IRAQI PARLIAMENTARIANS MAKE THEIR CASE IN IRELAND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DUBLIN 000778

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/12/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM IZ EI
SUBJECT: IRAQI PARLIAMENTARIANS MAKE THEIR CASE IN IRELAND


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Classified By: DCM Jonathan Benton for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

Summary and Comment
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1. (U) In a June 18-24 trip sponsored by the International
Republican Institute (IRI) and organized with embassy
assistance, a group of Iraqi parliamentarians visited Ireland
to learn from the Irish experience of reconciliation and to
plead for more Irish assistance. During this visit the group
met with Northern Ireland's main political parties, and
visited its fledgling Assembly. In the Republic, the Irish
government rolled out the red carpet. The group provided
testimony at an open session of the Irish parliament's
Committee on Foreign Affairs and met with the Taoiseach (the
Irish Prime Minister) and Deparment of Foreign Affairs
officials. The Ambassador hosted a coffee bringing the group
together with leading journalists and members of the local
Iraqi community. Their last day in Ireland was spent at the
Glencree Center for Peace and Reconciliation, an NGO engaged
in peace building in Ireland as well as in Haiti, the Middle
East and Sri Lanka. At Glencree, the group participated in
reconciliation exercises and heard Glencree's description of
the steps necessary to build peace, including the necessity
of bringing in people on the extreme edges and victims. The
Iraqis were fascinated and encouraged by what they learned,
asking Glencree if it would consider running workshops in
Iraq. IRI also suggested that it would like to build links
with Glencree.


2. (C) Comment: From our parochial perspective, this visit
was a smashing success. The delegation eloquently made its
case to doubters in the Irish parliament, while galvanizing
the GOI to become a more active proponent within the EU of
assistance to Iraq. Their visit was one of the top stories
in the evening news, with 3-4 on-air minutes. The Irish
Times also ran a story. As for their own goals, the
delegation was especially satisfied with its Glencree
training day. All sides recognize that the Irish and Iraqi
experiences are not parallel; still, the Iraqis were
intrigued by what Glencree said, they participated actively,
and they seemed to gain hope. There is no better way to
persuade Europeans to support Iraq than to let them hear
directly from Iraqis courageously engaged in building their
country. Given the impact the group had here, we would hope
that future visits might be expanded to include stops in
other European capitals.

Press opportunity
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3. (U) To raise the profile of the group's visit, the
Ambassador invited them to a roundtable conversation with
members of the press and the local Iraqi community. At this
event, former Iraqi Foreign Minister Adnan Pachachi outlined
for the audience a generally positive assessment of the
situation in Iraq, highlighting the successful elections,
legislative progress, and statements by the new Prime
Minister Nouri Al-Maliki calling for the disarming of
insurgents. He also provided a fair assessment of the growth
of corruption and the continued struggles to establish
adequate Iraqi security forces. According to Pachachi,
violence will not subside until the Iraqis have confidence in
their own security forces. In terms of Iraqi determination
to pursue democracy, he added that no Iraqi wants to return
to leadership dominated by one leader or one group and that
the current situation is "hard, difficult and hopeless, but
we must persevere, there is no other option."


4. (U) Mr. Redha Jawad Taki, spokesman for the Supreme
Council for the Islamic Revolution of Iraq (SCIRI) told the
audience that the USG-led invasion and subsequent occupation
of Iraq was legitimate under UN Security Council mandates.
He also noted that many of the problems currently faced in
Iraq stem from the desires of individuals, groups, and
nations who seek to use Iraq to address grievances against
the U.S. or the West, and the toll for this global conflict
is paid for in innocent Iraqi blood. He echoed Pachachi's
call for coalition forces to stay in Iraq until Iraqi forces
could provide adequate security for their citizens.


Irish Parliament
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5. (C) Those opposed to U.S. engagement in Iraq dominated
the session in parliament, although the chairman of the
committee and others sought to steer the conversation in a
more positive direction and to encourage the Iraqis. Those
opposed to U.S. engagement cited ongoing violence in Iraq,
the difficulty Western reporters are having getting out of
the Green Zone to report what is "really" happening, and the

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desire of outside countries to reap the benefits of Iraqi
oil. Some, in a veiled reference to the U.S., alluded to
their empathy with Iraqis who have to put up with a powerful
outsider just as the Irish had to suffer under the British
for 800 years. Former FM Pachachi was especially effective.
Rather than tangle with the parliamentarians, with dignity
and authority, he gave an honest picture of the situation in
Iraq, making the same points as at the ambassador's
roundtable. The effect was to help the committee see Iraq
not as a desperate place mucked up by the Americans, but
rather, as a country struggling to come to its feet, with
U.S. assistance, and succeed as a democracy. Following the
formal session, the committee hosted a reception for the
delegation.

Irish Prime Minister and Department of Foreign Affairs
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6. (C) The meeting with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was primarily
a photo op, but we understand the Taoiseach asked the
delegation's help in finding Margaret Hassan's body and fully
investigating the murder. At the DFA, the delegation met
with the Anglo-Irish section to discuss lessons of the Irish
peace process and with the Middle East section to review the
situation in Iraq. The State Secretary hosted a lunch.
According to a DFA official, the GOI was very pleased with
the visit, feeling that the delegation helped give parliament
a different perspective on the situation in Iraq. The GOI
itself was pleased by the amount of press coverage, and by
how harmoniously the delegation was. Given stories out of
Iraq, they had not expected that such a diverse group of
parliamentarians would have gotten on so well together and
avoided one upmanship. Asked the effect of the delegation on
the GOI, this official said that Ireland wants to "put all
its eggs in the basket of this government to try to make it
work," and to be with those in the EU who want to do all they
can to help in reconstruction. He noted, however, the
ongoing quandary of how to provide reconstruction assistance
in the current security environment.

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Iraqi Delegation
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7. (U) The Iraqi delegation included:
--Adnan Pachachi, former Iraqi Foreign Minister and
ex-president of the former Iraqi Governing Council.
--Nawzad S. Rifat, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
--Luay Abdullah Al-Saidy, Iraqi National Accord
--Rafe H. Chiad Al-Eissawi, Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party
--Redha Jawad Taki, Supreme Council for the Islamic
Revolution of Iraq
--Saedi I.A. Barzinji, Kurdistan Democratic Party
--Yonadam Y. Kanna, Assyrian Democratic Movement
--Zuhair M. A. Rushid, Kurdistan Islamic Union
--Walid Al-Shahib, Islamic Dawa Party




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