US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD3877

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 003877 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INR/R/MR, NEA/PPD, NEA/PPA, NEA/AGS, INR/IZ, INR/P 
 
E.0. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC, KMDR, KPAO, IZ, Media, Parliament, Terrorism 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: IRAQI GOVERNMENT, CONSTITUTION, 
TERRORISM; BAGHDAD 
 
SUMMARY: Discussion on the Constitution and Terrorism were 
the major editorial themes of the daily newspapers on 
September 19, 2005. END SUMMARY. 
 
------------------------------- 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
------------------------------- 
 
A. "The Birth of the Constitution was Typical yet Advanced" 
(Az-Zaman, 9/19) 
B. "Revision" (Al-Adala, 9/19) 
C. "We Have Debated Our Constitution for the Benefit of the 
Americans over Iraqis" 
(Al-Qasid, 9/19) 
D. "How to Maintain a Healthy Democracy" (Al-Taakhi, 9/19) 
 
SELECTED COMMENTARIES 
---------------------------------------- 
 
A. "The Birth of the Constitution was Typical yet Advanced" 
(Az-Zaman, independent, recently anti-coalition, published 
the page-fifteen column by Murtadha Hadi Shahtoor about the 
constitution) 
 
"Preparations for drafting our permanent Iraqi constitution 
were different from other well-known methods for drafting 
constitutions in modern countries. Modern states have 
typically used their constitutions as frameworks to plan 
policies, insure human rights and freedom, and to implement 
law and order. In spite of all the terrorism that has 
prevailed in Iraq and the absence of an Iraqi national 
compact (combined with the occupation of Iraq), a committee 
was established to draft our constitution. 
 
"In fact, there are several ways to draft constitution and 
throughout the world it is different for each country. These 
methods depend on the political awareness and maturity of 
each nation. Generally, there are two styles of 
constitutions drafting. The first is the non-democratic 
style which is represented by the `borrowed constitution.' 
This means that a ruler relinquishes some of his authority 
to his people in accordance with the provision of a borrowed 
constitution draft, such as: the French constitution in 
1814, the Russian constitution in 1906, and the Egyptian 
constitution in 1923. 
 
"The second is a contract constitution which means that a 
ruler bestows the constitution through cooperation between 
him and his people. This kind of constitution can be seen in 
the constitutions of: France in 1830, Greece in 1844, 
Romania in 1864, and Bulgaria in 1879... The democratic 
style comes in two ways also. The first is through a 
national assembly, where people elect a body to draft a 
constitution. We can see this type of constitution in: 
Belgium in 1831, Austria in 1920, India in 1949, and 
Pakistan in 1956. 
This second model is also represented by the referendum-like 
constitutions of Iraq in 1921, Italy in 1947 and Turkey in 
1961. 
 
"I think that referendums can develop people's political 
ability and increase their participation in the process. 
With regards to our current constitution, we can see that 
the TAL has merged the two former types of constitutions. A 
national assembly was elected and that assembly established 
a committee to draft a constitution and this constitution 
must be approved by a referendum. The TAL has stated that 
this constitution can be rejected if two-thirds of voters in 
three provinces reject it. We think that the constitutional 
committee has been open to all Iraqi sects and we hope that 
the referendum will be successful for the sake of those 
efforts made to achieve our people's anticipations." 
 
B. "Revision" 
(Al-Adala, affiliated with SCIRI led by Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim, 
published this page-three column by Dr. Ali Khalif) 
 
"Recent terrorist attacks have been dominated by slogans and 
incidents that have proven their treachery. These attacks 
have recently changed their methods, from general targets to 
specific ones-Zarqawi announced that he will target the 
Shi'a. He actually should have said this at the beginning of 
his campaign since his target all along has been the Shi'a. 
 
"We need to think again about Zarqawi's statement and the 
statements of the organizations and the associations that 
condemned his statement. The most important thing is that 
those associations' statements have proven that Zarqawi is 
alive and present where many other associations in the past 
have denied his existence... Zarqawi loathes the "Shiites 
because he is a creation of the deposed dictator who had the 
same hatred towards them. Zarqawi represents a segment of 
the series of genocide the former regime perpetrated against 
the Shi'a. Zarqawi could not hide his hatred when he accused 
patriotic and political Islamic groups that fought the 
former regime of killing the Iraqi people in an attempt to 
provoke sectarianism within Iraq's community... 
"We want to establish a new Iraq, which must be free from 
terrorism, injustice and tyranny. Hence, every one should 
work in order to achieve this goal and we should not remain 
silent about any genocide that may be committed against the 
Iraqi people. Many statements have been published condemning 
governmental operations against terrorists but it is not 
easy to understand whether or not these statements condemn 
terror because they use misleading expressions that make it 
difficult to determine their stance. These expressions have 
different meanings but in fact they attack the government 
more than condemning terrorism. 
 
"Some groups must revise their policies to bring them in 
line with the current reality. Indeed, there is no more 
tyranny and the political competition in this country must 
be civil--it can not depend on killing, beheading and 
kidnapping. We call on those groups to stop accusing others 
and join in the current political process. They should not 
think about their former dreams which evaporated when the 
sun of freedom and democracy rose in Iraq." 
 
C. "We Have Debated Our Constitution for the Benefit of the 
Americans over Iraqis" 
(Al-Qasid, independent, published this back-page editorial 
by Mariam Al-Sunati) 
 
"As usual, our patriotic government has discussed Iraq's 
domestic affairs abroad. Last week, senior Iraqi leaders 
visited the U.S. and other countries and perhaps these 
visits are important in a normal situation but in a 
situation similar to the current Iraqi situation citizens do 
not care about such visits. Regarding the Iraqi 
constitution, which was submitted to the United Nations, 
there are many citizens who do not know anything about the 
articles of that constitution. 
 
"The IECI wanted to educate Iraqis about the constitution 
through the use of posters or commercials however we know 
that the constitution cannot be explained to people through 
such materials. Nevertheless, we were eager to hear the 
latest developments of National Assembly speaker Hachim Al- 
Hassani's meeting with the Speaker of the House Dennis 
Hastert. We knew that they discussed the political and 
constitutional process, as well as the security situation in 
Iraq. They confirmed that it was necessary to provide all 
suitable conditions to make the referendum successful. Thus, 
this visit was aimed to explain the referendum's process. 
But, we do not know how this visit will affect the 
constitutional process, which is most important for Iraqi 
political parties, civil society organizations and ordinary 
citizens. 
 
"The Iraqi National Assembly speaker should have established 
committees to explain the importance of the constitution's 
articles and paragraphs throughout the country. More than 
75% of Iraqis do not know about the constitution's articles, 
especially those articles agreed on between the United Iraqi 
Alliance and the Kurdish Coalition. We know that these two 
main lists have made some amendments to the draft 
constitution in consultation with the American Ambassador, 
who was a mediator and solved some crises. 
 
"We do not care if the constitution was explained to the 
Americans but we care about its explanation to the Iraqi 
people--we want them to know about the articles and 
paragraphs it contains. Iraqi citizens are fed up with 
television symposia that speak about the constitution 
because these fora do not give citizens any information on 
the constitution's articles or paragraphs. Iraqi citizens do 
not even know how many pages there are in the draft 
constitution because our newspapers haven't gotten them yet. 
On the other hand, the United Nations and the United States 
know all those details because the draft constitution 
reached them before it reached the Iraqi people." 
 
D. "How to Maintain a Healthy Democracy" 
(Al-Taakhi, affiliated with KDP, pro-coalition, published 
this front-page editorial by editor in chief Badrkhan Al- 
Sindi) 
 
"The value of democracy, like any other ideology, is only 
equal to the space it occupies on paper if it's not 
transformed into actions and implemented socially, 
economically, and politically. 
"We can classify democracy into two realms: healthy and 
sick. Most leaders and politicians, of course, call for a 
healthy democracy, not a sick one. It's better not to have a 
democracy than to have an unhealthy one. In the case of non- 
democratic regimes we find that society is continually in a 
condition of struggling and anticipating the emergence of 
democracy. Whole societies remain disappointed and 
suspicious; the question is how did they become sick? 
 
"Dysfunctional democracies emerge from the top when rulers, 
who have been selected by the people, begin becoming 
tyrants, ruling tyrannically and dismissing any democratic 
traditions-they forget that power is for the people and not 
for the rulers. Sickness also infects democracy from the 
bottom up through disorders, lack of a cohesive social 
fabric, and lack of security. 
 
"In the case of Iraq, it seems that both factors have 
contributed to create the current drama. But, it's still not 
too late to rule out the emergence of a democratic scene in 
Iraq. In order to fight any form of dictatorship or act that 
affects the democratic path it is necessary to practice self- 
criticism and truthfulness as an essential duty of 
patriotism-individually or in political groups. For we are 
all passengers of the same ship and we don't want to leave 
anyone to drown or be left behind; we believe we are 
responsible for working hard to avert chaos and sectarian 
infighting that may lead to civil war. 
 
"There is a call in to the Iraqi government requesting that 
it work hard and be aware in its dealings with the daily 
running of the country to ensure the goal is to serve all 
Iraqis. This is the best way to ensure that democracy in 
Iraq is healthy and that we're on the right path." 
 
SATTERFIELD