RESOLVE AND RECRIMINATIONS BOTH IN THE AIR AS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 000866 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM IZ SUBJECT: RESOLVE AND RECRIMINATIONS BOTH IN THE AIR AS COUNCIL OF REPRESENTATIVES CONVENES ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY AND COMMENT: Like so many carefully scripted events in Iraqi politics, the inauguration of the Council of Representatives on March 16 began poetically, had its moments of bickering over rules and procedures, and then spilled out into the hallway and onto the airwaves. After weeks of debate over when to convene the parliament, who could convene the parliament, and what the parliament ought to do, Iraq's newly elected 275 representatives found themselves still enmeshed in debate and discussion as they gathered before a flower-decorated stage inside Baghdad's Convention Center. But ongoing disagreements did not drown out a recording of the national anthem nor dent the enthusiasm of an extraordinarily wide and representative group of newly-minted parliamentarians from 12 disparate electoral lists. ¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY AND COMMENT CONTINUED: By the end of the day, all of the delegates agreed on the outcome: Iraq had met its constitutional requirement to convene its new parliament. The parliament is now left in "open session" until Iraq's leaders decide to re-convene it. Government formation negotiations will resume March 17, but a new wild card may come into play: several members frustrated with the prolonged talks say they may use a provision in the parliament's by-laws to force the parliament to reconvene and vote through a cabinet if the political leadership fails to show progress in the next few weeks. In all, the session combined the backroom dealing with the public and peaceful display of political differences in an elected legislature that mark Iraq's evolving democratic practices. END SUMMARY AND COMMENT. -------------- The Council Convenes -------------- ¶3. (SBU) The inaugural session of Iraq's new Council of Representatives on March 16 lasted less than one hour, but that was more than enough time for rhetoric to soar and sectarian differences to shine through in Baghdad's Convention Center. This cable is offered as a snapshot of another milestone in an embattled Iraq's political evolution. -------------- The Kurds Arrive With a Complaint -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Kurdish delegates arrived at the Convention Center March 17 with small black ribbons affixed to their lapels and a letter of protest in their pockets. As the crowd milled and the press photographed, Kurdistan Islamic Union representative Muhamammad Mahmud greeted Poloff in the Convention Center's main hall and promptly passed a copy of a letter he had passed to the speaker demanding a strong remembrance of the Halabja massacre. They would see their demand met immediately. ¶5. (SBU) The session opened with a moment of silence for the victims of Halabja, but after that gesture had passed, several Kurdish attendees were still aggrieved. The speaker was neglecting to translate the session in Kurdish, they pointed out, a step that had been taken at the opening of last year's Transitional National Assembly. It was unclear at the end of the day if the translation problem was an oversight or intentional, but the parliament's new Kurdish translator was left at the side of the stage during the ceremony without the role he thought he would play. -------------- Pachachi Warns Of Danger Of Civil War -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Outgoing National Assembly Speaker Hachim al- Hasani made a valiant effort to launch the proceedings on a patriotic note with an eloquent speech that praised the work of the body he had led. He predicted success for the parliament taking its place and even composed a poem for the occasion that proclaimed in eloquent classical Arabic, "Baghdad, beacon and pride of Iraq, you remain exalted in the finest garments/ O Lord, unify our people and our country, and grant as Your favor a clear light." But Hasani's speech also included a brief mention of the need to review Iraq's constitution, words that surely grated on the ears of Shia coalition delegates already unsettled by a session they had pushed off, threatened to boycott and now saw being led by Sunni Arabs. BAGHDAD 00000866 002 OF 003 ¶7. (SBU) And so when Adnan Pachachi took the stage as the session's eldest member and honorary chair, patience was already fraying. Rather than delve straight into administering the oath for the new parliament, Pachachi swerved into a political address that warned of the danger of civil war, trumpeted the need to review the constitution, and bluntly called for a restructuring of Iraq's security services and a halt to "death squads." When he veered back to his prepared remarks and called for quick work to form a national unity government, the patience of the Shia crowd -- which included the commander of the Ministry of Interior's "Commando" forces -- had ended. Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim shouted out from his seat for Pachachi to follow the body's by-laws and get to the oath of office. Pachachi paused, said he was within his rights delivering his remarks, and completed his speech before calling a representative of the Higher Judicial Council to the stage to administer the oath. -------------- An Objection Emerges From the Shia -------------- ¶8. (SBU) The oath itself -- a subject of prolonged dispute during Iraq's constitution negotiations -- seemed at first to come off without a hitch. The members rose, the words were read and repeated, and the crowd was seated as cameras flashed. But then, from the back of the hall, Constitution Committee Chairman Humam al-Hammudi rose in protest, claiming that the representative of the Higher Judicial Council had diverged from the proper oath and misread the text. Hammudi claimed the judge had omitted a preposition and rephrased the invocation. ¶9. (SBU) His objection was more than grammatical. The constitution, at Shia insistence, stipulates that the oath open with the words, "In the name of God the lofty and supreme." The word "lofty," ('ali' in Arabic) is an uncommon appendage to the invocation, and it is drawn from the Quran. The term resonates well to many Shia because it calls to mind the name of the Imam Ali, but Sunni negotiators found it grating during the negotiations, another example of sectarian wordsmithing in a document that they said ought to represent all Iraqis. After a few minutes of confusion on the stage it emerged that Hammudi's objection was baseless -- the text had been read correctly and the oath properly administered. When Poloff spoke with Hammudi after the event it appeared the entire objection may have been a gimmick to disrupt the proceedings, draw the cameras, and send a message to the Shia masses watching the Sunni-led event that their leaders were present and prepared in the hall. -------------- The Session "Closes", But Then Again Doesn't -------------- ¶10. (SBU) The event closed moments later but not before a final blunder threw the legality of the proceedings into doubt. Pachachi had been instructed repeatedly by legal aides to suspend the session without "closing" it lest the parliament violate its constitutional requirement to elect a speaker and two deputies in its "first" meeting. Apparently flustered by the interjections from the floor and the confusion on the stage, Pachachi suddenly announced, "The session is closed!" and the delegates rose from their seats. National Assembly Chief of Staff Saif Abd al-Rahman, sitting behind Poloff, gasped, "No!!! He just broke the law! We can't close the session -- it has to stay open!" But none of the delegates streaming toward the doors made an issue of the slip-up. -------------- A New Plot Afoot -------------- ¶11. (SBU) Even as that misstep escaped notice, another legal maneuver was already in the works. KDP parliamentarian and outgoing chairman of the legal committee Muhsin Sa'adun soon approached Poloff amidst a crowd in the convention center cafeteria, where members of opposing blocks had segregated themselves in clusters among the plastic tables and chairs. Gesturing across the room, Sa'adun pointed out that convening the parliament -- even if the session was ceremonial -- had just put a new card in the hands of those pushing for a quick resolution to BAGHDAD 00000866 003 OF 003 government talks. The parliament's current by-laws, he said, allow 50 representatives to petition to convene an "extraordinary" session of the parliament. ¶12. (SBU) Sa'adun noted that he had already heard whispers from well over 50 new parliamentarians who are ready to use that right and re-convene the assembly. They could then seek to vote through a government even if government formation talks stall over the next few weeks, Sa'adun speculated. Those delegates are unlikely to foment unrest if their party bosses call for patience, but Sa'adun's scheme seems to indicate that this wide gallery of enthusiastic new representatives may have already begun to think for itself. KHALILZAD