Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05BAGHDAD2364
2005-06-02 06:25:00
CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
Embassy Baghdad
Cable title:  

CODELS BIDEN AND WELDON DISCUSS CONSTITUTION

Tags:  PGOV KDEM IZ 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002364 

SIPDIS

NOFORN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/01/2025
TAGS: PGOV KDEM IZ
SUBJECT: CODELS BIDEN AND WELDON DISCUSS CONSTITUTION
PROGRESS WITH IRAQI CONSTITUTIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN


Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Henry Ensher.
Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002364

SIPDIS

NOFORN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/01/2025
TAGS: PGOV KDEM IZ
SUBJECT: CODELS BIDEN AND WELDON DISCUSS CONSTITUTION
PROGRESS WITH IRAQI CONSTITUTIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN


Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Henry Ensher.
Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D)


1. (C/NF) Summary. Transitional National Assembly
(TNA) Constitutional Committee chairman Shaykh Humam
al-Hammudi apprised CODELS Biden and Weldon of the
status of the constitutional process May 30. Al-
Hammudi said the committee expected to make a decision
on how to include Sunnis at its June 2 meeting, either
by allowing various Sunni groups to choose
"influential" Sunnis or to hold political caucuses in
under-represented governorates. A 7-person committee
led by Constitutional Committee deputy-chair Adnan al-
Janabi is reaching out to the Sunnis and consolidating
views. Al-Hammudi also noted that dividing the
committee into thematic sub-committees would help them
meet the August 15 deadline, as would using the TAL as
a starting point. End Summary.


2. (C/NF) CODELS Biden and Weldon on May 30 met with
the TNA Constitutional Committee chairman and Supreme
Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI)
deputy Shaykh Humam al-Hammudi to discuss progress on
Sunni inclusion and the constitution. This was al-
Hammudi's first meeting with a congressional
delegation.


3. (C/NF) Al-Hammudi stressed the principles that
would guide Iraqis in drafting their constitution -
democracy, pluralism, and federalism. He added that
Iraq would operate according to the rule of law and
would consider Islam the state religion, while
providing freedom for other religions, and would
respect the role of women. The constitution committee
would face the arduous task of putting these
principles into details, but Hammudi thanked the UN
and other organizations for providing information that
would assist the process.


4. (C/NF) Regarding Sunni inclusion in the
constitutional process, Al-Hammudi noted that the
constitutional committee was looking at two different
ways in which to add Sunnis to the committee. The
first is to add 13-15 "influential" Sunnis to the
already existing 55 members. The second would be to
hold partial elections for 13-15 representatives from
the various under-represented governorates. While al-
Hammudi acknowledged the second approach is more
democratic, he feared it would require too much time.
Al-Hammudi assured the CODEL that the committee would
accept whomever the Sunnis choose in either approach
and described a 7-person committee of constitutional
committee members, led by deputy chairman Adnan al-
Janabi who is taking the lead on reaching out to
Sunnis to see how the Sunnis want to choose their
representatives. Al-Hmmudi also noted the
constitutional committee would make a final decision
on which approach to take on June 2.


5. (C/NF) In response to Senator Biden's question of
whether Sunnis would be accorded "voting rights" on
the committee, Al-Hammudi indicated the committee's
decisions would be conducted on the basis of
"tawafaq". (Note: Al-Hammudi preferred to translate
this word as "middle ground" rather than "consensus"
or "agreement". End Note.) Al-Hammudi also noted
that unofficial Sunni representatives will be
participating in the process while they are choosing
the official Sunni members. Senator Biden expressed
that the Shia were expressing the marks of "true
statesmen" in reaching out to Sunnis, especially as
they were the ones to risk their lives by voting in
the elections. Al-Hammudi responded that Iraq is not
like Pakistan, in which there are genuine divisions
and problems between Sunni and Shia.


6. (C/NF) Rep. Mark Green asked al-Hammudi whether he
thought Arabic would be the only recognized language
in the new constitution. Al-Hammudi responded that
Arabic had been considered the only official language
in the past; however, TAL recognized both Arabic and
Kurdish as Iraq's official languages. Al-Hammudi
noted that it remains to be seen what the committee
and TNA will choose on this topic.


7. (C/NF) On Rep. Green's question of the status of
Ba'thists' ability to participate in government,
Hammudi said only criminals and high-level Ba'thists
would be prevented from serving in government,
according to the de-Ba'thification policy.


8. (C/NF) Members of the CODEL asked about progress
towards achieving the August 15 deadline. Al-Hammudi
responded that the constitutional committee will be
divided into sub-committees to enable them to tackle
various constitutional topics expeditiously. In
addition, al-Hammudi hoped the committee would use the
TAL, an already established common reference point as
the starting point for the constitution, which would
also speed up the process.


9. (U) REO HILLA, REO BASRA, REO MOSUL, and REO KIRKUK
minimize considered.
Jeffrey