DPM SHAWAYS DISCUSSES SLOWLY MOVING FORWARD ON THE

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002323 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/02/2016 TAGS: PGOV IZ SUBJECT: DPM SHAWAYS DISCUSSES SLOWLY MOVING FORWARD ON THE NATIONAL POLICY COUNCIL Classified By: Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (S) SUMMARY: In a June 28 meeting with Ambassador, former Deputy Prime Minister and senior Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) parliamentarian Rowsch Shaways discussed suggestions for the rules, administration, and structure of the National Policy Council (NPC). Shaways proposed a two-level structure for the NPC: a larger body consisting of members of the main political blocs (including smaller ethnic parties) and an Executive Committee limited to six or seven members (the President, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Council of Representatives (CoR),and representatives of the four major political blocs (Shia Coalition, Kurdistan Alliance, Tawafuq, and Iraqiyya)). Although the first meeting of the NPC on June 27 did not include a discussion on who would be the General Secretary, Shaways stated that Allawi would be best. Ambassador supported Shaways' efforts. END SUMMARY. -------------- Setting Up the Rules -------------- ¶2. (S) Former Deputy Prime Minister and senior KDP parliamentarian Rowsch Shaways told Ambassador on June 28 that he had been asked to serve on the Rules Committee for the National Policy Council (NPC). Shaways suggested that the NPC would need strong regulations, particularly in regards to attendance - for example, members who are based in Baghdad should not be allowed to send proxies to meetings. One exception to this would be if a member designated someone from the beginning to represent him in the NPC, Shaways said. (NOTE: This clearly would apply to Shaways himself, since as the President of the Kurdistan Region, Masud Barzani would not easily be able to attend NPC meetings. END NOTE.) ¶3. (S) Shaways outlined the requirements of the General Secretary of the NPC: an office, advisers, adequate funding, SIPDIS and a direct line of communication to the President and Prime Minister. The issue of funding became important, Shaways noted, because the NPC should be independent. Although President Jalal Talabani had offered to fund the group from his Presidency budget, Shaways said he believes that the NPC would be seen as more impartial if the funding for the NPC were split between the budgets of the Presidency, the Prime Minister, and the CoR. -------------- Who Will be General Secretary? -------------- ¶4. (S) According to Shaways, a debate over who should be the General Secretary did not happen since neither of the two candidates (former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and former PM Ibrahim Jafari) attended the meeting on June 27. (NOTE: Allawi told Ambassador earlier on June 28 that he did not attend because he did not wish to be put into the position of bargaining for the General Secretary post. Allawi had heard -- as had the Ambassador -- that Jafari had been trying to undermine the previous political agreement to select Allawi as the General Secretary. END NOTE.) Shaways would not speculate on who would win the vote, but he personally supported Allawi. He noted that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki also probably would prefer Allawi, as Jafari would try to undermine al-Maliki. Shaways speculated that a secret ballot might be best. -------------- Debating the Structure -------------- ¶5. (S) Shaways then discussed the question of whether to have two groups within the NPC -- a larger, more inclusive group and a smaller Executive Committee. The current group consists of 18 members now that Hewar's Saleh al-Mutlak was excluded. (NOTE: al-Mutlak was excluded because the NPC was a government body, and al-Mutlak's Hewar bloc had walked out of the CoR. END NOTE) The group is equally split now between the Shia Coalition (9 members) and the other political blocs (9 members). Having two levels within the NPC would resolve the issue of how to include smaller parties in the NPC, Shaways argued. ¶6. (S) Shaways and Ambassador decided that the smaller parties in the CoR, like the Christians or the Turkmen, would feel more included in the process if they were allowed to nominate one or two people to represent them. This larger group would meet once or twice a month. The Executive Committee, on the other hand, would meet more frequently and be limited to six or seven members: the President, the Prime Minister, the Speaker, and representatives of the four major BAGHDAD 00002323 002 OF 002 political groups (Shia Coalition, Kurdistan Alliance, Tawafuq, and Iraqiyya). Shaways suggested Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim, Masud Barzani (with himself as proxy),Tarik al-Hashimi, and Ayad Allawi. -------------- Next Meeting -------------- ¶7. (C) Shaways informed Ambassador that the next formal meeting of the NPC would be on July 15, at which point the NPC would have to vote on the rules of procedure and a General Secretary. Khalilzad