Iraq constitution talks deadlocked
Sunni negotiator calls on Iraqis to reject document in Oct. 15 referendum
Updated: 5:01 p.m. ET Aug. 26, 2005
BAGHDAD - A top Sunni Arab negotiator said Saturday that no agreement has been reached on the draft constitution and called on Iraqis to reject it in an Oct. 15 referendum. A government spokesman indicated talks were hopelessly deadlocked and said “this is the end of the road.”
The Sunni negotiator, Saleh al-Mutlaq, made the statement on Al-Jazeera television after Sunnis studied compromise proposals offered by the Shiites on federalism and purges of former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party.
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“The issue of division through federalism is on the table,” al-Mutlaq said. “The Iraqi people have to give their word now and reject the constitution because this constitution is the beginning of the division of the country and the beginning of creating disturbance in the country.”
Asked about Shiite offers, he replied: “We are still far from what we need and what the people need.”
A Shiite negotiator, Khaled al-Attiyah, said a “consensus” had been reached on the charter and an amended version would be sent to parliament Saturday. Asked about that, al-Mutlaq said simply: “Let them.”
That suggested the Shiites and their Kurdish allies might be prepared to send the document to the assembly without Sunni concurrence.
“This is the end of the road,” Government spokesman Laith Kubba told Al-Arabiya television. “In the end, we will put this constitution to the people to decide.”
About 5,000 Sunnis, some carrying Saddam's picture, marched in the central city of Baqouba to protest the draft constitution.
The Shiites submitted the compromise proposal after the personal intervention of President Bush, who face rising criticism from the U.S. public and his own party about the conduct of the Iraq war.
Little help from Bush
Bush's overture, made in a telephone call to a top Shiite leader, did little to calm the increasingly strident rhetoric. A process designed to bring Iraq's disparate communities together appeared to be tearing them apart.
Parliament speaker Hajim al-Hassani canceled a planned news conference expected before midnight Friday as meetings with Sunni Arab negotiators were under way. Muhannad Jabbar, spokesman for the speaker, instructed a television crew to shut down for the night.
Shiite negotiator Jawad al-Maliki reported progress in talks Friday with the Sunni Arabs and Kurds on federalism but problems on the Shiite proposal about the fate of Baath party members. Shiites had been complaining privately that the Sunnis were stalling.
"We will not be easy with this point at all," al-Maliki said Friday. He said the Sunnis were being tough in defending the rights of former Baath party members and "it is regrettable to us that the Sunnis and the Baath are in the same pot."
Strong divide
Another Sunni representative complained the Shiites were ignoring them.
"They are sending us letters as if we are living in two different countries," Saleh al-Mutlaq said.
Iraq's Sunni Arab Vice President Ghazi al-Yawer said the draft, submitted to parliament last Monday over Sunni objections, was written by Shiites and Kurds but that the country needs a constitution "that keeps the unity of Iraqi soil and gives rights to all Iraqis."
The United States hoped the constitution would curb the Sunni-dominated insurgency, and along with a better-trained and equipped Iraqi security force, enable the Americans and their international partners to begin bringing home their troops next year.
With more than 1,800 U.S. deaths since the war began in 2003 and falling poll numbers, the White House wanted to show something positive from Iraq to counter the depressing litany of car bombings, assassinations and American battle deaths.
As the haggling continued in Baghdad, U.S. warjets launched multiple airstrikes Friday against a suspected "terrorist safe house" in the western Anbar province, destroying the building where up to 50 militants were believed to be hiding, the U.S. military said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9084376/
Iraqi Constitution in Deep Trouble?
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