US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD4433

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BAGHDAD 004433 
 
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 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: IRAQI GOVERNMENT, CONSTITUTION, 
REFERENDUM, NATIONAL RECONCILATION; BAGHDAD 
 
SUMMARY: Discussion on the Constitution, Referendum, and 
National Reconciliation were the major editorial themes of 
the daily newspapers on October 27, 2005. END SUMMARY. 
 
------------------------------- 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
------------------------------- 
 
A. "Habitude!" (Al-Bayyan, 10/27) 
B. "The Battle to Alter the Constitution Has Begun" (Az- 
Zaman, 10/27) 
C. "Parliamentary Council" (As-Sabah, 10/27) 
D. "Our Positions Are Meant to Serve the Nation" (Dar As- 
Salam, 10/27) 
E. "Iraqis Accept Their Constitution" (Al-Ittihad, 10/27) 
 
---------------------------------------- 
SELECTED COMMENTARIES 
---------------------------------------- 
 
A. "Habitude!" 
(Al-Bayyan - affiliated with Ad-Dawa (led by Al-Ja'fari), no 
bias, published this page-three editorial by Zainab Al- 
Khafaji) 
 
"The head of the National Dialogue Council's, Saleh Al- 
Mutlag, negative attitude toward the referendum results 
(claiming they were rigged) wasn't a surprise but rather was 
an identical position of many Iraqis who are used to his 
habitual attitudes. Why didn't he present a list of 
accusations and evidence to prove the illegality of the 
process? 
 
"The political process in Iraq has been exposed to attempts 
to inhibit participation by, among others, the National 
Dialogue Council which has forgotten that its role is to 
develop dialogue but has instead, become a source of 
propagating accusations and suspicions in an attempt to keep 
people preoccupied and to waste their time. 
 
"Many examples of these attempts to raise political comments 
are evident, they come at transformational stages. What is 
really important now is to continue towards the next step, 
not to go backwards and chase accusations devoid of 
evidence. I don't think that the accusations of vote-rigging 
are useful any longer. The Council endorsed the results of 
the two provinces that rejected the constitution, Al-Anbar 
and Salahadin, but considered the results from Mosul to have 
been rigged. 
 
"Their sectarian ideology cannot tolerate `yes' percentages 
that are too close to `no' percentages in provinces with 
Sunni majorities. The final results were indicative of Iraqi 
interests in bypassing sectarianism." 
 
B. "The Battle to Alter the Constitution Has Begun" 
(Az-Zaman, independent, anti-coalition published this front- 
page unattributed editorial) 
 
"Following the approval of the constitution, the battle to 
alter it has begun-the fight to restore sovereignty and 
liberate Iraq from new delineations that threaten its social 
unity. 
The constitution was drafted in a way that makes its weak 
points strengthening factors; it is a constitution that 
could take many additional constitutions to define it. 
Therefore, the battle over its alteration will take two 
directions: 
 
"The first is an explanation of the battle: Each article in 
this constitution could require two or more explanations, 
which means the next conflict hinges on the ability of each 
party to interpret certain articles according to their own 
interests and cause Iraqis to ask, `Are we really in 
disagreement with each other-to that degree'? 
 
"The second thing is a battle to correct words and phrases 
that contradict the spirit of forgiveness and neutrality and 
instead foment division and sectarianism. As a result of the 
recent amendment to the constitution (shortly before the 
referendum) the wounded Iraqi psyche has been healed and we 
are ready to adapt strange interpretations such as those 
related to the `Wilayat Al-Faqih' [the rule of supreme 
religious authorities, e.g. The Islamic Republic of Iran]. 
We need to resolve the establishment of districts that might 
be under the influence of neighboring countries [i.e. Iran] 
in order to adopt an accurate implementation of federalism. 
The battle to alter the constitution also entails 
clarification of women's rights which in some articles have 
relegated women to the archaic past. 
 
"Certain parties have attempted to portray the battle over 
the constitution as a sectarian conflict among the Iraqi 
people, while ignoring the origins of the friction. The true 
source of conflict is between ambitions and forward-looking 
ideas to establish a modern developed Iraq built on its 
heritage of civilized accomplishments, and other ideas 
focused on old, limited sectarian understandings that are no 
longer useful in the 21st century. 
 
"If there is a conflict in Iraq then it is, without doubt, 
between ignorant groups hiding behind sectarianism and other 
ancient principles, and modern open-minded groups that do 
not differentiate among people, based on religion or sect. 
 
"The battle over altering the constitution should be 
peaceful and civilized in order to change the constitution's 
negative articles; in this way, the constitution will be a 
unifying document not a document for sedition and division." 
 
C. "Parliamentary Council" 
(As-Sabah - Iraqi Media Network, pro-coalition, published 
this front-page editorial by Mohammed Abdul Jabar Al- 
Shabbot) 
 
"According to our new permanent constitution the name of the 
new parliament will be the `parliamentary council' which 
equates to the House of Representatives; this is a beautiful 
inspiration for us and for our elected representatives. 
Elected members of the parliament are our representatives 
and we have empowered them to speak for us. They will not 
represent their sects, religions, regions, ethnicities or 
parties but instead will represent us. I hope that voters 
have learned and drawn good conclusions from their previous 
election experience, and vote for qualified, capable 
candidates whom we have knowledge of (regarding their 
character and history)--we should vote for the best 
candidates for our next parliament. 
 
"The parliament's schedule will be loaded because those who 
wrote the permanent draft constitution deliberately 
postponed many pending matters for the coming parliament to 
resolve. Personally I have counted more than sixty items in 
the draft constitution, some are basic and others are 
outlined in great detail. 
 
"The most important thing about the permanent constitution 
is that the legislative authority of the state will consist 
of two councils, one parliamentary and the other a unity 
council (article 46). The draft constitution stipulated 
details about the parliamentary council but ignored the 
unity council and left it for the next council to regulate 
(article 62). 
 
"This means we will begin our constitutional life with a 
lame legislative authority and wait for the parliament to 
define the unity council. Parliament should take about six 
months to specify legislation for executive procedures and 
the formation of regional laws (article 114) that govern 
sects. This is why voters must be attuned to their choices 
for the coming election-especially since new electoral 
procedures will allow for a better introduction to and 
knowledge about candidates." 
 
D. "Our Positions Are Meant to Serve the Nation" 
(Dar As-Salam - weekly, affiliated with [Sunni] Iraqi 
Islamic Party led by Mohsin Abdul-Hameed, anti-coalition, 
published this front-page unattributed editorial) 
 
"Patient Iraqis are still suffering from the difficult 
conditions they face-under occupation. Their rights are 
challenged on a daily basis, their freedoms are increasingly 
restricted, their cities suffer from invasion, their 
families displaced and they are facing ethnic cleansing. All 
of this is happening with the consent of the government 
which is unable to take action while the occupation forces 
insist on using violence and the destruction of cities to 
mitigate the morass of occupying Iraq which is finally 
sinking in. 
 
"We have come a long way to achieving stability but we're 
finding more obstacles restricting our efforts, though many 
people still believe their suffering will end. Recently 
there has been increasing concern about vote tampering and 
there is evidence to support it. If these allegations are 
verified it will only serve to increase the tension the 
country is currently enduring and it will lead to our 
rejection of the process. We are against suppressing 
people's wishes or their abilities to determine their 
future. 
 
"The Iraqi Islamic Party will seize any chance to create 
progress and alleviate tension-the party is keen on 
accomplishing security, halting the bloodshed of innocent 
Iraqis and saving the country from the chaos it has lived 
through for the past two years. 
 
"Therefore, we'll continue with our political and national 
policy which is against suppression of the people. We will 
continue to defend and demand the rights of our followers 
which have been robbed by others. The announcement of the 
results of the constitution coupled with detainees in the 
U.S. and Iraqi prisons fuel our commitment to the promises 
we gave our followers and our people. The Iraqi Islamic 
Party will not relinquish national or Islamic principles and 
will work hard, in spite of detentions, assassinations, and 
the bias of seditious people in order to create a free, 
independent, and strong Iraq." 
 
E. "Iraqis Accept Their Constitution" 
(Al-Ittihad - affiliated with PUK, led by Jalal Talabani, 
pro-coalition, published this page-three editorial by Abdul 
Hadi Mehdi) 
 
"After ten days of monitoring and verification of the 
results of the referendum, the IECI yesterday announced the 
acceptance of the constitution by the Iraqi people by a 
percentage of 78.59 %. 
 
"Iraqis now have their permanent constitution, after living 
for many decades under a provisional one which controlled 
the country according to the rulers' moods and special 
interests which were far different than the problems the 
people faced. Above and beyond that, they did not know what 
their constitution included or regulated and they had no 
choice but to accept what was forced on them and what served 
the interests of the ruling system. 
 
"No party or powerful ruling entity in Iraq now obliges the 
Iraqi people to accept the new constitution. Rather, the 
opposite is true--it is apparent that the Iraqi people 
expressed their free will on constitution day-October 15-- 
which was the first time in the history of Iraq or the 
region that people were able to vote on a referendum, their 
country's constitution. This was tremendously significant 
for them, being governed by the ballot boxes and ending 
decades of being forced to live according to the opinions of 
others. 
 
"The acceptance of the constitution was a victory for all-- 
for those who participated in the constitution and for those 
who did not take part.  Those people knew that if the 
constitution succeeded and was applied, it would not only 
embrace those who voted yes or those who rejected it, but 
that it would envelop all Iraqis from end to end. 
 
"The constitution achieved so much that all Iraqis can be 
proud of. One such achievement was going to the ballot boxes- 
-that is considered civilized. This means that the new Iraq 
has no place for anyone who wants to force his ideas and 
will on others. The democratic environment that is 
prevailing in Iraq paints a new picture for those who 
imagine Iraq as a country of destruction, killing, looting 
and a place for car bombs. 
 
"This is Iraq, the ballots, not weapons, governed by the 
majority of Iraqis who say `Yes.' CONGRATULATIONS to the 
Iraqis for their permanent constitution." 
 
SATTERFIELD