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BAGHDAD, Iraq - A final bid by Shiite
negotiators for a compromise to end the impasse with
Sunni Arabs over Iraq's draft constitution failed
late yesterday, and it was becoming increasingly
clear that talks are hopelessly deadlocked.
Government spokesman Laith Kubba told Al-Arabiya
television that negotiations had reached a
standstill. "This is the end of the road," he said.
"The draft should be put before the people," he
added, referring to the nationwide referendum on the
document that must be held by Oct. 15.
The highly politicized process of writing Iraq's
charter revealed and reinforced deep divisions among
Iraq's Shiite and Sunni Arabs and ethnic Kurds,
raising fears that disagreements could spiral into
factional conflict.
Leading Sunnis have emerged from the constitutional
talks enraged by what they see as a blueprint by
Shiites and Kurds for dismembering Iraq into federal
regions. Many have said they're determined to
continue fighting the proposed constitution.
The completed document will be presented to the
National Assembly today or tomorrow, with or without
Sunni backing, said Humam Hamoudi, a Shiite who is
chairman of the constitution-writing committee.
A leading Sunni negotiator called the Shiites'
latest offer unacceptable. "There is no compromise —
they are only playing with words," said Saleh al-Mutlaq,
a negotiator for Sunni Arabs. "They are very far
from what we want."
In an attempt to foster consensus, an Aug. 15
deadline for completing a draft was postponed by one
week and subsequently extended twice more.
Yesterday's was the first deadline to pass without
an official statement granting more time, as a news
conference scheduled for just before midnight was
canceled.
President Bush, who along with other U.S. officials
had urged Iraqi leaders to complete their work on
time, personally intervened early Thursday by
telephoning Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the
Shiites' largest party, the Supreme Council for the
Islamic Revolution in Iraq, to encourage
conciliation with the Sunnis. U.S. and Iraqi
officials have long maintained that inclusion of the
Sunni Arabs, a once-dominant minority who now make
up much of the violent insurgency, is a key to
stability and eventual withdrawal of American
troops.
In Washington, a senior State Department official
involved in Iraq policy said: "What we're witnessing
is the endgame of this process. Events are moving in
a positive direction. They're continuing to work
these issues, but they're moving in the right
direction."
Deliberations bogged down yesterday over two
contentious issues as much about addressing Iraq's
troubled past as its future: whether and how to bar
former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party from
political life, and the extent and method of
transferring power from the federal government to
autonomous regions that suffered greatly under
Saddam's rule.
Shiites said they offered to eliminate language
outlawing the Baath Party, whose top officials were
mostly Sunnis, while retaining a ban on its "Saddamist"
branch and symbols. They also offered to permit the
National Assembly, by a majority vote, to eliminate
the so-called de-Baathification committee charged
with removing former party members from government
service.
On federalism, or the ability of Iraq's provinces to
form regional governments, Shiites said they
proposed enshrining the principle of federalism in
the constitution while leaving the details of how
federal regions should be formed to future
legislators. Some Shiites said they had agreed to
have the constitution stipulate that no new regional
governments be formed for at least two years.
"This is the last offer we have. We cannot go back
anymore," said Nabeel Musawi, a member of the
constitution committee from the ruling Shiite
alliance. "If we keep fulfilling their demands, it
would be better to go back to Saddam's government,
because the alliance believes that the only benefit
we got from the war was to get rid of the Baath
Party and to gain federal states."
Sunnis, however, say that extending federalism
beyond the existing Kurdish regional government in
the north could lead to partition of the country.
They strongly oppose a potential Shiite state in the
south.
Nasser al-Janabi, another Sunni on the drafting
committee, said: "There are many disputes that we
cannot agree on. Some of their suggestions are
positive, like to delay the issue of federalism. ...
We want this issue to be postponed as a whole, but
they want to postpone it in a way that guarantees it
in the constitution."
Despite the dissenting voices, Kurdish and Shiite
leaders said as broad an agreement as possible had
been reached, and largely dismissed the objections
of Sunnis who they said did not truly represent
their communities.
As factional leaders huddled in Baghdad's fortified
Green Zone for talks, large crowds took to the
streets across the country yesterday, a reminder
that whatever the outcome of the protracted
negotiations, the constitution's fate lies with the
people.
More than 3,000 demonstrators, many of them Sunnis
opposed to the constitution, gathered in Baqouba,
north of the capital. Police there fired shots in
the air to disperse the crowd after about a
half-hour.
In the northern city of Kirkuk, police and Iraqi
soldiers joined about 2,000 demonstrators bearing
banners that read "The Baathists are loyal Iraqis"
and "No to federalism."
The largest demonstrations of the day were inspired
by influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who
has yet to make public his opinion on the
constitution, but whose stated opposition to
federalism mirrors that of many Sunnis.
About 20,000 followers of al-Sadr marched yesterday
in their stronghold of Sadr City, a sprawling slum
in eastern Baghdad. The protest was a show of force
by the movement, whose militiamen briefly battled
rival Shiite fighters this week in a simmering
rivalry over influence, ideology and power among the
country's Shiite majority. The movement convened
other demonstrations in several cities in southern
Iraq, protesting a dearth of social services that is
the overwhelming complaint of Iraqis.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com
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