COR ADJOURNS UNTIL DECEMBER 30; GOI OFFICIALS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 003970

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/06/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL IZ
SUBJECT: COR ADJOURNS UNTIL DECEMBER 30; GOI OFFICIALS
PROMISE THAT SESSION WILL CONTINUE INTO JANUARY

REF: A. (A) BAGHDAD SBU O/I OF 12/5/07


B. (B) BAGHDAD 476

C. (C) 06 BAGHDAD 4552

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Patricia A. Butenis for reasons 1.4 (b
) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: On December 6, Speaker Mahmoud Mashadani
abruptly adjourned Iraq's Council of Representatives (CoR)
until December 30. Mashadani's announcement was a bit of a
surprise, as just one day earlier Deputy Speaker Khalid
Attiya indicated to us that he was inclined to use
parliamentary procedure to keep the current CoR session
limping along (with many members away due to the hajj) until
such time as a quorum could again be mustered (a tactic the
CoR used in December 2006). While Mashadani's decision means
that there will be no formal legislative progress during the
next three weeks, the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff and the
CoR Deputy Speaker both assured us on December 5 that the CoR
will continue its regular four month session (set to end on
December 31) into January in order to achieve passage of the
2008 budget as well as the Justice and Accountability Law
(i.e., the de-Ba'athification law). End summary.

CoR Will Stick Around in January
--------------


2. (C) On December 6, CoR Speaker Mahmoud Mashadani abruptly
adjourned the CoR until December 30. Mashadani's announcement
came as a bit of a surprise, since on December 5 Deputy
Speaker Khalid Attiya predicted that the CoR would keep its
current session open, allowing for the possibility of
conducting any business not requiring a vote through the end
of the month, even in the absence of a quorum. (NB: This
tactic worked for the CoR leadership in December 2006; see
Ref C.)


3. (C) Multiple GOI officials assured us December 5 that the
CoR would continue its regular four month session into
January in order to pass key pieces of legislation including
the 2008 budget and the de-Ba'athification law. Dr. Tariq
Abdallah, the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff, told the CDA
that there is agreement within the CoR to continue the
session until both laws are passed. "All signs are positive,
especially on the de-Ba'ath law," he said. Likewise, Deputy
CoR Speaker Khalid Attiya assured PolCouns that the CoR would
compensate for the upcoming hajj and eid by continuing the
regularly scheduled session into at least January. Attiya
made the same pledge to S/I Satterfield (septel follows).
Attiya later gave a press conference in which he publicly
announced the continuation of the CoR session through
January, and reinforced the point during the December 5 CoR
session.

Legal Basis for Extension
--------------


4. (C) As reported ref A, two provisions of the Iraqi
constitution govern extensions of CoR sessions. The first,
Article 57, says that the CoR has "two legislative sessions a
year, lasting eight months." It further states that "the
session in which the general budget is being presented shall
not end until approval of the budget." The second provision,
Article 58, second section, indicates that "the legislative
session of the Council of Representatives may be extended for
no more than 30 days to complete the tasks that require the
extension, based on a request from the President of the
Republic, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the council, or
fifty members of the Council of Representatives."


5. (C) The by-laws which govern the CoR further state in
Article 22, first section, "The CoR has one annual
legislative period with two legislative sessions over eight
months. The first session starts on (the) 1st of March, and
ends on the 30th of June. The second starts from (the) 1st
of September, and ends on the 31st of December." The second
section reiterates, "The legislative term in which the State
General Budget is presented shall not end until after the
approval of the budget." The CoR leadership can therefore
extend the current session because the Budget Law remains
pending.

CoR Attendance
--------------


6. (C) We are seeking attendance data from the CoR staff in
order to analyze attendance patterns over the past month.
Our initial analysis is that while CoR attendance is a
legitimate problem (a point which Deputy Speaker Attiya drove
home to members in yesterday's session),it has not been the
primary impediment to progress on benchmark legislation in
recent weeks. Deputy Speaker Attiyah expressed confidence to

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PolCouns that when a vote is needed, he and the bloc leaders
will be able to ensure sufficient numbers are present to
constitute a quorum.

Comment
--------------


7. (C) Comment: While it would have been preferable for the
CoR members to remain at their desks despite the traditional
hajj/eid break, Mashadani has bowed to what may have been
inevitable. The good news is that, drawing on their
experiences from December 2006 and January 2007, Dr. Tariq
and Sheikh Khalid were visibly upbeat and confident that the
continuation of the CoR session into January would provide
the legislators ample time to finish enacting the budget and
the de-Ba'ath law. Our strategy now should be to focus the
CoR leadership on mustering a quorum when it reconvenes on
December 30 and bringing both pieces of legislation to a
third reading and vote as soon as possible.
BUTENIS