DEPUTY SECRETARY CALLS ON VP ABDEL MEHDI FOR

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 001994

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/16/2017
TAGS: ECON EPET IR IZ PGOV PINS PNRG PREL SY XF
SUBJECT: DEPUTY SECRETARY CALLS ON VP ABDEL MEHDI FOR
IMMEDIATE PROGRESS ON RECONCILIATION LEGISLATION


Classified By: Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (C) Summary. The Deputy Secretary pressed Islamic
Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) Vice President Adel Abdel
Mehdi June 12 that Iraqis needed to make this the "last
minute" in the effort to achieve progress on key
reconciliation legislation. Abdel Mehdi replied that
principles of the hydrocarbon law have been agreed upon. The
law could be sent to the Council of Representatives next week
if the Kurds ceased returning to the negotiating table with
revisions to the draft text and were present for negotiation
sessions. Abdel Mehdi agreed to meet the same evening with
Kurdish representative Rowsch Shaways and DCM Daniel
Speckhard to hammer out the details. On Provincial Elections
and de-Baathification reform legislation, Abdel Mehdi said he
believed agreement on the former was more likely in the short
run. The Vice President explained efforts to form a new
Government of Iraq (GOI) moderate front and assured the
Deputy Secretary that Sunnis would not be excluded.
Concerning Iranian intentions, the VP said that he believed
Tehran was sincere in wanting to continue the trilateral
talks, but that it was unlikely to stop supporting activities
to encourage attacks on Coalition Forces in Iraq. End
Summary.

--------------
Hydrocarbons Legislation
--------------


2. (C) The Deputy Secretary pressed VP Abdel Mehdi for GOI
progress on legislative benchmarks. Referring to progress on
Hydrocarbons, Abdel Mehdi pointed to Ambassador, "every time
we meet I think the language on Revenue Management is settled
and then they - the Kurds - send over another revised draft."
Abdel Mehdi explained that on the most recent Revenue
Sharing draft the Kurdish side had come back with several
points of contention on disbursement of surplus revenue,
despite considerable concessions from the Shia alliance
(UIA),such as on automatic transfers from the Central Bank
to the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG). Abdel Mehdi
complained that the Kurds need to work a little for Federal
interests, rather than focus one-hundred-percent on their own
regional interests. He also complained that KRG
Representative Rowsch Shaways' absences from Baghdad
prevented negotiations from proceeding.


3. (C) Ambassador raised USG frustration on Hydrocarbons
progress, pointing out that we hear one thing from one side,
and another thing from the other side. He asked Abdel Mehdi
if it would be helpful to bring the parties together in one
room with the US. The Vice President nodded, "Yes, it will
help, the principles are already there, and you can play a
positive role." As the meeting continued, EmbOff contacted
Shaways who agreed to meet with Abdel Mehdi and DCM at 8:00
p.m. that evening to hammer out an agreement.

--------------
De-Baathification and Provincial Elections
--------------


4. (C) Abdel Mehdi briefed the Deputy Secretary on the status
of Presidency Council deliberations on the draft
de-Baathification reform law. "We continue to work... I
thought we had something," said the VP, explaining that while
he and Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) Vice President Tariq
al-Hashemi usually agree on most issues, "Tariq is
influential but not in full control of the Sunni side." On
Provincial Elections, however, said the VP, "this is
something we can do," and pointed out that he and VP Hashemi
agreed on the issue of including externally and internally
displaced persons (IDPs).

--------------
VP: Moderate Front Will Not Exclude Sunnis
--------------


5. (S) Vice President Abdel Mehdi raised the efforts of Prime
Minister Maliki to build a moderate front GOI coalition bloc
with the PM's Dawa Party, ISCI, PUK, and KDP. In response to
the Deputy Secretary's concern that Sunnis would be excluded,
Abdel Mehdi assured him that this would not be the case.
However, the VP continued, the front was not to be a national
unity government "in the sense that it includes all parties
and cannot accomplish anything." The VP explained that the
front as envisioned would include the three Presidents and
the PM, representing the key Iraqi interests. The four
leaders could then make decisions and develop strategies, and
return to their respective blocs to build support for

BAGHDAD 00001994 002 OF 002


approval in Parliament. Abdel Mehdi characterized the idea
as "practical and constitutional - we need to be inclusive
but also effective." The VP indicated that IIP is in favor
of the bloc and that the larger Sunni alliance, Tawafuq,
accepted the principle of the PM plus the Presidency.

--------------
Abdel Mehdi on Iranian Intentions
--------------


6. (S) The Deputy Secretary asked Abdel Mehdi for his
assessment of Iranian intentions in Iraq. The Vice
President, who visited Iran a month ago, said it was his
impression that Iran wants to continue its dialogue with the
US and that Iranian National Security Director Laranjani was
hopeful the talks would lead to something positive. They say
that they want to be helpful to Iraq, continued Abdel Mehdi,
"however, I think they will continue attacking Americans in
Iraq." As to whether they also targeted Iraqi Security
Forces, the Vice President said "they do not discriminate."


7. (U) This message was cleared by the Deputy Secretary's
staff.

CROCKER