S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 000565

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/17/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL SA IZ
SUBJECT: TALABANI DISCUSSES LATEST ON MODERATE FRONT, PM
MEETING

Classified By: Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani discussed the
latest efforts on a moderate front in a February 11 meeting
with the Ambassador, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih and
Minister of Water Latif Rashid. He gave the Ambassador a
readout of his meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri
al-Maliki, and discussed the draft De-Ba'athification law and
the removal of CoR Speaker Mahmoud Mashhadani. Rashid
discussed Iranian support for clearing the Shatt al-Arab
waterway and the visit of a Palestinian delegation. They
also briefly discussed negotiations on the draft Hydrocarbons
law and the PKK. END SUMMARY.

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Moderate Front
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2. (C) Talabani said the the moderate front concept paper
Prime Minister Barham Salih gave him was good but the PM may
not accept it as written. Salih suggested first giving it to
Hashemi and Mehdi. Talabani said it would be acceptable as
the basis of a discussion. He said he would call a meeting
of the moderate front (including Hashemi, Mehdi, and the PM,
but excluding the CoR Speaker) for February 13, once
Vice-President Abdel Mehdi had returned from An Najaf,
followed by a PCNS meeting later. Talabani and Salih thought
they could have significant progress on the moderate front by
February 17.


3. (S) Asked if a proposed meeting between the Presidency
Council and the PM would discuss the program of a moderate
front, Talabani said first he would consult SCIRI and UIA
leader Abdelaziz al-Hakim. HE said he asked the PM to call
for the meeting and said the PM supports the moderate front.


4. (S) Asked if former Deputy Prime Minister and KDP member
Rowsch Shaways should be included in moderate front meetings,
Talabani said yes, he is KRG President Barzani's
representative, and he has already participated in another
meeting at Hakim's. However, he would have no role in the
Presidency Council meeting with the PM, Talabani said.

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Talabani's Meeting with Maliki
--------------


5. (S) Talabani said he had talked to the PM

earlier that day
who had "opened his heart," and expressed sharp feelings
about the Sadrists. The PM told him "you are like my father"
and asked for advice on dealing with the Sadrists. Salih
claimed that this was the first time he has seen Maliki
really tough on the Sadrists, and called it a "good moment to
push" the PM.


6. (S) Talabani told the Ambassador that the PM understands
the need to explain to the Arab world that they are not
pro-Iranian. Talabani said the PM had sent a delegation to
Saudi Arabia to explain this. He said the PM wanted to
change some of the poor-performing Iraqi Ambassadors such as
the one to Egypt and asked for Talabani's support to engage
SCIRI and Foreign Minister Zebari on this issue.


7. (S) Maliki claimed that there was a conspiracy against him
involving the Sadrists and former Prime Minister Jafari. He
agreed to change ministers at the beginning of the next
session of the CoR. He called for a regular meeting of the
"five" - the PM, Presidency Council and the Minister of State
for National Security - calling it collective leadership.
Talabani told him he needs to be PM for all of Iraq.


8. (S) Talabani said the PM agreed to help finance the Iraqi
Islamic Party (IIP). He said there were good people in the
IIP, but claimed that Hashemi made good relations difficult.
The PM told Talabani that he had met with Ayad Samaraie,
Usama Tikriti and others. He also claimed to have good
relations with Minister of State Rafi al-Isawi.

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Draft De-Ba'athification Law
--------------


9. (S) The Ambassador and Talabani discussed the draft
De-Ba'athification law. The Ambassador promised he would
send Talabani the Embassy's suggested version. Talabani
agreed to review it and distribute his own suggested law by
February 17th.

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Removing CoR Speaker Mashhadani

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10. (S) Talabani said he and the Prime Minister had decided
to remove Council of Representatives (CoR) Speaker Mahmoud
Mashhadani because of his ineffectiveness and his
inappropriate behavior. Talabani told the Ambassador he
agreed with the PM's suggested replacement: Hachim al-Hassani
(Iraqiyya). Talabani and Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih
agreed that Sunni Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi could be
convinced to accept replacing Mashhadani.


11. (S) The Ambassador gave Talabani a readout of the
previous night's meeting with CoR speaker Mashhadani and the
Minister of Defense (MoD) (reftel) in which Mashhadani
threatened the MoD. Talabani condemned Mashhadani's
behavior, but the Ambassador replied that as an elected Sunni
leader Mashhadani does have a right to ask the MoD why he has
not stopped the violence against the Sunnis. Talabani
replied that more Shia have been killed than Sunnis over the
past several months. Rashid agreed saying that Baghdad
residents have told him the Sunni areas have been much better
than Shia areas.

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Clearing the Shatt al-Arab
--------------


12. (C) Rashid told the Ambassador that he had met with the
Iranian Ambassador and agreed to form a joint commission to
cooperate on issues such as the clearing of the Shatt al-Arab
waterway. Rashid warned that the Iranians wanted to
emphasize their own interests in the new commission, but to
balance this he said they would make the commission very
general. He said they agreed to a project clearing the Shatt
al-Arab waterway, but to date the Iranians had only offered
to help with a $1 billion line of credit for the project.
Meanwhile Rashid expressed impatience to begin surveying,
studying, and preparing the project. He said the CoR would
be "silly" if it did not approve funding for this project and
claimed that the Council of Ministers had already given its
approval.


13. (C) He said he told Deputy Salih they should form a
committee with the Transportation and Foreign Ministers to
sit down and work out a plan. The Ambassador urged Rashid to
seek Kuwait's and the other regional Arab countries'
participation in the project.

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Palestinian Delegation
--------------


14. (C) Rashid said a Palestinian delegation had visited Iraq
and been impressed by the freedom, free speech, and standard
of living enjoyed by Iraqis. They were also surprised by the
lack of U.S. interference. Talabani said two members of the
delegation were secular independents who told Talabani, "God
help you among the Islamists" in Iraq. Asked about rumors of
poor treatment of Palestinians in some Baghdad neighborhoods,
Rashid said the Council of Ministers (CoM) had agreed on the
need for better treatment. He told the Palestinians they
needed to get together a committee to present their case to
the CoM.

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Oil Law, PKK
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15. (C) The Ambassador told Talabani the PM would like to
present the draft hydrocarbons law to the CoM by February 15.
Talabani promised to talk to Ashti when he comes to Baghdad
for negotiations and walk him back from his tough rhetoric
and desire to rehash already agreed to parts of the draft
hydrocarbon law. Salih said the so-called "appendices" to
the draft law will be a point of contention.


16. (C) Talabani also briefly discussed the PKK with the
Ambassador, telling him that the KRG will convince the PKK to
maintain its ceasefire.
KHALILZAD