CONSTITUTION OUTREACH PROGRAMMING

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BAGHDAD 003779

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE. NOT FOR INTERNET DISSEMINATION.

STATE FOR NEA, PA - TAPPAN, DRL, INR, IIP, ECA
ALSO PASS USAID

E.0. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KDEM KPAO IZ
SUBJECT: CONSTITUTION OUTREACH PROGRAMMING

REF: A.(C)Basrah 109


1. (LOU) SUMMARY. Over the past few months, post
(principally PAS and USAID) has sponsored or funded
a substantial level of programming relating to
Iraq's current constitutional debate. This
programming has involved airlifting Iraqi officials
to meet with local audiences to discuss the
constitution, encouraging prominent Iraqis to appear
on American TV, USAID-funded technical assistance to
the National Assembly, routine distributions of
Arabic language materials, PAS and USAID small
grants, ECA exchanges, and titles purchased through
State Department Arabic book translation programs.
END SUMMARY.


2. (U) In addition to the talking points, op-eds and
briefings produced here and in Washington over the
past few weeks to reinforce our central USG public
themes and messages relating to the drafting and
ratifying of a new Iraqi constitution, post has also
engaged in parallel program activity to inform
Iraqis and engage them in the process. We have
concentrated our efforts along the lines outlined
below.

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Taking the (Iraqi) Government
To the People
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3. (LOU) Working with Multi-National Force Iraq (MNF-
I - Strategic Effects Directorate) and with the
office of Prime Minister al-Ja'afari's spokesman
(Leith Kubba),post created a joint (U.S.-U.K.-ITG)
communications working group, whose first concrete
project was to launch a joint effort to take members
of the government, members of the national assembly,
and Baghdad-based media out to different provincial
capitals, two-to-three times per week, to interact
with local political leaders and public audiences on
the new constitution. Our regional field colleagues
are providing the on-site planning and support, MNC-
I through MNF-I is providing the airlift (plus most
ground transportation and security),and Embassy PA
is working with the PM spokesman's office to select
the individual participants, including traveling
media.


A. On Monday Aug 29, Dr. Kubba himself, along with
the Minister of Industry and Minerals, Osama Al
Najafi, traveled to Mosul along with ten journalists
(8 Iraqi/pan-Arab and 2 Western) on the inaugural
leg of this program. Both officials were warmly
welcomed by a large crowd on the steps of the
Governing Center enroute to a town meeting inside
where a wide-ranging discussion of the constitution
took place in front of the cameras. In a practice
that has been continued for later visits, Al Najafi
was chosen because of his personal ties to the
visited city. The large number (30) of Mosul-based
media who turned out to follow this program was
partly in response to Al Najafi's personal
popularity. After lunch with local political
leaders and individual media interviews, the
traveling party then visited an Iraqi police
academy. As Baghdad's Ad-Dustour newspaper noted
the next day, "they told the people of Mosul to
participate in the upcoming referendum, by voting
yes or no, because the new constitution is for all
Iraqis."


B. Two days later, Education Minister Dr. Abdul
Falah al Sudani, TNA member Dr. Qusai Abdul Wahab,
and TNA Constitutional Committee member Hussein
Athab Thaban, traveled to the southern city of
Basrah for a similar program. It began with a call
on the governor, Mohammed Mohamed Musbah al-Oweili,
and other prominent Basrawis, both Shia'a and Sunni
(reftel). During their 90-minute town hall forum,
the Baghdad delegation led a discussion on the
importance and inclusiveness of the constitution.
Fifty local media were in attendance, in addition to
the ten who came from Baghdad. TNA member Sheikh
Mansoor al-Kanaan, also present, opened the town
hall discussion with positive statements about the
importance of the constitution, calling it "a
contract between all Iraqis and their government."
After the town hall meeting and lunch, the
delegation visited the Basrah courthouse and
judicial center, currently being rebuilt by the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, with local Basrah
construction firms. The on-site engineer, an Iraqi
woman named Hana Esmail, showed the group around the
80 per cent complete site. Overall, the Basrah
visit was notable for the willingness of local Sunni
leaders to debate their concerns openly.


C. The third trip, on Monday September 5, took the
Minister of Environment and Human Rights, Narmeen
Uthman, and TNA member Mullah Ahmed al-Berznji (a
Sunni Kurd) to Erbil. Working with our regional
embassy office there, Governor Nawazd Hadi set up a
"majlis" (council meeting) for local dignitaries and
later hosted a lunch. The discussion event lasted
two hours, covered by national and local media, as
well as by a BBC crew we brought from Baghdad. A
notable quote from this proceeding came from TNA
member al-Berznji, who told the assembly "We should
not always rely on the Americans, but learn to rely
on ourselves."


D. The fourth trip, on September 7, took Agriculture
Minister Ali Al-Bahadalil and TNA member Dr. Hanan
al-Fatlawi to Hillah. In addition to the usual
events, including another spirited town hall
meeting, this visit also included a tour of a newly
commissioned power substation. Once again our
escorts heard repeated praise for the willingness of
central government officials to travel to the
provinces to interact with local people. A second
stop planned for this day, to Diwaniyah, had to be
postponed due to aircraft problems, but a large
crowd had already been assembled there, and we look
forward to returning to Diwaniyah soon as part of a
future trip.


E. On September 11, Minister of State for Civil
Society Alla Abib Kazim al-Safi, TNA member Sooriya
Abd al-Khadem (Shi'a from Diyala),and TNA member
Moayad al-Obaydi (Sunni from Ba;aqubah) traveled to
Ba'aqubah for a similar program with officials and
invited guests from Diyala province. In addition to
their town hall event, this group toured a primary
care facility being built with USAID funds. Comment
from an Arabic-speaking CNN producer on the trip:
"the people wonder why this was Baghdad's first
official visit..."


F. Other provincial visits are in planning, 2-3 per
week, through the scheduled constitution referendum
date of October 15. Embassy PA and MNF-I continue
to work closely with Embassy regional posts (REOs
and SETs) on visit planning, especially the airlift
details, with each providing an escort officer for
the traveling media. Although actual media coverage
of these events has ranged from very good to light,
the events themselves have invariably been valuable
contributions to our overall effort to reach out to
the Iraqi people to engage in the constitutional
process.

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Facilitating Surrogates
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4. (SBU) Following the completion of the draft
permanent constitution by the Transitional National
Assembly (TNA) on August 28, post approached two
prominent Sunni political leaders, Iraqi
Transitional Government (ITG) Deputy President
Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar and TNA President Hajim al-
Hasani, to speak out publicly on the merits of
supporting the new constitution. Despite busy
travel schedules this month, both have worked
through their staffs and us to make contact with
State/PA for assistance in booking appearances on
American TV news programs to speak about the
constitution.

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USAID Programs
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5. (SBU) In addition to Embassy PA working with the
military here, USAID is funding (total national
governance, constitution and elections portfolio is
currently $126 mission) a wide array of NGO activity
in support of the constitution process. The
majority of USAID's work in Iraq is conducted in
full partnership with local organizations.


A. Technical assistance to the Constitutional
Committee (CC): Facilitated the development of rules
and procedures for the TNA; organized seminars on
legislative drafting; provided 13 international
constitutional experts; prepared legal memoranda for
the CC; held consultations, seminars and workshops
on constitutional development; provided comparative
research and background materials on constitutional
law issues and assistance to the CC; and provided
comprehensive technical assistance to the
Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) to
convene the referendum and follow-on elections.


B. Support to women officials and civic leaders:
Assisted women leaders from the TNA to include
fundamental rights for women in the final document;
supported national workshops for women leaders;
provided advocacy training to groups focused on
strengthening gender equality in the constitution;
conducted seminars for women lawyers on the role of
the constitution in protecting citizen rights;
provided training to women TNA members; provided
expert advisors on the role of women and human
rights in constitution-drafting; developed and
distributed 75,000 copies of its "Popular Guide to
Women and the Constitution;" provided a $500,000
grant to a local NGO association to launch
conferences, leaflet distributions, and television
spots promoting women's rights in a constitutional
democracy; supported training on the CEDAW across
Iraq to raise awareness of international standards
on women's issues; hosted public events to promote
women's political participation and to discuss ways
to promote gender equality; provided small grants to
women's advocacy groups working on the constitution.


C. Support for public outreach and civic education
on the constitution: Assisted the development of a
public communications strategy for the
Constitutional Committee; identified and trained PA
officers; assisted in producing press releases on
the constitutional process; trained staff of the
Constitutional Committee's outreach unit; supported
the convening of constitutional workshops across all
18 governorates (more than 4,770 workshops and
142,601 participants to date, over 1/3 women);
sponsored the collection and data analysis of
100,000 public questionnaires completed by residents
of all 18 governorates; supported the design,
publication, and distribution of 1.35 million print
items on basic concepts of the constitution; weekly
90-minute television programs to promote the
constitutional process; radio programs; televised
town hall meetings; TV talk shows with members of
the Constitutional Committee.


D. Outreach to Sunni Arab areas: working with Sunni
tribal and religious leaders on outreach efforts;
facilitated the delivery of 5,000 Constitutional
Committee posters to Fallujah; sponsored 861
constitutional workshops in Sunni Arab communities
in six governorates, reaching 25,388 participants.

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Routine Distributions
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6. (SBU) Post distributes electronic and hard copies
of the IIP Bureau's Arabic language Washington File
(WF) daily to 79 selected Iraqi recipients,
including content relating to the constitutional
process in Iraq. IIP-sourced material, together
with locally generated content, is routinely
repurposed and posted in Arabic on the Mission
website (http://iraq.usembassy.gov). Post has
ordered and distributed through various networks
large quantities of IIP Arabic language publications
over the past six months, including Democracy Papers
(5,325 copies),Rights of the People (5,432 copies),
Outline of the U.S. Government (3,268 copies),About
America: Constitution of the USA (2,160 copies),and
a Responsible Press Office (1,050 copies).

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PA Section Cultural Projects
And Small Grants
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7. (SBU) The PA Section in Baghdad during FY05 has
awarded more than $177,000 in program grants (not
including travel grants) many in support of projects
related to the constitution process, e.g.,


A. $25,000 to an Iraqi NGO to cover costs to
develop, design, print and distribute a special
countrywide newspaper insert "Principles of
Democracy."


B. $22,000 to an Iraqi NGO to fund a conference in
Basrah on the topic of Federalism.


C. Proposals are pending for additional grants for
a series of conferences on "Women and the
Constitution" and a Film Festival in Sulaimaniya on
Democracy.


8. (SBU) PA Section's cultural office also managed
programs during this fiscal year in direct support
of encouraging Iraqis to participate in the
democratic process:


A. Third Quarter International Visitor Leadership
Group Project (May-June `05) on Federalism that sent
19 Iraqi parliamentarians on a two-week program that
finished just as the constitution drafting process
began.


B. 30 percent ($50,000) of post's total Arabic book
program purchases for this year were for democracy
and constitution-related titles.

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Comment
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9. (LOU) Comment: The above list of programs is not
a comprehensive inventory of everything post has
done in recent months to program on the
constitution. It does not, for example, include
extensive Iraqi and pan-Arab television advertising
supporting the constitution process on which Embassy
PA collaborates with MNF-I's Strategic Effects
Directorate to supervise (and sometimes fund). We
believe it useful to remind at this time just how
much of our total effort to influence public
perceptions and behaviors in Iraq with regard to the
constitution, and the political process generally,
is taking place in channels other than our higher-
visibility, day-to-day relations with the major news
media. End Comment.

Satterfield