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American-Jewish-Iranian Constitution?

Posted by Maggie (Guest) - Tuesday, August 30 2005, 0:56:29 (CEST)
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August 27, 2005 latimes.com :
THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ
Unyielding Sunnis May Be Overruled
By Ashraf Khalil and Noam N. Levey, Times Staff Writers

BAGHDAD — The stalemate over an Iraqi constitution continued Friday without agreement, after Shiite Arab negotiators presented a compromise proposal on regional autonomy to Sunni Arabs in what was described as a final attempt to gain their approval.

Several Iraqi leaders indicated that the current wording would be placed before Iraqi voters in an Oct. 15 national referendum whether or not Sunni representatives approve.

"This draft must be presented to the people," government spokesman Laith Kubba told Al Arabiya news channel early today.

The outlook for a last-minute consensus appeared bleak.

"If you would think that all the Sunni Arabs on the constitutional drafting committee would say, 'OK, we agree with the others' ... I think this is an illusion," Kubba said. "I think that consensus is almost impossible."

Tariq Hashimi, a Sunni Arab and secretary of the Iraqi Islamic Party, told the news channel, "The suggestions do not reach the minimum of our ambitions."

Sunni Arab representatives have until Sunday to respond, and officials said that one way or another, the draft would be officially presented to the National Assembly on that day.

As the negotiations dragged on Friday, thousands of Iraqis took to the streets in protest. Some of the demonstrations were directly related to the constitution; others called for improved electricity and water service and, in one case, the return of Saddam Hussein.

Followers of populist Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr marched through Baghdad and Basra with placards reading, "Water, Electricity and Gasoline Are Our Simplest Needs."

In Baqubah, a center of frequent insurgent violence and sectarian tension, about 3,000 demonstrators carried posters of Hussein and scrawled slogans on the ground including, "This is an American Jewish Iranian constitution."

And in the northern Iraqi city of Qaraqosh, more than 500 Christian demonstrators protested a perceived slight in the proposed constitution's wording.

The developments over the constitution Friday remained shrouded in the now-familiar confusion and uncertainty that has largely characterized weeks of negotiations over the crucial document.

After midnight, state television broadcast news of an agreement, quickly denied by government officials.

"It's not true," transitional National Assembly Speaker Hachim Hassani told The Times as Al Iraqiya channel announced an accord.

The channel offered congratulations to the Iraqi people and showed stock footage of Iraqis celebrating previous announcements of the much-delayed constitutional draft.

The compromise offered Friday, according to Kurdish negotiator Mahmoud Othman, would enshrine the right of Iraqi provinces to form semiautonomous regions but defer discussions of how they may do so.

The Kurds have held de facto autonomy in provinces in northern Iraq for more than a decade, and Shiites are seeking semi-independence in the oil-rich southern region they dominate. Sunni Arabs, a minority that held power during Hussein's reign, have strongly opposed such plans and fought to remove language in the constitution condemning the Baath Party and Hussein, whose government long oppressed the Kurds and Shiites.

The Shiites, who represent a majority of Iraq's population, have come under intense U.S. pressure to find a solution acceptable to Sunnis — including a phone call from President Bush on Thursday to top Shiite leader Abdelaziz Hakim in Baghdad.

"You could say they've come halfway," Othman said.

Sunni rejection of the revisions would set the stage for Shiites and ethnic Kurds to use their parliamentary majority to approve the document and present it to the Iraqi people in an Oct. 15 referendum.

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