DEPUTY SHIA COALITION LEADER DISCUSSES

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 003649 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/08/2017 TAGS: PGOV IZ SUBJECT: DEPUTY SHIA COALITION LEADER DISCUSSES LEGISLATION, VENTS ON CLC PROGRAM Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Ellen Germain for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: Deputy Chairman of the Shia United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) Ali al-Adib told us November 1 that the draft De-Baathification law faced only minor opposition and would likely be enacted before the Council of Representatives (CoR) adjourns in late December. After we urged Adib, who functions as UIA's CoR floor manager, to exercise decisive leadership to ensure timely CoR approval of key benchmark legislation, he warned of bleak prospects for early passage of draft bills on Provincial Powers, Hydrocarbons, and Distribution of Financial Resources, blaming Kurdish CoR blocs for obstructing progress on the latter two bills. Adib stated that a GOI draft bill regarding CPA 17/immunity had not reached the CoR, but that it would likely receive an enthusiastic reception when formally submitted. He used the immunity issue to criticize the Concerned Local Citizen's program (CLC) and recent MNF-I attacks that he claimed resulted in civilian casualties. We corrected his faulty perceptions about the CLC program. End Summary. Legislative Roundup -------------- ¶2. (C) After we pressed hard for rapid CoR movement on key pending draft laws, Adib said the CoR would likely have a first reading of the draft De-Baathification Law (the Law of Accountability and Justice) in the coming week. A well-dressed man with a regal bearing and ice-cold eyes, Adib predicted the Sadrist bloc would insist on "minor changes" to the text but that the bill enjoyed solid UIA/Kurdish "Group of Four" support and faced opposition only from minor Sunni factions led by Khallaf al-Alyan and Saleh al-Mutlaq. He said the bill would likely be enacted before the CoR adjourns in late December. He was less sanguine about prospects for speedy passage of draft bills on Provincial Powers, Hydrocarbons, and Distribution of Financial Resources. On Provincial Powers, he said that "abuses of power" by Basrah's Governor Waeli had led lawmakers to take a more careful look at the degree of authority they were willing to extend to provincial governors and that there was currently no consensus on this issue. He blamed Kurdish "selfishness" for stalled progress on the Hydrocarbons Framework Law (Kurdish insistence on keeping all proceeds from new oil and gas fields located in the Kurdish region) and the Law on Distribution of Financial Resources (the sticking points are "unreasonable" Kurdish demands regarding their claimed share of GOI revenues, and a squabble over the amount of GOI investment in critical infrastructure). Adib complained that the GOI had not met the October 15 deadline of submitting a draft 2008 budget to the CoR, adding that the CoR may have to postpone its scheduled late-December adjournment in order to debate and pass the budget. Miffed About Immunities, Raids, and CLCs -------------- ¶3. (C) Adib stated that a much-publicized GOI draft bill regarding CPA Order 17, which would revoke various immunities granted to foreign private security contractors, had not been formally submitted to the CoR but would likely receive an enthusiastic reception when it reaches the legislature. He used this issue to criticize what he claimed were "abusive practices" by American private security contractors and recent Coalition Force raids that resulted in civilian casualties. Adib said that such events had embarrassed the GOI and had further alienated CoR and Iraqi public attitudes toward the U.S. Like virtually every other Shia political figure we have spoken with, Adib expressed intense skepticism over the Concerned Local Citizen's (CLC) program, claiming that it was viewed by the Shia masses as "arming" of Sunni groups. We rebutted this claim and explained that we are working and coordinating closely with the GOI on CLC formation and operation. BUTENIS