Megon found that this
had fallen through
UNCLASSIFIED
PROG: 19 December 2003
the cracks -
DRAFTER: Stratcom/Governance
AUTHORIZED: PBremer
Recleared w/
CLEARED: CHeatly; SCarpenter; EFritschle; RJones
Scarpenter; Eritschle; Riones governance t
FROM:
HEADQUARTERS COALITION BROVISTONAL AUTHORITY SHATCOMM
TO :
SECDEF WASHDC
SECSTATE WASHDC
NSC WASHDC
& resent
INFO:
RUCNRAQ/ IRAQ COLLECTIVE
117/04
UNCLAS HQ CPA 0398
E.0.: 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, IZ
SUBJECT: Communications Plan for the GC-CPA November 15
Agreement
1. Summary. CPA's Communications plan on the November 15
GC-CPA Agreement is divided into three phases and has
several overarching themes. The plan targets key audiences,
including women and Sunnis; we will maximize use of Iraqis
in delivering a message promising future sovereignty and
Rollout has started with distribution of over
democracy.
one million leaflets of a fact sheet through established
CPA, Coalition Forces and Iraqi civilian networks.
Preliminary feedback from focus groups and polling
indicates general acceptance of the Nov 15 political
agreement, but a need to overcome disinterest in politics.
to fund the campaign's USD 3.5 million budget
CPA hopes
within existing resources. End summary.
2. Implementing an information campaign on the November 15
Agreement between the Iraqi Governing Council and CPA
presents a number of challenges. Despite intense debate
within the Governing Council (GC), most Iraqis are ignorant
of even the basic framework of the November 15 Agreement.
After decades of life under Saddam, they feel little
connection to national politics, and what connection they
have is primarily negative. Most do not know GC members
except as members of prominent families or notable
There is no one national "leader" on whom
oppositionists.
There are
we can rely to convey our message.
local/municipal and provincial councils throughout Iraq
where debate and political engagement have begun, but they
are focused on local
issues such as electricity, water,

jobs and security. The national political process remains
remote and unconnected to daily life.
3. Communications between Baghdad and the provinces remain
slow and difficult in the absence of working phone
connections. Only one-third of the population has access
to satellite TV and less than 3% have access to the
In some rural areas, even newspaper delivery is
sparse and sporadic. Our first goals, therefore, are to
educate the public on the Agreement and begin the process
It will be
of engaging them on their political future.
critical that Al Iraqiyah is up to the task of delivering
our message. We have divided our information campaign into
phases that correspond to key dates in the Agreement but
with overarching themes that cover the whole campaign. It
is designed to be flexible to changing needs.
Themes
4. Key themes underpin the whole campaign:
--empowerment of the Iraqi people in choosing their first
representative government in decades;
--reassurance that the country will be secure from internal
and external threat;
--guarantees that basic rights and freedoms will be
protected;
--the rule of law will replace dictatorship, and;
--creation of the new government will trigger the return of
the country to complete Iraqi control (sovereignity).
The capture of Saddam Hussein also presents an unparalleled
opportunity to emphasize the theme of reconciliation, the
closure of a dark chapter in Iraq's history and the
of a new brighter future
Phase I (December - 28 February)
The first task is to explain the outline of the
The distribution
transitional process to the Iragi people.
of over one million leaflets, posters and advertisements of
a fact sheet describing the process and its basic
characteristics is already well under way with widespread
distribution by Iraqi ministries, NGOs, Coalition Forces,
Other
and local governing bodies.
CPA representatives,

conduits being used to explain the process are a regularly
scheduled "Iraqiya" TV discussion show to explain and
discuss both the importance and details of the process;
television and radio interviews with Governing Council
members, Amb Bremer, Ministers and other experts; and
further television and radio political programming with a
variety of participants. At the same time, we have also
launched a civic education campaign to distribute materials
on democracy building, human rights awareness, and the
roles/responsibilities of citizens.
The participation and ownership of Iraqis, individually
and communally, is critical to the success of the whole
electoral process.
series of town hall dialogues
involving local leaders and citizens is being organized
across Iraq with the first meeting planned for Basra on 29
This will be followed by similar events in Mosul
Dec 03.
(12 Jan 04) and Baghdad (26 Jan 04). Planning is also
underway to conduct subsequent meetings in Sunni and
Kurdish areas (Diyala and Erbil). The aim is to hold town
hall dialogues in all 18 governorates. The first three
meetings will be filmed for a TV documentary but all of
these events will be covered by local and national TV and
regional/satellite TV when we can get them to do so. Aside
from these events, local initiatives will be strongly
encouraged all over the country.
Phase II (28 February - 31 May)
_-------
7. Phase II will cover the period to the election of the
transition assembly.
In this crucial phase the Iraqi
people not only need to approve of the process but also
must actively become engaged in it.
the activities conducted earlier including the polls, focus
groups and town hall meetings will allow us to identify
areas of confusion or concern. Messaging in the form of
clarifications
and
answers to previously raised questions
will be delivered using the techniques most
successfully
employed in the first phase to stimulate discussion, debate,
and participation, while media coverage will be used both
to deliver such messaging and to highlight the ongoing
caucus process.
The civic education process will continue.
Phase III (31 May - 1 July) and beyond

8. In this phase the credibility of the process and of the
new assemoly needs to be reinforced and the engagement of
the population sustained into the transition to Iraci
sovereignty.
The reassurance theme will be very important
in this phase, particularly if the security situation is
The requirement remains for the
still difficult.
information campaign to continue beyond 1 July supported by
post-CPA structures.
Interlocutors
9. Above all, this is an Iraqi process and wherever
possible it should be led by Iraqis. CPA has briefed the
media plan to the Governing Council, which has provided
helpful input to improve the plan. The CPA team in each
governorate is forming an advisory council of Iraqis to
provide input into the media campaign and enable us to
Focus groups will be
better target local audiences.
conducted by Iraqis; the town halls will be run by Iraqi
GC members and Ministers
moderators for Iraqi audiences.
are being encouraged to do public outreach in local offices.
We are establishing GC Outreach Centers in all 18
governorates to provide an all-Iraqi conduit for
information. We will also engage civil society
organizations and NGOs, targeting, in particular, women's
groups and civil society in the Sunni areas.
10. CPA/GC teams will take the message to provincial and
town councils and engage citizens through smaller town hall
events, debates on local TV and radio, and sustained
CJTF-7 and its
interaction with their constituencies.
Major Subordinate Commands (MSCs) have been directed to
conduct engagements of key leaders and the populace using
provided themes, messages and talking points.
versions of materials were included for MSCs to inject into
local media. MSCs have now received the centrally produced
and are
currently disseminating these across
CPA products
the Iragi theatre.
Al Iraqiyah
11.
Al Iraqiyah's ability to deliver our message will be
integral in all phases of the campaign. Initial
explanatory interview programs on radio and TV will
the
describe
Edited broadcasts of Town
electoral process.

Hall meetings should facilitate community dialogue and
pique interest in political participation.
Iraqi Governing
members and ministers will be heavily involved by
Council
conducting 4-5 minute discussions on radio and through
We will establish a "countdown
weekly columns in Al Sabah.
to sovereignty" graphic to be used as a backdrop on all
relevant political programming. All Al Iraqiyah media will
broadcast or print public service announcements throughout
the transition.
Focus Groups
-—
Two sets of focus groups (one for males and one for
12.
females each of 24 people) have been conducted in two
cities with six more planned in December and January.
Initial findings, which must be carefully caveated,
indicate that the participants liked the idea of elections
but were less concerned with the details of what they were
There was concern for offending religious
voting for.
leaders, although women in particular said that they would
defy their religious leaders in secret.
Neither group
mentioned any part of the Agreement that was prohibitively
difficult to understand and felt that the GC should be
given a chance. Both groups saw the Coalition Forces (CF)
as an essential component to restoring security but the
women transferred lawlessness to their perception of
democracy.
"We care about democracy, but there is nothing
real" This is in reference to security - they saw the lack
of security as evidence that democracy is not real in Iraq.
Polling
Five reliable polls tell us that Iraqis want a
13.
democratic government, but (per November/December national
survey by Oxford Research International) when asked to name
three priorities the next 12 months, public security (84
percent), rebuilding the infrastructure (57 percent) and
that most people in this country can make a decent
ensuring
living (39) all came in ahead of "regaining Iraqi control
over governing this country" (28 percent), and only 40
percent described themselves as "very interested or
somewhat interested" in politics. Other polls show similar
priorities; security is always the first priority.

14. We plan to field 20-question polls twice monthly
Our next poll goes to the field before the
end of the month and will be the first with questions
related to Saddam's capture. Additionally, Oxford Research
plans another national sample with results expected in mid-
to-late February.
Gallup International will begin multi-
city polling within a few weeks.
15.
We estimate the total cost of this campaign to be
about $3.5 million. CPA is exploring ways of funding this
within existing resources.
BREMER
BT