SUNNIS SAY THEY NEED ANOTHER DAY TO SETTLE ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 002604

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/19/2015
TAGS: PGOV PHUM IZ
SUBJECT: SUNNIS SAY THEY NEED ANOTHER DAY TO SETTLE ON
CONSTITUTION COMMITTEE NOMINEES

Classified By: Charge D'Affaires David M. Satterfield for reasons 1.4 (

b) and (d)


1. (C) Two Sunni Arab leaders told Poloff June 19 that they
would need one more day to reach agreement on their nominees
for the TNA Constitution Drafting Committee. Iraqi Islamic
Party leader Naseer al-Ani assured Poloff the names of 15
nominees and 10 expert consultants would be put forward by
June 20. Sunni Shaykh Anwar al-Nada separately told Poloff
that he was confident that the issue would be settled in a
June 20 meeting between all Sunni leaders who have
participated in the dialogue so far.


2. (C) Shaykh Anwar told Poloff that the real reason for the
delay is ongoing maneuvering between political parties vying
for more space on the committee. He said he particularly
resented the fact that three of the five members of the
naming committee had nominated themselves for the committee,
a move that called into question their objectivity. Al-Ani,
a member of the five-member committee assigned to pick the
names, was still sensitive over the concession that Sunni
Arab leaders made by accepting 15 additional members and 10
expert consultants. "We need more time because we are trying
to represent all the different trends of the Sunni community,
and that is difficult to do with only 15 names," he said.


3. (C) COMMENT: We expected some last minute theatrics from
the fractious Sunni Arab community; it would be surprising if
there were none. The Sunni leadership, such as it is, is
still smarting from what they perceive to be a big concession
in accepting 15 representatives. Getting over that
compromise and finalizing a unified list has apparently been
too much for one weekend's work. We are in continuous
contact with our key Sunni and Shia interlocutors to urge as
strongly as possible - invoking senior level USG interest -
that the issue of names be resolved asap, in order to move
forward on drafting the proposed constitution. END COMMENT.


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