish and Shia thinking, but 
becoming more focused.  End Summary. 
 
2.  (C) On August 18 the Ambassador was trying to help close 
agreement on a text between the Kurdish Alliance and the 
Shia.  In response to a request from the Shia Coalition (that 
Shia Coalition leader Abdel Aziz al-Hakim said originated 
with Ayatollah Sistani), the Embassy convinced Kurdish leader 
Masud Barzani to put forward proposals on the following five 
areas: 
 
--  that "Iraq is a free union of people, land and 
sovereignty and as long as this constitution is upheld its 
unity will be preserved." 
 
--  that "authorities of the central government will be 
limited to those laid out in the Transitional Administration 
Law, and the other authorities will be shared between the 
central government and the governments of the provinces an 
governorates.  Where there is a conflict, the priority goes 
to the law of the provinces." 
 
--  that "Ownership of the oil and gas exploited from current 
fields goes to the Iraqi people.  The federal government will 
undertake the management of resources in partnership with the 
governments of the provinces or governorates that produce 
them and distribute them in a fair manner that corresponds to 
the population distribution in all areas of the country, with 
the provision of a set allotment for a set period for damaged 
areas deprived under the former regime in a way that ensures 
balanced development in the different parts of the country, 
and this will be regulated by law." 
 
--  that "As for the future, the provincial or governorate 
government will present in agreement with the central 
government a new strategic policy for oil, and this will be 
regulated by law." 
 
--  that the process launched by Article 58 to resolve the 
Kirkuk dispute "would end in a referendum in Kirkuk and the 
disputed territories to determine the inhabitants' desires." 
 
--  that the draft constitution's reference to establishing a 
constitutional council be dropped entirely. 
 
3.  (C) The Shia agreed to drop the constitutional council 
from the text.  Prime Minister Jafari, Coalition leader Abdel 
Aziz al-Hakim and Constitution Committee chair Hamudi 
rejected the Kurdish language about a "free union," but they 
liked the reference to maintaining Iraq's unity.  They likely 
will make a counterproposal.  They were not enthusiastic in 
private about the resource language and non-committal about 
the language on central government and provincial government 
laws.  They also had no comment on the Kirkuk language. 
 
4.  (C) The Kurds and Shia prefer the Ambassador shuttle 
between them before coming back to another large meeting of 
Kurds and Shia like the one August 18 morning.  We still have 
to contend with Kurdish objections to wording on Islam and 
personal status in the constitution. 
 
5.  (C) DCM and British Ambassador August 18 met meanwhile 
with a group of Sunni Arab leaders to review issues related 
to the text.  These discussions moved forward slowly, 
especially on the issue of federalism.  At the end, the 
Sunnis appeared to grasp that their best strategy would be to 
focus with us on a few key issues, rather than obsess over 
every detail of every sentence in the constitution.  In 
particular, we got grudging awareness that there had to be 
acknowledgement of federalism for a Kurdish region now, with 
the choice of governorates joining into provinces ) and the 
legal mechanisms for that to happen ) made after the 
elections and the seating of the next national assembly. 
Despite the slow progress, the Sunnis were at pains to 
reassure us that they were sticking with the political 
process.  It is likely that the Sunni Arabs and former Prime 
Minister Allawi's Iraqiya bloc, the third largest in the 
National Assembly, will be brought into talks with the Kurds 
and Shia on the morning of August 19. 
 
 
Khalilzad