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BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- In the highly charged and
fractious climate of today's Iraq, bringing together
a representative group to write a new constitution
is an enormous challenge. Producing a document that
satisfies everyone may prove to be even more
difficult.
Chief among the problems is the crucial question of
how to include Sunni Arabs in the process to lend it
credibility and meet U.S. demands.
But Sunni Arabs, politically marginalized because of
their boycott of January's historic elections, are
setting tough conditions for their participation in
the constitutional process, slowing it down and
raising tensions with the country's Shiite and
Kurdish majority, which dominates parliament and the
government.
Iraq's 275-member National Assembly has until Aug.
15 to draft the charter, which will be put to a
nationwide vote two months later. If adopted, it
will provide the basis for a general election by
Dec. 15, concluding a U.S.-sponsored political
process spanning nearly two years starting with the
adoption in March last year of an interim
constitution.
Riding on the proposed document is the future of
Iraq, a potentially wealthy country prone to
sectarian strife and secessionist sentiment because
of deep ethnic and religious divisions.
''The goal is to arrive at a constitution that will
be accepted in October,'' said Hummam Hammoudi, a
Shiite cleric who heads a parliamentary committee
mandated to draft the document.
''What we're after is a document that has a vision
for Iraq's future, power-sharing and gives
assurances to everyone that their rights are
safeguarded and their chances are equal,'' he said.
Easier said than done.
Like virtually every aspect of public life in Iraq
since Saddam Hussein's ouster, sectarian politics
cast a shadow on the constitutional process as soon
as it got under way with the creation last month of
Hammoudi's committee. The two-year, Sunni-dominated
insurgency also bears on the process, indirectly
giving some Sunni groups with ties to the insurgency
some leverage.
If unhappy with the outcome, Sunni Arabs can vote
against the proposed charter in the four provinces
where they enjoy a majority. Under the interim
constitution, if three of Iraq's 18 provinces reject
the constitution by a two-thirds majority in the
October referendum, parliament must be dissolved and
a new election held.
Already, the Shiite majority on Hammoudi's
55-lawmaker committee have balked at Sunni Arab
conditions for joining, including demands to admit
as many as 25 Sunnis to the panel and give them
voting rights equal to those enjoyed by lawmakers.
''We are the ones who have taken part in the
electoral process and these are our exclusive
rights,'' said Bahaa al-Aaraji, a Shiite deputy and
the committee's coordinator.
''We already have started to write the constitution
and will not wait for the Sunnis to give us their
list of nominees,'' he said.
With little more than two months left before the
deadline, he said 13 would be the ideal number of
Sunni Arabs joining the committee. The 13, he
explained, would join two Sunni Arab lawmakers on
the committee, bringing the total to 15, the same
number of Kurdish members. Iraq's Kurds and Sunni
Arabs account for a similar share -- about 20
percent -- of Iraq's estimated 26 million people.
The committee's own set of conditions for accepting
Sunni Arabs may not go down well either.
Former senior members of Saddam's now-disbanded
Baath party will not be admitted, said al-Aaraji.
Sunni candidates also must have a publicly stated
''positive'' attitude toward the political process
and enjoy the support of their communities, he said.
Sunni leaders, meanwhile, are complaining that a
counterinsurgency campaign by U.S.-backed Iraqi
forces has poisoned the political climate. Prime
Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's government, they
insist, must introduce confidence-building measures
to reassure the community and aid the constitutional
process.
At least 1,000 terror suspects have been detained
since the May 30 start of the crackdown, dubbed
Operation Lightening and carried out by 40,000 Iraqi
troops.
''Many injustices have befallen a large number of
people as a result of the operation,'' said Ayad al-Samaraai,
a senior official of the Iraqi Islamic Party, the
country's largest Sunni Arab party. ''The way
Operation Lightening is conducted is contributing to
existing tensions. I fear the consequences,'' he
told The Associated Press.
Another problem that could dog the process is
conflicting interests.
For example, Iraq's Kurds want federalism enshrined
in the new constitution to protect the autonomy
they've enjoyed in their northern region since 1991.
Shiites and Sunni Arabs see a strong federal system
as a prelude to Iraq's breakup.
Al-Samaraai said Sunni Arabs who join the
constitutional committee should have the right to
vote in parliament, where Sunni Muslims have only 17
of the 275 seats.
Al-Aaraji rejected that demand as a ''legal
impossibility,'' but suggested Sunni Arabs would
have a voice if the expanded committee had to have
consensus on decisions.
www.nytimes.com
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