VZCZCXRO7500
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK RUEHMOS
DE RUEHGB #0165 0201731
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 201731Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2222
INFO RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000165 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/20/2026 
TAGS: IZ PGOV PNAT
SUBJECT: CONSTITUTION REVIEW SHOULD BE DELAYED SAYS  SUNNI 
HARD-LINE LEADER MUTLAK 
 
REF: BAGHDAD 150 
 
Classified By: PolCouns Robert Ford, reason 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Saleh Mutlak, whose National Iraqi Front (NIF) 
won eleven seats in the December 15 elections, told 
Poloff on January 18 that Constitutional reform should 
be put off until the next Council of Representatives. 
The country cannot focus on the Constitution until 
there is security - the violence must stop, he said. 
Mutlak is recommending that the formation of the 
Constitutional Review Committee, along with the 
timetable for key legislation concerning federalism, 
be put off until the next term of the National 
Assembly, when the country is stable.  He claimed 
violence would erupt after the final election results 
are announced since most Sunni Arabs consider the 
elections to have been fraught with fraud that 
deprived them of many seats.  (Comment:  we think 
there is some hyperbole here.  End Comment.) 
 
¶2. (C) Poloff strongly cautioned Mutlak on his public 
statements, in which he is quoted as saying that he 
supports the insurgency.  Such statements, said 
Poloff, anger the Shia and convince them that Sunni 
Arabs are not suitable partners in governing Iraq. 
The USG must also condemn statements that appear to 
justify the killing of Coalition troops.  As an 
elected member of a legitimate government, Mutlak 
cannot be advocating violence against it.  Mutlak 
denied that he supports the insurgency, claiming that 
he has been misquoted in the media.  Instead, he said, 
he is urging the insurgents to fight Iranians and not 
the Coalition.  He promised to issue statements 
condemning violence and calling on the insurgents to 
stop attacks against the Coalition. 
 
¶3. (C) Mutlak has been meeting recently with political 
leaders in an attempt to forge a governing coalition 
with the Kurds, Sunnis and the Allawi camp.  He 
candidly admitted that there are no current 
negotiations between the Sunnis and the Allawi camp. 
They have no common platform, says Mutlak.  The Sunni 
Tawaffuq is a Sunni religious party - like the Shia 
and Kurds, another sectarian group.  Attempting to 
position himself as a acceptable moderate secular 
leader, Mutlak has met with Shia SCIRI leader Abdul 
Azziz Hakim and Kurd President Talabani to pitch his 
candidacy for President or Prime Minister.  He said he 
was angry that both attacked him publicly afterwards 
saying he doesn't understand why they did that. 
 
¶4. (C) Comment:  Saleh Mutlak is a firebrand whose 
provocative public statements in the election campaign 
have escalated the political tension and perhaps 
contributed to the hardening of positions in both the 
Shia and Sunni camps.  They may also have led to an 
increase in violence.  Breaking from the Iraq National 
Dialogue Council before the December 15 election to 
form his National Iraqi Front, he did reasonably well, 
apparently winning about 11 seats.  But his 
grandstanding and ego have irritated other Sunni Arab 
leaders, even within his current coalition (reftel), 
dimming his chances of emerging as a consensus 
candidate for any national position.  End Comment. 
KHALILZAD