Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05BAGHDAD2413
2005-06-07 06:21:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Baghdad
Cable title:  

JANABI PREDICTS IMMINENT PROGRESS ON SUNNI ARAB

Tags:  PGOV KDEM PREL KISL 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 002413 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2015
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PREL KISL IZ
SUBJECT: JANABI PREDICTS IMMINENT PROGRESS ON SUNNI ARAB
INCLUSION IN CONSTITUTION PROCESS

Classified By: Classified by David M. Satterfield, Charge d'Affaires, f

or reasons 1.4. (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002413

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2015
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PREL KISL IZ
SUBJECT: JANABI PREDICTS IMMINENT PROGRESS ON SUNNI ARAB
INCLUSION IN CONSTITUTION PROCESS

Classified By: Classified by David M. Satterfield, Charge d'Affaires, f

or reasons 1.4. (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: Adnan Janabi, deputy chairman of the
Constitution Committee and the leader of its effort to bring
in Sunni Arabs, told Charge on June 6 that he expects to
complete his assignment by the end of this week. He is
expanding the group of Sunni participants and has requested
that it present its candidates in time for a Committee
session on June 9. Janabi said that the key sticking point
is the number of Sunni Arabs to be added to the committee.
The Kurds want to keep Sunni Arab representation below their
own and some Sunni Arabs are pushing for as many as 40
percent of the body. Janabi said he is pushing for 15
additional members. He is looking for the USG to hang back
so he can convince a suspicious Sunni Arab community that the
constitution drafting process is going to be purely Iraqi.
End summary.


2. (C) Deputy Constitution Committee Chairman Adnan Janabi
briefed the Charge June 6 on the status of efforts to expand
Sunni Arab representation in the drafting process. Charge
expressed full USG support for his efforts to expand
political participation in the process. He reviewed the
following key areas:

-- AN EVOLVING SUNNI ARAB CONFERENCE: Janabi said that the
Sunni Arab outreach meeting last June 2 successfully brought
together some fifty leaders from all walks of the Sunni Arab
community. The meeting effectively "re-established contact
lines" with many disaffected Sunni Arabs, Janabi said. He is
now working to expand attendance for the June 9 meeting by
bringing in more representatives from civil society and
professional syndicates, particularly the Iraqi Lawyers'
Union, which is headed by a Sunni Arab from Mosul. Janabi
said other Sunni Arab groups have also since asked to be
included and he has agreed to add them all.

-- CHOOSING THE REPRESENTATIVES: Janabi said that Sunni Arabs
from the conference he held would meet June 7 to come up with
a list of at least half their candidates for positions on the
constitution committee. Janabi said he is pressing his
colleagues on the committee itself to accept any names that

come forward. He said that some members have expressed
reservations about allowing the appointment of "bloody
Saddamist criminials." Janabi said he has argued that the
only legitimate restriction that can be put on Sunni Arab
participants is that they comply with the TAL criteria, which
forbid any high-ranking Ba'athist or criminal from serving on
the TNA.

-- STATUS OF THE ADDED MEMBERS: Janabi said he believes the
TNA will agree to pass a special motion welcoming additional
Sunni Arabs to drafting process as equal members. The motion
will stop short of legally inducting them to the TNA, but it
will give them the "cover of legitimacy" that some have
requested, he said. More importantly, Janabi said, the
committee will operate on the basis of consensus rather than
majority rule.

-- NUMBER OF ADDED MEMBERS: Janabi said that he supports
adding 15 Sunni Arabs to the committee, which would bring the
total number of Sunni Arabs to 17. Janabi acknowledged that
he is going to face obstacles from Sunni Arabs and Kurds in
particular in pushing this number. Some Sunni Arabs are
pushing for 42 percent membership in the committee, a
percentage matching that of the Iraqis who did not
participate in the January elections. Janabi said that some
Sunni Arabs are using this specious methodology to calculate
the number of Sunni Arabs in the country. They will need to
be convinced to back down, he said. Kurds on the other hand
will need to be convinced to raise the bar. They are
apparently pushing for adding only 12 Sunni Arabs to the
committee, he said. This would bring the total number of
Sunni Arabs to 14, one less than the number of Kurdish
representatives. Janabi said that this number had already
leaked, and he would not defend it. Janabi said that he had
met with President Talabani on June 6 and enlisted his
support in convincing the Kurds to raise their threshold. In
any event, he said, the number of additions is really
irrelevant as long as the committee agrees to operate by
consensus.

-- THE PROS AND CONS OF OUTSIDE SUPPORT: Janabi said that the
best help the USG can offer the constitution-drafting process
is to remain distant enough from it that it is seen to be
purely Iraqi. He also said he thought international
financial and technical support to the drafters would be best
offered via the United Nations.

-- COMMITTEE'S PUBLICITY PLAN: Janabi said the committee will
aim to publicize its work through supplements in newspapers
and televised debates. The effort will be to do such
publicity in a way that it informs the public without
dividing it, he said. "It will be on our terms," he said.
"We don't want to split the society. It is very important
that Iraqis see at as being inclusive and moving forward."

-- MEETING AUGUST 15 DEADLINES: Janabi confirmed that the
Constitution Committee has already agreed on a set of core
principles and will be ready to get down to drafting
immediately upon resolution of the Sunni Arab inclusion
issue. Janabi said he is confident that the committee can
meet its August 15 deadline and predicted that contentious
issues like Kirkuk will be kept out of the constitution
process and pursued through the executive branch and the
Article 58 committee.

-- OTHER THREATS TO SUNNI INCLUSION: Janabi used the occasion
of the meeting to remind the Charge that Sunni Arab outreach
is most threatened by a De-Ba'athification process that has
been used to purge Sunnis rather than criminals from
government jobs. He also warned that triumphalist rhetoric
from Shia Islamist groups about their victory in the January
elections only inspires fear in the hearts of Sunni Arab
citizens.


3. (C) COMMENT: Charge plans to meet PUK leader and Deputy
Constitution Committee Chairman Fu'ad Ma'asum to encourage
him to be flexible on the number of Sunni Arabs allowed into
the committee. We will sit down with the Shia leadership
after Janabi convenes his June 9 meeting to review the
results and press for progress. Janabi was optimistic, and
he has grounds for hope after the strong turnout at his June
2 session, but he may be overly optimistic about the prospect
for results on June 9. The Sunni Arabs were never able to
come together on an accepted list of ministers for Jafari's
government, so it is unlikely that they will achieve such
harmony on their nominees for this committee. Furthermore,
other Sunni contacts are already grumbling to us that Janabi
is biased toward the National Dialogue Council at the expense
of other important Sunni Arab voices. Harmony may be
elusive, but Janabi is to our eyes making an honest effort to
look beyond the constitution and use this process to make a
major step forward on Sunni Arab inclusion in the entire
political process. For the time being we are giving Janabi
some political space, while continuing our engagement with
ITG leaders and those of other political groupings to move
the Sunni inclusion and constitution drafting process
forward. END COMMENT.


4. (U) REO HILLA, REO BASRA, REO MOSUL, and REO KIRKUK,
minimize considered.
Satterfield