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Key
changes to the text of the draft Iraqi constitution,
which was submitted without the approval of the
Sunni Arabs:
- The preamble places additional emphasis on
atrocities under Saddam Hussein. The earlier version
said Saddam oppressed ``the majority'' - a term
Kurds and Sunnis said identified too closely with
Shiites. Those ``of the western region'' are Sunnis,
emphasizing that they too suffered under the old
regime:
... inspired by the suffering of Iraq's martyrs -
Sunni and Shiite, Arab, Kurd and Turkomen, and the
remaining brethren in all communities - inspired by
the injustice against the holy cities (and the
south) in the popular uprising and (burnt with the
sorrows of the mass graves, the marches and Dujail
and others); recalling the agonies of the national
oppression in the massacres of Halabja, Barzan,
Anfal and against the Faili Kurds; inspired by the
tragedies of the Turkomen in Bashir, and as in other
parts of Iraq, (the people of the western region
have suffered from the liquidation of its leaders,
symbols, tribal leaders and displacing its
intellectuals, so we worked hand in hand and
shoulder to shoulder) to create a new Iraq, Iraq of
the future, without sectarianism, racial strife,
regionalism, discrimination and (elimination).
- The constitution bans organizations that
``advocate, instigate, justify or propagate''
racism, terrorism, the declaring of someone as an
infidel, sectarian cleansing and ``especially the
Saddamist Baath in Iraq and its symbols, under any
name.'' The version finished Sunday struck the word
``party'' from the phrase ``Saddam's Baath Party,''
which could enable a future Baath Party to emerge.
- In a concession to Sunnis in the version finished
Sunday, a future parliament will be permitted to
establish the rules for implementing federalism:
Article (113): The federal system in the republic of
Iraq is made up of the capital, regions,
decentralized provinces, and local administrations.
(Article (114):
1st - This constitution, when implemented, shall
endorse the region of Kurdistan and its existing
power as a federal region.
2nd -This constitution shall endorse the new regions
that will be established according to the provisions
of the constitution.
Article (115): The Council of Representatives shall
pass a law that fixes the executive procedures
relating to establishing regions by simple majority
in a period that does not exceed six months from the
date of the first session.)
AP
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