http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5211842,00.html
Monday August 15, 2005 8:01 PM
AP Photo BAG128
By ANTONIO CASTANEDA
Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi politicians agreed Monday on a draft constitution but decided to put off two key issues - women's rights and whether Kurds might someday secede - so the document could be submitted to parliament by a midnight deadline, two Shiite officials said.
Two large explosions hit central Baghdad later Monday and could be heard in the convention center in the heavily guarded Green Zone where meetings were being held on the charter.
Nasar al-Rubaie, a member of the committee drafting the constitution, said the document would be handed over to the 275-member National Assembly late Monday for a decision on the two unresolved issues. He said those issues were women's rights and self-determination, a Kurdish demand for more autonomy and the right to secede someday.
Jalaldin al-Saghir, a Shiite member of parliament, confirmed agreement had been reached but refused to identify the two remaining issues.
``An agreement has been reached on the constitution and it was signed and it will be handed to parliament,'' he said. ``There are two points that the National Assembly will have to solve.''
Parliament, meanwhile, delayed a session Monday on whether to approve a new constitution by a midnight deadline. It was not clear when the legislators would begin meeting.
The developments came after some Iraqi faction leaders had suggested that parliament should extend the deadline for approving the charter as last-minute talks failed to produce agreement on a federated state and other divisive issues.
The National Assembly initially had been scheduled to convene at 6 p.m. (10 a.m. EDT) to consider the draft, but the convention hall remained absent of legislators well after 10 p.m.
Sirens wailed in the Green Zone, home to government offices and U.S. military compounds, shortly after the blasts were heard. More details were not immediatley available.
Tariq al-Hashimi, the general secretary of Iraq's biggest Sunni political group, the Iraqi Islamic party, told Al-Jazeera television earlier that the minority's objections to federalism were not the only obstacles blocking progress.
Instead, he said Shiites and Kurds also had ``points of disagreement'' and it might be better to delay a decision. He didn't elaborate.
But a Kurdish member of the drafting committee, Munthir al-Fadl, said that a constitution that doesn't fulfill Kurdish demands of ``self-determination'' and the authority of provincial governors, ``will not succeed and will not even reach the gates of the National Assembly.''
Al-Hashimi said his party did not believe in the ``sanctity'' of the interim constitution.
Meanwhile, the insurgency pressed ahead, with at least 13 people killed in scattered attacks, including a barber who police said was shot to death as he walked to his parlor in southwest Baghdad.
Barbers in the country have been targeted by fundamentalists who accuse them of violating a strict interpretation of Islamic teachings that say men should keep their beards long.
The Iraqis have been under strong pressure from the United States to complete the charter on time and keep on track a political process the Americans hope will lure Sunnis away from the insurgency so U.S. and other foreign troops can begin to go home next year.
Iraqi leaders had insisted the draft constitution would be presented to parliament on Monday.
``It will be today. It will be a historic day in the history of Iraq,'' Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwaffak al-Rubaie told CNN just over an hour before the delay was announced.
Government spokesman Laith Kubba also said the document would be presented on time.
``Every group knows what they will lose if they don't reach an agreement,'' Kubba told state-run Iraqiya television.
Some Shiite and Kurdish leaders had signaled they were prepared to submit the draft to parliament Monday evening - even if they had to do so over Sunni Arab objections.
But that risked a backlash among Sunni Arabs, who form the core of the insurgency, which could undermine the American goal of using the constitution to lure away Sunnis from the insurgency.
With stakes so high, public positions among the factions were changing by the hour.
A lawmaker from the biggest Shiite party, Jalaladin al-Shagir, said political leaders were leaning toward extending the deadline for up to a month. Another option expressed was to ignore Sunni objections, submit the document to parliament as planned and try to win over the Sunni public before an Oct. 15 referendum on the charter.
Sunni Arabs had asked that the issue of federalism be put off until next year. Shiites and Kurds, the two other major groups in the country, are pushing for autonomous regions in the southern and northern parts of Iraq, but Sunnis fear the proposal could split Iraq.
Sunnis also oppose other proposals endorsed by the Shiites and Kurds, including proposals for a special status for the Shiite clerical leadership and a formula for distributing oil wealth and dual citizenship.
But Shiites and Kurds dominate the National Assembly - as well as the constitutional committee - and could ram through the charter over Sunni Arab objects. Other options include amending the interim constitution to extend the deadline or dissolving parliament.
Sunnis - who boycotted the Jan. 30 vote for an interim parliament - could defeat the constitution in the national referendum, which was to be followed by general elections in December. If two-thirds of the voters in three provinces vote against the constitution, it would be defeated. Sunni Arabs form the majority in at least four provinces.
Sunni clerics have urged followers to vote against any constitution that could lead to the breakup of the country
American officials applied pressure to resolve differences on that and other issues before Monday's deadline - despite the risks of alienating the Sunnis.
``A lot of American blood and American treasure has been spent here,'' U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said Sunday in a televised interview, adding he had made that point ``abundantly clear'' to the Iraqis.
In other violence Monday:
-Insurgents fired a rocket into the city of Habaniyah, 50 miles west of Baghdad, killing six Iraqis and wounding three on Monday, the U.S. military said.
-A municipal council member and his driver were shot to death in Khalis, police said.
-Gunmen killed three Iraqi soldiers and wounded three others at a checkpoint in Buhriz, police said.
-An insurgent ambush in western Baghdad killed one Iraqi soldier and injured another, police said.
-The body of a government food program worker was found in Baqouba. In the nearby village of Khirnabat, police said Monday a roadside bomb had killed one civilian the day before.
