US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD3779

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BAGHDAD 003779 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE.  NOT FOR INTERNET DISSEMINATION. 
 
STATE FOR NEA, PA - TAPPAN, DRL, INR, IIP, ECA 
ALSO PASS USAID 
 
E.0. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC, KDEM, KPAO, IZ 
SUBJECT: CONSTITUTION OUTREACH PROGRAMMING 
 
REF: A.(C)Basrah 109 
 
1. (LOU) SUMMARY. Over the past few months, post 
(principally PAS and USAID) has sponsored or funded 
a substantial level of programming relating to 
Iraq's current constitutional debate.  This 
programming has involved airlifting Iraqi officials 
to meet with local audiences to discuss the 
constitution, encouraging prominent Iraqis to appear 
on American TV, USAID-funded technical assistance to 
the National Assembly, routine distributions of 
Arabic language materials, PAS and USAID small 
grants, ECA exchanges, and titles purchased through 
State Department Arabic book translation programs. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (U) In addition to the talking points, op-eds and 
briefings produced here and in Washington over the 
past few weeks to reinforce our central USG public 
themes and messages relating to the drafting and 
ratifying of a new Iraqi constitution, post has also 
engaged in parallel program activity to inform 
Iraqis and engage them in the process.  We have 
concentrated our efforts along the lines outlined 
below. 
 
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Taking the (Iraqi) Government 
To the People 
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3. (LOU) Working with Multi-National Force Iraq (MNF- 
I - Strategic Effects Directorate) and with the 
office of Prime Minister al-Ja'afari's spokesman 
(Leith Kubba), post created a joint (U.S.-U.K.-ITG) 
communications working group, whose first concrete 
project was to launch a joint effort to take members 
of the government, members of the national assembly, 
and Baghdad-based media out to different provincial 
capitals, two-to-three times per week, to interact 
with local political leaders and public audiences on 
the new constitution.  Our regional field colleagues 
are providing the on-site planning and support, MNC- 
I through MNF-I is providing the airlift (plus most 
ground transportation and security), and Embassy PA 
is working with the PM spokesman's office to select 
the individual participants, including traveling 
media. 
 
A. On Monday Aug 29, Dr. Kubba himself, along with 
the Minister of Industry and Minerals, Osama Al 
Najafi, traveled to Mosul along with ten journalists 
(8 Iraqi/pan-Arab and 2 Western) on the inaugural 
leg of this program.  Both officials were warmly 
welcomed by a large crowd on the steps of the 
Governing Center enroute to a town meeting inside 
where a wide-ranging discussion of the constitution 
took place in front of the cameras.  In a practice 
that has been continued for later visits, Al Najafi 
was chosen because of his personal ties to the 
visited city.  The large number (30) of Mosul-based 
media who turned out to follow this program was 
partly in response to Al Najafi's personal 
popularity.  After lunch with local political 
leaders and individual media interviews, the 
traveling party then visited an Iraqi police 
academy.  As Baghdad's Ad-Dustour newspaper noted 
the next day, "they told the people of Mosul to 
participate in the upcoming referendum, by voting 
yes or no, because the new constitution is for all 
Iraqis." 
 
B. Two days later, Education Minister Dr. Abdul 
Falah al Sudani, TNA member Dr. Qusai Abdul Wahab, 
and TNA Constitutional Committee member Hussein 
Athab Thaban, traveled to the southern city of 
Basrah for a similar program.  It began with a call 
on the governor, Mohammed Mohamed Musbah al-Oweili, 
and other prominent Basrawis, both Shia'a and Sunni 
(reftel).  During their 90-minute town hall forum, 
the Baghdad delegation led a discussion on the 
importance and inclusiveness of the constitution. 
Fifty local media were in attendance, in addition to 
the ten who came from Baghdad. TNA member Sheikh 
Mansoor al-Kanaan, also present, opened the town 
hall discussion with positive statements about the 
importance of the constitution, calling it "a 
contract between all Iraqis and their government." 
After the town hall meeting and lunch, the 
delegation visited the Basrah courthouse and 
judicial center, currently being rebuilt by the U.S. 
Army Corps of Engineers, with local Basrah 
construction firms.  The on-site engineer, an Iraqi 
woman named Hana Esmail, showed the group around the 
80 per cent complete site.  Overall, the Basrah 
visit was notable for the willingness of local Sunni 
leaders to debate their concerns openly. 
 
C. The third trip, on Monday September 5, took the 
Minister of Environment and Human Rights, Narmeen 
Uthman, and TNA member Mullah Ahmed al-Berznji (a 
Sunni Kurd) to Erbil.  Working with our regional 
embassy office there, Governor Nawazd Hadi set up a 
"majlis" (council meeting) for local dignitaries and 
later hosted a lunch.  The discussion event lasted 
two hours, covered by national and local media, as 
well as by a BBC crew we brought from Baghdad. A 
notable quote from this proceeding came from TNA 
member al-Berznji, who told the assembly "We should 
not always rely on the Americans, but learn to rely 
on ourselves." 
 
D. The fourth trip, on September 7, took Agriculture 
Minister Ali Al-Bahadalil and TNA member Dr. Hanan 
al-Fatlawi to Hillah.  In addition to the usual 
events, including another spirited town hall 
meeting, this visit also included a tour of a newly 
commissioned power substation.  Once again our 
escorts heard repeated praise for the willingness of 
central government officials to travel to the 
provinces to interact with local people.  A second 
stop planned for this day, to Diwaniyah, had to be 
postponed due to aircraft problems, but a large 
crowd had already been assembled there, and we look 
forward to returning to Diwaniyah soon as part of a 
future trip. 
 
E. On September 11, Minister of State for Civil 
Society Alla Abib Kazim al-Safi, TNA member Sooriya 
Abd al-Khadem (Shi'a from Diyala), and TNA member 
Moayad al-Obaydi (Sunni from Ba;aqubah) traveled to 
Ba'aqubah for a similar program with officials and 
invited guests from Diyala province. In addition to 
their town hall event, this group toured a primary 
care facility being built with USAID funds.  Comment 
from an Arabic-speaking CNN producer on the trip: 
"the people wonder why this was Baghdad's first 
official visit..." 
 
F. Other provincial visits are in planning, 2-3 per 
week, through the scheduled constitution referendum 
date of October 15.  Embassy PA and MNF-I continue 
to work closely with Embassy regional posts (REOs 
and SETs) on visit planning, especially the airlift 
details, with each providing an escort officer for 
the traveling media.  Although actual media coverage 
of these events has ranged from very good to light, 
the events themselves have invariably been valuable 
contributions to our overall effort to reach out to 
the Iraqi people to engage in the constitutional 
process. 
 
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Facilitating Surrogates 
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4. (SBU) Following the completion of the draft 
permanent constitution by the Transitional National 
Assembly (TNA) on August 28, post approached two 
prominent Sunni political leaders, Iraqi 
Transitional Government (ITG) Deputy President 
Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar and TNA President Hajim al- 
Hasani, to speak out publicly on the merits of 
supporting the new constitution.  Despite busy 
travel schedules this month, both have worked 
through their staffs and us to make contact with 
State/PA for assistance in booking appearances on 
American TV news programs to speak about the 
constitution. 
 
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USAID Programs 
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5. (SBU) In addition to Embassy PA working with the 
military here, USAID is funding (total national 
governance, constitution and elections portfolio is 
currently $126 mission) a wide array of NGO activity 
in support of the constitution process.  The 
majority of USAID's work in Iraq is conducted in 
full partnership with local organizations. 
 
A. Technical assistance to the Constitutional 
Committee (CC): Facilitated the development of rules 
and procedures for the TNA; organized seminars on 
legislative drafting; provided 13 international 
constitutional experts; prepared legal memoranda for 
the CC; held consultations, seminars and workshops 
on constitutional development; provided comparative 
research and background materials on constitutional 
law issues and assistance to the CC; and provided 
comprehensive technical assistance to the 
Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) to 
convene the referendum and follow-on elections. 
 
B. Support to women officials and civic leaders: 
Assisted women leaders from the TNA to include 
fundamental rights for women in the final document; 
supported national workshops for women leaders; 
provided advocacy training to groups focused on 
strengthening gender equality in the constitution; 
conducted seminars for women lawyers on the role of 
the constitution in protecting citizen rights; 
provided training to women TNA members; provided 
expert advisors on the role of women and human 
rights in constitution-drafting; developed and 
distributed 75,000 copies of its "Popular Guide to 
Women and the Constitution;" provided a $500,000 
grant to a local NGO association to launch 
conferences, leaflet distributions, and television 
spots promoting women's rights in a constitutional 
democracy; supported training on the CEDAW across 
Iraq to raise awareness of international standards 
on women's issues; hosted public events to promote 
women's political participation and to discuss ways 
to promote gender equality; provided small grants to 
women's advocacy groups working on the constitution. 
 
C. Support for public outreach and civic education 
on the constitution: Assisted the development of a 
public communications strategy for the 
Constitutional Committee; identified and trained PA 
officers; assisted in producing press releases on 
the constitutional process; trained staff of the 
Constitutional Committee's outreach unit; supported 
the convening of constitutional workshops across all 
18 governorates (more than 4,770 workshops and 
142,601 participants to date, over 1/3 women); 
sponsored the collection and data analysis of 
100,000 public questionnaires completed by residents 
of all 18 governorates; supported the design, 
publication, and distribution of 1.35 million print 
items on basic concepts of the constitution; weekly 
90-minute television programs to promote the 
constitutional process; radio programs; televised 
town hall meetings; TV talk shows with members of 
the Constitutional Committee. 
 
D.  Outreach to Sunni Arab areas: working with Sunni 
tribal and religious leaders on outreach efforts; 
facilitated the delivery of 5,000 Constitutional 
Committee posters to Fallujah; sponsored 861 
constitutional workshops in Sunni Arab communities 
in six governorates, reaching 25,388 participants. 
 
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Routine Distributions 
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6. (SBU) Post distributes electronic and hard copies 
of the IIP Bureau's Arabic language Washington File 
(WF) daily to 79 selected Iraqi recipients, 
including content relating to the constitutional 
process in Iraq.  IIP-sourced material, together 
with locally generated content, is routinely 
repurposed and posted in Arabic on the Mission 
website (http://iraq.usembassy.gov).  Post has 
ordered and distributed through various networks 
large quantities of IIP Arabic language publications 
over the past six months, including Democracy Papers 
(5,325 copies), Rights of the People (5,432 copies), 
Outline of the U.S. Government (3,268 copies), About 
America: Constitution of the USA (2,160 copies), and 
a Responsible Press Office (1,050 copies). 
 
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PA Section Cultural Projects 
And Small Grants 
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7. (SBU) The PA Section in Baghdad during FY05 has 
awarded more than $177,000 in program grants (not 
including travel grants) many in support of projects 
related to the constitution process, e.g., 
 
A. $25,000 to an Iraqi NGO to cover costs to 
develop, design, print and distribute a special 
countrywide newspaper insert "Principles of 
Democracy." 
 
B. $22,000 to an Iraqi NGO to fund a conference in 
Basrah on the topic of Federalism. 
 
C.  Proposals are pending for additional grants for 
a series of conferences on "Women and the 
Constitution" and a Film Festival in Sulaimaniya on 
Democracy. 
 
8. (SBU) PA Section's cultural office also managed 
programs during this fiscal year in direct support 
of encouraging Iraqis to participate in the 
democratic process: 
 
A. Third Quarter International Visitor Leadership 
Group Project (May-June `05) on Federalism that sent 
19 Iraqi parliamentarians on a two-week program that 
finished just as the constitution drafting process 
began. 
 
B. 30 percent ($50,000) of post's total Arabic book 
program purchases for this year were for democracy 
and constitution-related titles. 
 
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Comment 
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9. (LOU) Comment:  The above list of programs is not 
a comprehensive inventory of everything post has 
done in recent months to program on the 
constitution.  It does not, for example, include 
extensive Iraqi and pan-Arab television advertising 
supporting the constitution process on which Embassy 
PA collaborates with MNF-I's Strategic Effects 
Directorate to supervise (and sometimes fund).  We 
believe it useful to remind at this time just how 
much of our total effort to influence public 
perceptions and behaviors in Iraq with regard to the 
constitution, and the political process generally, 
is taking place in channels other than our higher- 
visibility, day-to-day relations with the major news 
media.  End Comment. 
 
Satterfield