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OO RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUCNAI #0007/01 0522353
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O 212353Z FEB 07
FM USDEL SECRETARY
TO RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
INFO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 PARTO 000007 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/17/2017 
TAGS:              
IZ, IR 
SUBJECT: (U) SECRETARY RICE'S FEBRUARY 17 MEETING WITH 
FORMER PM ALLAWI 
 
 1.  (U)  Classified by:  Arnold Chacon, Deputy Executive 
Secretary, S/ES, Department of State. Reason 1.4.(d) 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 2.  (U)  February 17, 2007; 12:30; Baghdad, Iraq. 
 
 3.  (U) Participants: 
 
U.S. 
The Secretary 
Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad 
S/I David Satterfield 
Shayna Steinger (Embassy Notetaker) 
 
IRAQ 
Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi 
Adnan Pachachi 
 
 4.  (S) SUMMARY.  In a February 17 meeting at the Embassy, 
the Secretary urged former Prime Minister and head of 
centrist Iraqiyya party Ayad Allawi to reenter Iraqi 
politics in an active manner.  She called on Allawi to 
play a hands-on role in achieving a consensus on urgent 
national reconciliation goals, particularly de- 
baathification reform, hydrocarbons, and provincial 
elections legislation.  The former PM shared his views on 
the current political and security situation, suggesting 
the United States engage regional friends to help contain 
Syrian and Iranian intervention and calling for a 
"rebalancing" of political forces in Iraq.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 5.  (S) Invited by the Secretary to share his perspective 
on the situation in Iraq, former PM Ayad Allawi expressed 
support for the Baghdad surge strategy, but shared his 
view that its success would ultimately be determined by 
"regional elements."  For the surge to succeed, Allawi 
advised the Secretary to enlist Arab states in containing 
Iranian and Syrian influence. 
 
 6. (S) The Secretary explained that the United States is 
indeed working to engage the Gulf states, Jordan, and 
Egypt in supporting Iraq, but stressed that without 
internal reconciliation, what happens outside Iraq will 
 
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not matter.  As leader of the moderate secular party 
Iraqiyya, the Secretary urged Allawi to actively reenter 
Iraqi politics:  saying, "What the Iraqis need right now 
is your hands-on, everyday presence." 
 
 7. (S) Allawi assured the Secretary that he was "here to 
stay."  He said a rebalancing of political forces inside 
Iraq was needed to reverse the spread of sectarianism and 
the institutionalization of militias, and changes in the 
cabinet to address incompetence and corruption. 
Prominent, absentee Iraqiyya CoR member, Adnan Pachachi, 
who accompanied Allawi, commented that current thinking 
within Iraqiyya was toward forming a broad, centrist 
coalition offering Iraqis an alterative to sectarian and 
religious-base parties.  The Secretary strongly urged both 
interlocutors to bring the center to bear in achieving the 
key political priorities of deebathification reform, 
hydrocarbon, and provincial election laws and 
constitutional review. 
 
 8.  (S) Pachachi asked what follows if security is 
achieved in Baghdad.  "The point of the Baghdad security 
plan is not so the U.S. can get out," replied the 
Secretary, "We will be here" continuing to work closely 
 
SIPDIS 
with the Iraqi security forces and support the government. 
Once a sense of security for the population has returned 
to the capital, economic reconstruction and governance 
efforts should be extended to the provincial and local 
levels.  The Secretary pointed out that democracy in a 
country as large as Iraq could not be run from the center 
but would require competent provincial and local 
leadership. 
 
 9. (S) The Secretary emphasized the United States remained 
committed to Iraq, but also made clear that progress on 
key political priorities was urgent given U.S. domestic 
impatience with Iraqi-on-Iraqi violence and the inability 
to reach political compromises.  The Secretary encouraged 
Allawi to waste no time in helping achieve national 
reconciliation.  "The time is now," she said, "Your 
country needs you." 
RICE