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U.S. warns top Iraqis not to delay
constitution
1.8.2005
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BAGHDAD - Framers
of Iraq's new constitution said yesterday they need
more time to finish the document, a move that
threatens the political momentum on which Washington
has staked its strategy for drawing down forces from
the country next year.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, however, insisted
that the Aug. 15 deadline for parliament to approve
the draft charter must be met. A showdown was
expected today -- the last day under the interim
constitution for the committee to seek an extension.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld flew to Baghdad on
Wednesday to insist that the Iraqis finish the
constitution on time. But substantial differences
remain among the Sunni Arab, Shi'a and Kurdish
factions despite weeks of intense deliberations.
Underscoring the stakes, the U.S. military announced
yesterday that five more American service members
died in a pair of explosions in Baghdad the day
before. Their deaths brought the number of Americans
killed in the last week to 16.
Members of the drafting committee had been warning
for weeks that although 90 percent of the document
was completed, the 71 members could not agree on a
handful of key issues, including federalism, the
role of Islam, distribution of national wealth and
the name of the country.
With no sign of compromise, committee chairman Humam
Hammoudi said on his way into a meeting that he
would recommend the group ask for a 30-day
extension. After the meeting, one of the framers,
Bahaa al-Araji, said the recommendation had been
accepted.
Araji said Kurdish delegates wanted a six-month
delay -- the maximum amount under the interim
constitution -- but that Shi'as and Sunni Arabs
would accept no more than 30 days.
As word of a possible extension spread, however,
U.S. officials began pressuring the Iraqis to stand
fast by the timetable, Iraqi officials said.
After parliament ratifies the charter, it will be
submitted to a referendum two months later. If
voters approve, a new election will be held in
mid-December, and the United States and its
coalition partners can begin withdrawing forces by
next summer.
Talabani, a Kurd, met yesterday with U.S. Ambassador
Zalmay Khalilzad and then issued a statement
underscoring "the necessity to finish the writing of
the constitution at the scheduled time."
In Washington, the Bush administration said that,
officially, no one has asked for a new timetable for
finishing the constitution.
"The committee continues to meet and we understand
it's making progress," White House spokeswoman
Christie Parell said yesterday. "The president looks
forward to the committee completing its work."
Yet by pressuring the committee to complete the
document on time, the United States risks alienating
factions that might lobby against the charter in the
October referendum. If two-thirds of the people in
any three of the 18 provinces vote against it, the
constitution will be defeated.
The Americans fear that any delay in the
constitutional process would serve as an opening to
insurgents and widen the gulf among ethnic and
religious groups.
In violence yesterday, a car bomb exploded south of
Baghdad, killing five civilians and wounding 10,
including two policemen. A convoy carrying several
members of Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi's
Iraqi National Congress group was ambushed south of
Baghdad, leaving one person dead and three wounded,
his spokesman said.
U.S. Marines used tanks and jet aircraft to attack
insurgents who fired at a patrol with machine guns
from a schoolhouse near Haditha, 140 miles northwest
of Baghdad.
Eleven insurgents were killed, the U.S. military
said without mentioning any American losses.
A Task Force Baghdad soldier was killed Saturday
when a patrol hit a roadside bomb in the southern
Dora neighborhood, a U.S. statement said. Two others
were wounded. Late Saturday night, four soldiers
were killed when a roadside bomb exploded in
southwestern Baghdad.
At least 1,794 members of the U.S. military have
died since the Iraq war began in March 2003,
according to an Associated Press count.
In other developments in Iraq:
Gunmen in Baghdad opened fire on a minibus carrying
Justice Ministry employees who work in the prisons
department, wounding two. Insurgents frequently
target buses carrying government employees or Iraqis
working on U.S. military bases.
In Kirkuk, assailants opened fire on a truck
carrying employees of the local health
administration, killing one and wounding two, police
said. Gunmen also killed an Iraqi translator for
U.S. troops in the south, police said.
In Baquba, one Iraqi soldier was killed and three
others wounded by gunmen after they left their jobs
at a former U.S. base, a Diyala provincial commander
said.
Iraq's national security adviser said yesterday he
expects Saddam Hussein to go on trial before
mid-October and said the trial would be telecast
throughout the Arab world.
Mouwaffak al-Rubaie told CNN's "Late Edition with
Wolf Blitzer" that Iraqis would be able to see that
Saddam has "gone into the past and gone with the
wind."
AP
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