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No constitution in sight with mere hours
to go
15.8.2005
By Liz Sly, Tribune foreign correspondent
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BAGHDAD - Less
than 24 hours before the deadline for Iraqis to
complete their new constitution, no agreement was in
sight on the core issues of religion, governance and
the distribution of powers dividing the factions.
Representatives of the Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni
blocs met in closed discussion throughout the day
without reporting any significant progress, despite
a promise the previous day by Iraq's President Jalal
Talabani that a draft would be presented to the
National Assembly for debate Sunday.
An assembly session was set for 6 p.m. Monday, which
allowed little time for legislators to discuss
whatever draft emerged from the sessions,
negotiators said.
Doubts grew, however, about the chances of reaching
an agreement by Monday that would be accepted by the
Sunnis.
The bloc has indicated it would oppose a
constitution that enshrines Shiite and Kurdish
demands for federalism. It wants the issue to be
postponed for discussion later, said Sunni
negotiator Saleh Mutlaq.
"The differences are still big," he said. "The only
way to save the country is for everyone to accept
the views of everyone else."
A constitution that wins the support of the
embittered Sunni minority is central to America's
strategy for undermining the insurgency and reducing
the violence so that American troops can start going
home next year.
U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad met with several
political leaders, sustaining pressure to meet the
deadline.
He later appeared on a few American talk shows
Sunday to express optimism that the deadline would
be met, though he struck a less certain note than he
has in the past.
"Iraqis tell me that they can finish it, and they
will finish it tomorrow," he told ABC's "This Week"
program. "We will have to wait and see, but they do
have some options open to them."
One of those options is that the assembly members
amend the temporary constitution to extend the
deadline.
The Transitional Administrative Law can be amended
with the approval of a 75 percent majority of the
assembly's members.
Failure to complete the document by the deadline or
to amend the law would result in the dissolution of
the assembly and the effective collapse of the
political process initiated by January's elections.
Fresh elections would then be held for a new
assembly to write a new constitution, but that would
prolong indefinitely the uncertainty fueling much of
the violence and contribute to the disillusionment
of many Iraqis with their political process.
The Shiite and Kurdish blocs command enough votes in
the National Assembly to pass a draft agreement, but
there was no sign that they were narrowing their
differences on several key issues.
Shiites continue to object to a Kurdish demand that
the president of the Kurdish region, Massoud Barzani,
should have the right to sign treaties with foreign
countries, something that would be tantamount to
giving Kurdistan independence, Shiite negotiator
Jalaluddin Sagheer told Iraq's Al-Hurra TV.
www.chicagotribune.com
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