HUMMAM HAMMOUDI DISCUSSES LEGISLATIVE AGENDA FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 004219 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/30/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV IZ SUBJECT: HUMMAM HAMMOUDI DISCUSSES LEGISLATIVE AGENDA FOR NEW YEAR AND VIEWS ON KRG-IIP AGREEMENT REF: A. BAGHDAD 3459 ¶B. BAGHDAD 4193 Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Robert Waller for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Hummam Hammoudi, ISCI's deputy bloc leader, confirmed on December 27 that ISCI would vote in favor of the de-Ba'athification law. "We wrote it, so how could we not support it?" Hammoudi chuckled. Hammoudi said there was no chance that either the Fadhila or Sadrist blocs would support the law, but said that there would be sufficient votes to pass it despite their opposition. He was also optimistic a compromise on competing drafts of the Provincial Powers law would be reached soon between the party blocs -- indeed, he claimed that the last two or three points of contention would have already been ironed out if not for the hajj/eid break. Hammoudi predicted that a draft elections law would soon be approved by the Council of Ministers and referred to the Council of Representatives; he further predicted that new provincial elections would be held during the last four months of 2008. He complained that the International High Electoral Commission has been politicized by various political parties (e.g., the Sadrists),and noted that Sheikh Ahmed Abu Risha recently told him that he was almost ready to burn down an IHEC office in Anbar province that he claimed was under IIP control. ¶2. (C) Regarding the December 24 agreement between the KRG and IIP to cooperate on measures related to national reconciliation, Hammoudi assessed that the Kurds got the best end of the deal, that the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) had achieved a partial victory, and that the deal was neutral so far as the GOI was concerned (Hammoudi said that the agreement could turn out to be a boon or a burden for the GOI, adding "but anything that puts pressure on Maliki is good.") Hammoudi said the deal should be seen as a step towards splitting IIP away from other elements of Tawafuq and into the Group of Four (ISCI, Dawa, PUK, KDP) bloc. On a different topic, Hammoudi said he was ready to assist in reviving the Preparatory Group (i.e., the political deputies of the five major parties) and said it would be useful if the Ambassador and S/I Satterfield were present to keep the deputies focused on the legislative agenda. CROCKER