TOP SHIA CLERGY URGE THE FAITHFUL TO APPROVE CONSTITUTION

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 003945 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/23/2025 TAGS: IZ KISL PGOV SUBJECT: TOP SHIA CLERGY URGE THE FAITHFUL TO APPROVE CONSTITUTION Classified By: POL COUNS Robert Ford, reason 1.4 (d) ¶1. (C) Grand Ayatollah Sistani, and other top Shia clerics in Najaf, publicly have urged Iraqis to approve the draft constitution. A member of the Shia Coalition in the National Assembly, Ali Debbagh, told PolCouns that he had met Sistani's son, Mohammed Reda, on 9/22. Mohammed Reda said that Sistani's office had issued the guidance about voting for the draft in the form of a response to a question submitted to the Grand Ayatollah. The guidance reportedly is very short - simply an affirmation that the draft merits the approval of the Iraqi voter. ¶2. (C) Debbagh said that he had asked Mohammed Reda if Debbagh should try to put out word of the Grand Ayatollah's guidance on the media, such as the widely watched al-Arabiyah TV network. According to Debbagh, Mohammed Reda had declined, reasoning that Iraq's Sunni Arabs would react negatively if it appeared to them that the Grand Ayatollah was supporting the draft too strongly. Debbagh also claimed that Mohammed Reda had said that if it appeared that the draft would be defeated in the October 15 referendum Sistani's office might issue stronger guidance to the Shia faithful. ¶3. (C) Debbagh added that he attended a forum in Karbala on the evening of 9/22 at which the attendees expressed solid support for the draft constitution; he stated that after Friday prayers in Karbala on 9/23 there were several small demonstrations pledging to support it at the October 15 poll. ¶4. (C) Comment: Shia Islamist party SCIRI's Furat television, which broke the news about the Sistani guidance on 9/22 evening, reported on the afternoon of 9/23 that the other top Najaf Shia clerics, ayatollahs Mohammed Said al-Hakim, Ishaq al-Fayyad and Bashir an-Najafi, also have come out in support of the draft constitution. The unity among the top Najaf clergy will make it more difficult for lesser Shia clerics, such as the often unpredictable Muqtada as-Sadr, to oppose the draft constitution. Khalilzad