08-F-1338 IO Campaign for the November 15 Agreement Dec 15 2003

MEMO December 15, 2003 Governance Teams TO: FROM: CPA Governance & Strategic Communications RE: IO Campaign for the November 15 Agreement Thank you for your patience in waiting for materials to distribute to publicize the November 15 GC-CPA Agreement on the future of the political process. We have now launched the IO campaign that was briefed at the last Regional Commanders Coordination meeting. Phase One of the campaign is aimed at educating the Iragi public on the Agreement and encouraging debate on the way ahead. With the Governing Council, we are taking the following actions: We are distributing one million one-page flyers and 50,000 posters through a variety of CPA, Coalition Forces, and Iraqi civilian distribution networks. This includes putting the flyers in the food distribution packets. The flyer has been translated into Arabic and Kurdish; we are working on a Turcoman version as well. We will be airing TV and radio public service announcements and interviews with key GC and other Iraqi public figures to support the flyer campaign. Ten days after the flyer is distributed, we will hold focus groups, conducted by RTI, around the country to test our message and identify areas of public confusion and concern. A schedule of the first round of the focus groups is attached. This will be supplemented by focus groups at later stages of the IO campaign. We will also be conducting polls on Iraqi attitudes toward the political process. On December 29, we will hold the first of three town meetings in Basra that will be taped for rebroadcast on Al Iraqia. This will be followed by televised town hall meetings in Mosul and Baghdad. We will also host town hall meetings in the Sunni triangle and the Kurdish areas as well as throughout Iraq over the next few months. These sessions mohasizing a national political agenda. vill be hosted by a moderator and will desi to i cal concent i thi Agreement in your own local/provincial councils and can offer assistance with providing Iraqi moderators to help shape the debate. We are launching a broad civic education campaign to address democracy issues. We re distributing mini-libraries in a box and have a variety of other titles on democrac conomics and civil society available to each of you. Additional materials (includin "What is Democracy" and "The Democracy Papers") have already been ordered and will be distributed from now until July. We are also pursuing the development of new materials, targeting all sectors of society. We will move forward with opening Governing Council Outreach Centers in the governorates to provide an all-Iraqi conduit of information about the process. The Governing Council will also start to produce weekly newspaper columns about its activities to increase public awareness of the GC and public confidence that the process is moving forward on schedule. Your active engagement in this IO campaign will be a critical component in the success of this political process. We welcome your suggestions and feedback and ask that you incorporate into your regular reporting information about how the Iraqi public is reacting to the campaign. Any specific reporting you can provide about Iraqi attitudes toward the new political process will be welcome. It is critical to convince the Iraqi public this Agreement is by and for Iraqis. Please engage your Iraqi Advisory Groups in the 10 campaign. Also attached are some Q&As that you may find useful in engaging local audiences. In your discussions about the political process, please stress a few basic themes: • Sovereignty and an end to occupation • Empowerment of the people (elections, a permanent constitution) • Guarantees of basic freedoms (speech, press, religion, organization, gender) • Rule of law (independent judiciary, civilian control of the military, post-Saddam reconciliation of all Iraqis) • Reassurance on security (coalitions forces will stay as invited guests) While we continue discussions with the Governing Council on ways to implement the Agreement, GC members have accepted it and have begun work on drafting the Transitional Administrative Law called for in the Agreement. We are working with the Governing Council to draw up criteria to refresh local and provincial councils to ensure that their role in the caucuses produces delegates to the Transitional National Assembly who reflect the social and political mosaic of their governorates. We also are pursuing other national election-related initiatives to create independent bodies to administer clections, regulate the media (including political advertising) and fight corruption (including financial disclosure requirements for governmental leaders). Thank you again for your support in this effort. Questions and Answers Regarding the November 15 Agreement 1. Does this new agreement mean the Coalition is "cutting and running" from Iraq? • No. The agreement is consistent with what has always been the Coalition's fundamental political objective in Iraq - to restore sovereignty and political authority to a representative Iraqi government as soon as possible, under a legal framework ensuring basic freedom and equality, while helping Iraqis draft a permanent constitution embracing federalism, the separation of powers, democracy, and human rights. • Even after a sovereign Iraqi government is recognized by the end of June 2004, Coalition forces will remain in Iraq at the invitation of that government to help ensure the safety and security of the Iraqi people. We will not leave until our mission is complete. 2. Why did the Coalition change its original seven-step plan to Iraqi sovereignty? • Our original plan called for the recognition of a sovereign Iraqi government after the drafting of a permanent constitution and the conduct of free, direct elections. After extensive consultations with their fellow citizens, the Governing Council made clear to us that the Iraqi people felt strongly that the drafters of Iraq's permanent constitution should be directly elected by the people. • Since these elections will take many months to prepare, we agreed with the Governing Council's suggestion that a representative Iraqi government be chosen through a series of caucuses in each governorate, and that this government be given sovereign powers before the drafting of a new constitution is complete. Under the new plan, direct elections will be held by early 2005 for an Iraqi constitutional convention. This new plan ensures a speedy restoration of Iraq's sovereignty in addition to a fully legitimate and democratic constitutional process. 3. How will security be maintained in Iraq after the CPA dissolves? • In the coming months, the Coalition will work with the Governing Council to write a Security Agreement. This agreement will change the status of Coalition forces from the "occupying power" to an "invited presence." • For as long as the transitional government deems necessary, Coalition forces will remain in Iraq, working closely with Iraq's security forces to ensure the safety of all citizens. 4. What will be the form of the new government? • Ultimately, the form of Iraq's government will be settled by Iraq's constitutional convention. This convention will be directly elected by the Iraqi people, and will write a new and permanent constitution in 2005. • In the period before the constitutional process is completed, Iraq will be governed by a Transitional Administrative Law, to be drafted by the Governing Council in consultation with the CPA. This law will respect the basic freedom and equality of all Iraqis, and will respect the Islamic identity of the majority of the Iraqi people. It will establish a transitional national assembly, an executive branch with a president and/or prime minister and various cabinet ministers, and an independent judiciary. The government will be organized along the principles of federalism and the separation of powers, and it will allow for the devolution of significant authorities to local government. It will also establish civilian control over Iraq's security services. 5. What will be the fate of Iraqi Kurdistan? • The Transitional Administrative Law will set forth the relationship between central and local governing institutions throughout the country. It will take into account the unique status of the Kurdistan region, while at the same time establishing a unified, federal, and democratic Iraq. 6. How will the Transitional Administrative Law approach the role of Islam? • The Transitional Administrative Law will respect the Islamic identity of the majority of the Iraqi people, while guaranteeing complete freedom of worship for all Iraqis. 7. Will women have the right to participate in the political process? • Yes. Women will have full rights to participate, including the right to participate in caucuses on the same basis as men, the right to organize political parties, and the right to serve in the Iraqi transitional government and constitutional convention. 8. How will the caucuses to select representatives for the transitional national assembly be organized? • Each caucus will be convened by an Organizing Committee of distinguished citizens in each governorate. The caucus will be convened on the basis of nominations collected from throughout the governorate. All civic organizations, political parties, unions, university faculties, women's groups, and local councils will be encouraged to hold meetings to nominate their preferred candidates to the Organizing Committee. Each caucus will be broadly representative of the diversity of the governorate, and will include representatives from all major segments of Iraqi society. • Once the caucus convenes, it will select delegates to serve in the transitional national assembly. Each governorate will be allocated delegates proportional to its population. All voting in the caucus will be conducted democratically. • The Transitional Administrative Law will establish the precise mechanisms for organizing the caucuses in each governorate. The CPA will have a role in supervising the caucus procedure, but will not play a part in choosing candidates. 9. How will it be possible to ensure that the Organizing Committee and governorate caucus fairly represent the governorate? • The Organizing Committee will be composed of appointees of the Governing Council, provincial councils and local councils. In the coming months, the CPA will be working with the Governing Council to ensure that Iraq's local governing bodies fairly represent the diversity of each governorate. In some cases, this will require re-selection of local and provincial councils. In other areas, individuals may be added or removed from these councils. Through this process, it will be possible to ensure that the Organizing Committee - and hence the caucus - in each governorate fairly represents the demographic composition of the local population. 10. How many representatives will each governorate have in the transitional national assembly? • The Transitional Administrative Law will determine the overall size of the transitional national assembly. Representatives to this assembly will be apportioned among the 18 governorates according to population. 11. What will happen to the Governing Council after the transitional government is recognized in June 2004? • As noted in the November 15 agreement, the Governing Council will dissolve once the new sovereign transitional government is recognized. Some of its members - though not necessarily all - will likely have won places in the new government. • This peaceful transfer of power will mark an important historical milestone in Iraq's political transformation from dictatorship to democracy. The Governing Council should be saluted for its work on behalf of the country, and its efforts to ensure that a fully sovereign and fully representative Iraqi transitional government takes power as soon as possible. 12. When will Iraq have democratic elections? • The Coalition and Governing Council have already begun work to organize elections in Iraq. They will be held as soon as possible - but no later than March 2005 - to choose members of Iraq's constitutional convention. After the permanent constitution is drafted and ratified by the Iraqi people, a second set of elections will be held to choose members of the new government under that permanent constitution. These elections will take place by the end of 2005. LGP Focus Group Activity For the Transition to Sovereignty Focus Groups Schedule: Two sets of focus groups (one for males and one for females) will be conducted in each of the following eight cities on the dates specified. December 14 1. Basra December 16 2. Najaf December 17 3. Hillah December 19 4. Baghdad December 20 5. Baquba January 4 6. Mosul 7. Sulimaniyah January 6 January 8 8. Irbil Focus Group Methodology Three male and three female moderators will be recruited and trained by LGP. One pair will be for the south/south central (Basra, Nazariya, Najaf, and Hillah). One pair will be for the central (Baghdad and Baquba) and one pair will be for the north (Mosul and Sulimaniyah). They will be conducting the focus groups according to the questions to be defined and outlined by the CPA. A detailed set of instructions will be developed for the moderators, ensuring their understanding of the purpose, the methods, the areas of research, and sub questions to be used. Each evening, the focus group team will review the tapes or transcribed notes, develop a detailed set of summary statements on all the participants in the focus group, specific observations concerning some of the sub groups, (uneducated versus highly educated, younger people versus older, employed versus unemployed, etc), lessons learned that were counter intuitive or unexpected, new questions that might need to be asked in later focus groups, etc. These statements will be sent to CPA and USAID on a daily basis. Focus Group Selection 24 men and 24 women will be recruited in each city, reflecting a broad segment of society by age, education and employment Outcome A general summary of the focus groups will be developed at the conclusion o he firet half of the schedule on or about December 1 gth report on both the individual cities and the overall project will be available in early January. Action Items CPA to determine the five or six key question topics and particular questions if required. In addition to the obvious focus questions, such as "Are you aware of the message?" "Do you understand it?" what other specific questions are required?