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Iraqis race to finish constitution
19.7.2005
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For Iraq's constitution
writers, meeting their Aug. 15 deadline has become a
hedge against a broader civil war.
BAGHDAD – In the face of seemingly
irreconcilable differences, Iraqi politicians are
working overtime to put together a permanent
constitution that can eventually guide the country
to a peaceful future.
Keeping the political process on track is the only
way to keep an edge vis-à-vis the insurgency, Iraqi
and US officials say. And sticking to the schedule,
increasingly, looks to be the key to preventing
full-scale civil war.
Finding a sectarian compromise appears especially
urgent amid a spike in suicide bombings over the
past week, including Saturday's attack at a gas
station next to a Shiite mosque in Musayib, south of
Baghdad, which killed more than 90.
At each critical juncture in the political process,
the Sunni-dominated insurgency is under pressure to
prove its continued relevance, US officials argue.
However, the main factions on the drafting committee
- Shiites, Kurds, and Sunnis - say they agree on the
rough shape of the constitution. They are now
working "day and night" to hammer out a mutually
acceptable draft by Aug. 15, the deadline for
parliament to approve the document prior to a
nationwide referendum to be held by Oct. 15.
"If you look at the path we were meant to be on,
we're still on it," a Western diplomat in Baghdad
says, despite the three months taken to form a
government after Jan. 30 elections, and further
weeks lost in figuring out how to include the
underrepresented Sunnis in the next step. "Various
groups, for their own reasons, are keen to stick to
the timetable" on the permanent constitution, he
adds.
The US-drafted Transitional Administrative Law (TAL),
which is Iraq's current provisional constitution,
allows the drafting committee to take up to six
extra months, if necessary, before the current
government's term expires. Yet the longer the draft
is delayed, the greater the risk of losing momentum.
Iraq's second parliamentary elections, scheduled for
Dec. 15, might be held off until well into 2006.
"We are a society in crisis. Everybody is worried
about the possibility of civil war," says Sunni
parliamentarian Adnan al-Janabi, elected on the
ticket of Iyad Allawi, the former interim prime
minister. "If we keep to the schedule, not many
people can find an excuse for opting out or
resorting to violence."
Unnecessary delays, however, would "open a Pandora's
box of doubts" about Iraq's long-term viability as a
nation, he says.
Except for the Sunni insurgent fringe, every faction
appears eager to move forward to the constitutional
referendum and the next elections. For many Sunnis,
the elections appear to hold greater importance, as
an opportunity to achieve genuine representation at
a national level.
The General Conference of Sunnis, a loose-knit group
of clerics and politicians, urged Iraq's Sunnis to
register to vote to claim their rightful share in
decisionmaking. Sunnis - the sect that held sway
before the US-led invasion in 2003 - have been
hindered, unlike the Kurds and Shiites, by their
inability to agree among themselves on major
national issues. Shiite parties, in contrast, are
reaching out to their supporters for input on
constitutional issues. More than 1,000 Shiite women
recently gathered to discuss the role they want in
the future Iraq.
According to some members, the committee has already
reached a consensus on the role of religion in the
state. Rather than insisting on Islam as a "source"
of legislation, the country's top Shiite clerics
have said they would accept the line that "no law
may contradict Islam."
Kurdish parties, with deep-rooted secular
traditions, however, say they will accept this only
with an added guarantee that no law will contradict
human rights, democracy, or individual liberty, as
is found in the TAL. Much of the draft is likely to
echo the original US document, which US officials
say the Iraqis "keep going back to" whenever talks
look almost ready to break down.
But everyone agrees that one major issue is still
far from solved: How to define "federalism" as the
structure for governing the country.
While the Kurdish autonomy in the north is assured,
the leading Shiite parties, with a strong base of
voters in southern Iraq, want to see federalism
applied the same way across the country, in part to
keep southern Iraq's oil revenues in Shiite hands.
Sunni members, such as Mr. Janabi, say they can
accept special status for the Kurds, but not the
"splintering of Iraq."
Rather than empowering provincial or regional
governments, some Sunni members would like to see
national parliamentary seats tied to provinces. This
way, the Sunni triangle would get its fair share of
seats, even if insurgents once again terrorized
voters into staying home on Election Day.
The Kurdish-Shiite divide over federalism also
raises another potentially explosive question: What
will become of Kirkuk? The Kurds hope to add the
oil-rich northern city, which they claim as their
historic capital, to their autonomous
self-government zone.
But at this point, neither side wants to bring up
Kirkuk.
"Nobody thinks it'll be resolved, so it's not a big
deal," the Western diplomat asserts. In his view,
this poses no threat to the critical constitutional
draft. "A constitution doesn't have to solve every
issue. It just has to set up mechanisms so issues
can be addressed."
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