Baghdad, Iraq – Iraqi leaders finished their draft constitution today and prepared to submit it to parliament – but withdrew it in the final minutes in order to give time to win over the Sunni Arab community, whose support is key to ending the insurgency.
The parliament gathered with just minutes remaining before a midnight deadline to adopt the constitution. The document still faced fierce resistance from minority Sunnis over such issues as federalism, which they fear could cut them out of most of the country’s vast oil wealth, and ridding the government of members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party.
Parliament speaker Hajim al-Hassani then announced that there was strong interest in reaching unanimity on the draft “so that the constitution pleases everyone.” “All these groups in the coming three days will try, God willing, to reach accord on some points that are still disagreements,” he said. “The draft constitution has been received, and we will work on solving the remaining problems, God willing.” He then adjourned the session without a vote.
Afterward, he told reporters that the main outstanding issues were federalism, the formation of federal units, problems related to mentioning the Baath Party in the constitution, and the division of powers among the president, the parliament and the Cabinet.
The numerous remaining issues cast doubt whether the Iraqis would be able to finish the document within a few days since the various groups have widely differing positions on all those points.
Repeated delays are a deep embarrassment for the Bush administration at a time of growing doubts within the United States over the mission in Iraq.
Washington had applied enormous pressure on the Iraqis to meet the original Aug. 15 deadline but parliament instead had to grant a week’s extension, which they again failed to meet.
“It is not possible to please everyone,” said Humam Hammoudi, Shiite chairman of the 71-member committee that struggled for weeks to try to complete the draft. “But many things have been achieved in this constitution and we hope it will be a real step toward stability.”
