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Iraq makes progress on crucial
constitution plan
16.5.2007
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May 16, 2007
BAGHDAD, Iraq, -- An Iraqi committee agreed
on Tuesday to send to parliament a plan to reform
the constitution, an important step towards
implementing national reconciliation laws that
Washington says are critical to ending violence.
Once-dominant Sunni Arabs, who make up the backbone
of the insurgency, have long demanded changes to a
constitution they say concedes too much power to
majority Shi'ites and ethnic Kurds, who were
persecuted under Saddam Hussein.
U.S. President George W. Bush, under pressure to
show tangible progress in the four-year-old war, has
piled pressure on Iraqi leaders to agree
power-sharing legislation.
Such laws, which include sharing Iraq's vast oil
wealth and ending a ban on former members of
Saddam's party from public office, are particularly
aimed at assuaging Sunnis Arabs and bringing them
firmly into the U.S.-backed political process.
Saleem al-Jubouri, from the Sunni Accordance Front,
said the constitutional reform committee had agreed
to pass its draft to parliament next Tuesday --
albeit with some passages unresolved.
He said this would allow it technically to meet a
May 15 deadline set by the constitution.
"There is a preliminary report that has been
approved by committee members," he told Reuters.
"Members now have to consult their political parties
on the proposals."
But he said some thorny issues had been left open,
for parliament to resolve. These included a Shi'ite-backed
law that allows provinces to form federal regions,
and wording on the Arab identity of Iraq, opposed by
Kurds.
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe welcomed the
move, but said: "There is more work to be done, but
this step will help in the process of bringing all
Iraqis together to help build a stable, secure and
unified democracy."
In another sign of political progress, Sunni Vice
President Tareq al-Hashemi said the presidential
council would soon send to parliament a draft
proposal to allow thousands of ex-Baath party
members to return to public jobs, another Sunni
demand.
The council comprises Hashemi, President Jalal
Talabani, a Kurd, and Shi'ite Vice President Adel
Abdul al-Mahdi.
Hashemi's Accordance Front had warned it might quit
Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government
if Sunni grievances were ignored, but a visit by
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney to Iraq last week
appears to have softened the Sunnis' stance.
The bills are likely to face fierce debate in
parliament.
Some lawmakers from the ruling Shi'ite community,
who were oppressed during Saddam's rule, have
expressed virulent opposition to seeing former
Baathists take up government jobs.
Non-Arab Kurds, also persecuted under Saddam's
pan-Arab policies, resist wording on the Arab
identity of Iraq.
Sunni Arabs, meanwhile, fear federalism will allow
Kurds in the north and Shi'ites in the south, where
Iraq's oil reserves lie, to break away into their
own states. Sunni Arabs live mostly in central and
western Iraq, which is poor in oil.
Reuters
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