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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 001745 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL SOCI PGOV KISL PTER IR IZ
SUBJECT: IRAQI LEADERS CALL FOR UNITY IN CONFRONTING 
VIOLENCE AT COMMEMORATION OF FORMER ISCI FOUNDER 
 
 ¶1.   Summary:  The Ambassador attended the sixth anniversary 
commemoration of the death of Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr 
al-Hakim, the founder of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq 
(ISCI) political movement.  A Who's Who of the political 
class attended the ceremony, PM Maliki addressed the 
importance of overcoming sectarian divisions and confronting 
the common enemy: terrorists who attempt to divide the Iraqi 
nation into sects, ethnic groups or other warring factions. 
In his only reference to the coalition forces, Maliki warned 
that terrorists may be attempting to disrupt Iraq's plans to 
celebrate the June 30 redeployment of coalition forces from 
Iraqi cities.  The PM's call for national vigilance and 
public support for the efforts of the Iraqi army and police 
to provide security in the face of efforts to sow sectarian 
strife was complemented by calls by Sunni and Shi'a clerics 
for Iraqis to embrace each other - as Iraqis - and to act to 
promote national unity.  The Ambassador made brief press 
remarks to the ISCI-affiliated al-Furat television station on 
the importance we attach to the strength of Iraqi political 
and clerical calls for unity. End Summary. 
 
--------------------------- 
Ayatollah of National Unity 
--------------------------- 
 
¶2.  Finance Minister and ISCI member Bayan Jaber presided 
over the commemoration ceremony on June 27 at the ISCI 
compound in Baghdad while ISCI heir-apparent and nephew of 
the departed, Amar al-Hakim, welcomed guests (in the absence 
of his father, Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim, who is terminally ill in 
Tehran).  President Jalal Talabani,  VP Adil Abd al-Mahdi, PM 
Nuri al-Maliki, Speaker Ayad Samaraie, Vice Speaker Arif 
Tayfur, Sunni Waqf director Sheikh Ahmed Abdul-Ghafur 
al-Samaraie, and Shi'a Waqf director Mohamed Saleh al- 
Haidari addressed a mixed audience of politicians  -- among 
them Ahmed Chalabi, former interim PM Ayad Allawi, former IGC 
President Adnan Pachachi - diplomats, and clerics. 
 
------------------------------------- 
Political Message: Combat terrorists; 
Complete Iraqi Sovereignty 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  President Talabani, reading from prepared remarks with 
what seemed a sad world-weariness, opened the political 
speeches with a refrain that echoed in the others that 
followed:  Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim contributed his life to 
toppling the Saddam dictatorship, and died a martyr at the 
hands of terrorists.  These terrorists nearly dealt the death 
knell to Iraqi efforts to build a new, just Iraq by sowing 
sectarian strife.  Talabani called on religious leaders to 
declare those who kill innocents "infidels," and demanded 
that neighboring countries pursue the "criminals" within 
their borders who killed so many Iraqis.  Vice Speaker Tayfur 
read remarks in the name of KRG President Masoud Barzani, who 
called al-Hakim's killing a great loss for the nation.  Both 
Kurdish leaders emphasized the importance of keeping all 
components of the Iraq nation in a federal union. 
 
¶4.  Prime Minister Maliki, in a low voice but with the 
resolute cadence and intonation of a cleric's sermon, 
affirmed that al-Hakim had not died, but remained alive with 
God.  The PM called on all Iraqis to be ready for "martyrdom" 
  in the quest to preserve Iraq and protect its people. 
Connecting al-Hakim's struggle with Saddam and the Baathists, 
Maliki insisted that the current struggle against al-Qaeda 
was just and that dictators and terrorists were cowards 
despised by the ordinary people of Iraq.  Focusing on the 
Qdespised by the ordinary people of Iraq.  Focusing on the 
challenge ahead in the context of recent bombings in Sadr 
City and elsewhere, the PM called for national unity to 
accomplish what al-Hakim died for:  "We have sovereignty, and 
we need to stabilize it."  He evinced conviction that 
terrorists would not be allowed to dampen the joy that Iraqis 
would feel on June 30, 2009, but said that the Iraqi army and 
police forces would need the support from the Iraqi people in 
order to accomplish their mission and complete Iraq's 
sovereignty.  He expressed confidence that Iraqi security 
forces were up to the task before them, and that the 
political process in Iraq would continue.  He ended his 
extemporaneous remarks with an invocation of al-Hakim's name, 
as one who would be watching over Iraq and inspiring Iraqis 
in the days ahead.   Speaker of Parliament Ayad Samaraie paid 
tribute to the al-Hakim family as a "fighting family" that 
had contributed 60 martyrs, and commended Mohammed Baqr 
al-Hakim for keeping a "door open to all" in his effort to 
build a new Iraq. 
 
¶5.  VP Adil Abd al-Mahdi (ISCI) expanded on Maliki's themes, 
emphasizing the overarching theme of "working towards 
justice" and the need to form a government of national unity. 
 He linked the assassination of al-Hakim at the Imam Ali 
 
BAGHDAD 00001745  002 OF 002 
 
 
Mosque in Najjaf six years ago with the recent cold-blooded 
killing "of the poor and the innocent" in Sadr City and Taza, 
and warned of the dangers that a revival of sectarian 
bloodshed.  He discussed the strategy of al-Qaeda leaders 
(mentioning  Zarqawi and Zawahari specifically) of killing 
Shi'a in order to provoke a blind, bloody response, and 
condemned them for their policy of killing Muslims as well as 
non-Muslims.  The goal of the terrorists' explosions is to 
send a clear message that the foreign troops' withdrawal from 
the cities will create chaos and (further) killings.  He said 
recent attacks should be a wake-up call to Iraqi security 
forces to seize the initiative and "stop this cheap killing." 
 The Iraqi people should unite in eradicating terrorism and 
standing in solidarity with the Iraqi armed forces.  He 
berated other countries for their silence about the killings 
in Iraq, and called for them to take real action to stop 
providing arms to terrorists and issuing worthless 
statements. 
 
----------------------------------------- 
Clerical Cohesion Around a Common Message 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  The head of the Sunni Waqf, Sheikh Ahmed Abdul-Ghafur 
al-Samaraie, addressed the mostly-Shi'a audience with a 
powerful call for unity and tolerance.  To make his point, he 
drew attention to the victims of terrorism in terms of 
profession rather than confession:  teachers, students, 
tribal leaders, medical doctors.  Terrorism is the "high tax" 
paid by all Iraqi people in the form of death, fear and 
hunger.  He professed the people of the great Iraqi 
civilization  would withstand such challenges, provided the 
Iraqi people showed each other that they placed value in 
humanity.  He stressed that "the best people are those who 
help others," and put that duty above that of prayer:  "The 
real Muslim is the one who doesn't harm others by his hand or 
his words."  He expressed hope that the al-Hakim anniversary 
would be an opportunity to reaffirm this attribute of Islam. 
Shi'a Waqf leader Mohammed Saleh al Haidari praised his 
colleagues words, ending the commemoration on an ecumenical 
high note. (Note: In a sermon the 27th, al-Haidari explained 
that al-Qaida and the Baathists sought to reignite sectarian 
strike so as to undermine confidence in Iraq as the U.S. 
forces withdraw.) 
 
¶7.  Comment:  ISCI's commemoration of al-Hakim followed a 
string of bombings that has unnerved Iraqis and given 
conspiracy theorists grist for sowing sectarian strife.  The 
refrain heralding the importance of Iraqi unity, the 
cross-confessional denunciation of terrorism and violence, 
and the call for the public to support Iraqi security forces 
are the right messages for Iraqi leaders to deliver on the 
eve of the June 30 redeployment of coalition forces from 
Iraqi cities.  Iraqi leaders have gone a step forward in 
reassuring the public that the Iraqi state is ready to 
shoulder its security responsibilities.  That -- rather than 
the posture of coalition forces -- is now the main message. 
End Comment. 
 
HILL