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BAGHDAD (CNN) -- The committee drafting Iraq's
constitution is asking for a 7- to 10-day extension
to complete its work, a member of the panel told
CNN.
Two Shiite officials told The Associated Press
earlier Monday that Iraqi politicians had agreed on
a draft constitution but delayed a decision on two
key issues. The president's office told CNN no such
deal had been reached.
The day had started with Iraqi politicians confident
of reaching agreement on the constitution by
Monday's deadline and sparing the country's
government from collapse.
Mowafak al-Rubaie, the national security adviser,
said federalism -- which would give some ethnic
groups more autonomy -- and the role of Islamic law
in the new government will not derail assembly
efforts to complete the draft of a new constitution.
The national assembly could vote to amend the law to
allow the commission up to two more weeks to work on
the constitution, or -- if that doesn't happen, and
the commission fails to reach agreement -- the
government would dissolve, requiring new elections
in December and starting the process again.
Sharia law, federalism
Al-Rubaie earlier insisted the assembly would
resolve the sticking points and meet its Monday
deadline.
He said the commission had agreed that, "a
decentralized system and federal system is the best
way forward," and Islamic law will not be a
dealbreaker.
Al-Rubaie downplayed the role of Islam in the
legislative process. He said that the commission
agreed on the principle that legislation should not
"contradict Islam."
The issue has been raised by Western powers -- and
some Iraqis -- that the constitution will support
Islam's Sharia law, which imposes severe
restrictions, particularly on women.
"The issue of religion has been over-emphasized,"
al-Rubaie said. "We are not drafting a constitution
for America. We are drafting a constitution for
Iraq. And the majority of Iraqis are Muslims. And
the majority of those are serious, practicing
Muslims."
U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad, speaking
Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," said he had "every
expectation" the document would include equal rights
to men and women "and that our efforts and the
effort of many women here in Iraq and the
international community will ultimately pay off on
this score."
Some lawmakers dispute al-Rubaie's optimistic view,
particularly Sunnis who have said any draft that
comes to the floor of the assembly does so without
their consent.
And Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite, has
distanced himself from the idea of federalism.
Deadline extended
The legislative session to vote on a constitution
draft -- previously slated to start at 6 p.m. (10
a.m. ET) -- was rescheduled, in two moves, to 10
p.m. (2 p.m. ET).
The commission of Sunni, Shiite, Kurdish and secular
officials who are drafting the constitution for
legislative review has said it will complete its
work by 9 p.m. (1 p.m. ET).
Any one of Iraq's three main ethnic groups could
veto the constitution in the referendum that must
ratify it -- all have majorities in at least three
provinces and could carry those provinces, the
transitional law requirement to block the
constitution.
Iraq's Shiites and Kurds have sought autonomous
regions during the constitution-writing process
while the country's Sunnis wanted the issue
sidelined until election of a new government.
Al-Rubaie said that a decentralized government would
prevent some of the problems of Iraq's past, and he
noted that the Kurds in northern Iraq have a measure
of autonomy and that "any province can join with
another" to create a region.
"Iraq has suffered a great deal from the strong
central government," he added. "Iraq was ruled by a
ruthless dictatorship using this central government
to deny the communities ... of a very diversified
society in Iraq."
Last week, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the
influential Shiite group the Supreme Council for
Islamic Revolution in Iraq, called for an autonomous
Shiite region in the south, similar to the Kurdish
region in the north.
Oil revenues
Despite the conflicting assessments from Baghdad,
U.S. envoy Khalilzad said he believed the commission
would be finished with the document in time to
present it to the transitional national assembly.
Last week, Kurdish official Dr. Mahmoud Othman said
that the commission had reached an agreement on oil
revenues that called for that money to be paid to
the federal government and distributed evenly
throughout the country based on population and
necessity -- but again, it was unclear where the
Sunni Arabs stood on the deal.
The issue has been complicated by the fact that the
oil industry is prevalent in areas dominated by
Shiites and Kurds, and there have been concerns
among Sunni Arabs that they would be left out.
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