DPM SHAWAYS DISCUSSES SLOWLY MOVING FORWARD ON THE

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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.

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Setting Up the Rules
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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,

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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.

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Who Will be General Secretary?
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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.

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Debating the Structure
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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

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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.

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Next Meeting
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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