PM MALIKI WEIGHS IN ON DE-BATH RULING

					  C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 002690 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/27/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM IZ
SUBJECT: PM MALIKI WEIGHS IN ON DE-BATH RULING 
 
REF: 05 BAGHDAD 5131 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
					

1. (C) Five party leaders from the Iraqiyya list met with
Ambassador Khalilzad on July 22 to ask for assistance in
reversing De-Ba'thification rulings that prevented three of
them from taking their CoR seats. Adnan al-Janabi, Rasim
al-Awadi, Saad al-Janabi, (the three who were de-Bathed)
joined Iraqiyya CoR member Jamal al-Din and former Minister
of Interior Falah al-Nakib to describe their appeal to PM
Maliki. Iraqiyya must fill two CoR slots vacated by members
who joined the government and would like the seats to go to
Adnan al-Janabi and Rashin al-Awadi. They said they asked PM
Maliki to reverse the ruling from the Supreme National
Committee for De-Ba'thification (SNCD) since neither were
ever Ba'th party members and the SNCD never provided any
evidence to support its determination (reftel). Maliki told
them he had no authority to issue such a decree but would be
willing to issue a letter asking the SNCD to review its
ruling. He had not yet done so. Jamal al-Din said that the
SG of the SNCD told him that the Committee would look
favorably on any request from the PM, who was until recently
one of the most active members of the SNCD.



2. (C) The Ambassador said he will raise the issue with the
PM but also recommended that Iraqiyya develop a coalition to
modify the SNCD as called for in the agreement before the
vote on the constitution. The Ambassador said he believed
that if Tawafuq, the Kurds, Iraqiyya, and Mutlaq's Hawar
cooperated; they would have enough votes to abolish the SNCD.
The Ambassador raised the Iraqiyya issue with Maliki later
in the day.



3. (C) Saad al-Janabi provided Poloff on July 25 with a copy
of a handwritten letter from PM Maliki to SNCD asking them to
review the ruling for Adnan al-Janabi and Rasim al-Awadi. In
the letter, Maliki used ambiguous language and asked the SNCD
to either cancel the ruling or report on the ruling -
depending on how the phrase is interpreted. PolFSN contacted
the Secretary General of the SNCD and was told that a
response will be ready in 7-10 days.



4. (C) COMMENT: Prior to becoming Prime Minister, Nuri
al-Maliki strongly supported de-Ba'thification. His
willingness to become involved in this case may reflect a
shift in his thinking towards resolving contentious
de-Ba'thification issue. END COMMENT.
SCOBEY