Christ ... was a nice week thinking that some progress had finally been made.
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Iraq Constitution Won’t be Signed as Scheduled
Shiites reject measure; talks resume next week
(Associated Press)
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq’s Governing Council will not sign an interim constitution for the country Friday as planned, a spokesman for the U.S. coalition said, without saying when a signing ceremony would take place.
A statement distributed Saturday morning by the Governing Council said the members would reconvene Monday “to finalize” outstanding issues “and sign” the interim charter. However, it was unclear whether the final hurdles could be overcome according to the statement’s timetable.
A spokesman for one of the Shiite Muslim parties involved in the discussions said the delay would allow time for members to consult with the supreme Shiite spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani.
The ceremony — complete with musicians and a children’s choir — had been planned for Friday afternoon. But it fell apart at the last minute after five Shiite members of the council refused to sign the draft constitution, which was unanimously approved Monday, because of objections over several clauses.
Council members went into emergency talks to try to resolve the dispute. But seven hours after the ceremony was to take place, a spokesman for the coalition said there would be no agreement Friday.
Entifadh Qanbar, a spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress, one of the groups that forced the delay, said that no agreement was expected overnight and that talks would resume Monday at 10 a.m.
The council had agreed to the accord unanimously Monday, but al-Sistani rejected provisions put into the text at the request of Kurds to protect their self-rule area in the north, a source on the Governing Council said on condition of anonymity.
Also in dispute was a clause outlining the shape of the presidency in the future government, a Shiite official said. The Shiites were reviving a demand that would let them dominate the presidency, he said.
U.S. administrator observing but not participating
The top U.S. administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, was observing the meeting but not participating, the spokesman said. In Washington, the State Department had no immediate comment.
The interim constitution, which is to be in effect until national elections due by January, is a crucial part of the U.S. plan for handing over power to the Iraqis on June 30.
The sharply divided Governing Council agreed on the draft early Monday — three days past deadline — only after Bremer pushed them into intense marathon sessions to overcome their differences. The Shiites’ move to reopen the debate throws into disarray the unity shown in that agreement.
It also highlights the power al-Sistani holds over U.S. attempts to transfer sovereignty to the Iraqis and end the U.S. occupation, which the Bush administration wants to accomplish well before the presidential election in November. Opposition from al-Sistani has derailed U.S. plans twice in the past.
Mahmoud Othman, an independent Kurd on the council, denounced the Shiite maneuver as “just a matter of putting obstacles in front of the declaration.”
“The way they put it is not right. The minority should not impose their will on the majority,” he told CNN.
Kurds seeking veto power
Hamed al-Bayati, an adviser to one of the Shiite parties that refused to sign, said the Shiites, in consultation with al-Sistani, said objections centered on two clauses in the draft.
One was sought by the Kurds to ensure that the eventual permanent constitution, to be put to a national referendum, did not encroach on their self-rule zone in the north. The clause says that if two-thirds of the voters in any three provinces reject the permanent charter, it will not go into effect. The Kurd self-rule region includes three provinces in the north.
“Some of these provinces have only 400,000 or 500,000 people. We cannot have that number of people rejecting a constitution for 25 million people,” al-Bayati said.
A representative of al-Sistani reflected those concerns during a sermon Friday at Karbala’s Imam Hussein shrine.
“There is one article that give a specific party the right to veto the permanent constitution if it fails to meet their demands, and this is a dangerous thing,” the cleric, Sheik Abdel-Mehdi al-Kerbalai, told worshippers.
Another cause of dispute was the makeup of the presidency, al-Bayati said. The draft approved would set up a single president with two deputies. But he said the Shiites were reviving their demand for a five-person rotating presidency.
Under that proposal, which was raised in the debate over the final accord, the presidency would rotate among three Shiites, a Kurd and a Sunni — giving the Shiites a dominant role.
Chalabi among those refusing to sign
The council members who refused to sign were Ahmad Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress, Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim of the Supreme Council, Ibrahim al-Jaafari of the Dawa party, independent Shiite Mouwafak al-Rubaie and the council’s current president, Shiite cleric Muhammad Bahr al-Ulloom, al-Bayati said.
An elaborate ceremony had been planned, emphasizing Iraqi unity. A platform was set up before a map of the nation emblazoned with the slogan, “We all participate in the new Iraq.”
Children dressed in traditional garb from all parts of Iraq were brought in. Twenty-five fountain pens, one for each member, were lined up on a wooden desk that once belonged to King Feisal I, Iraq’s first monarch, at the Baghdad Convention Center at the heart of the U.S. occupation headquarters.
Security was extremely tight. U.S. Apache and Blackhawk helicopters swarmed over the center and the nearby Tigris River, and increased numbers of troops stood at checkpoints leading up to the venue.
Earlier Friday, militants fired mortar rounds at Baghdad International Airport, the U.S. military said. Two bombs also exploded on capital roads frequently used by U.S. troops, but no injuries were reported.
Ceremony already delayed by attacks
The signing ceremony had already been delayed several days by suicide attacks Tuesday in Baghdad and Karbala, which killed scores of Shiite pilgrims on the holy day of Ashoura. The attacks raised the specter of sectarian war in Iraq and fueled Shiite anger at the U.S. occupation, which is blamed for the country’s persistent insecurity.
The agreement on the interim constitution appeared to have been sealed Monday after Bremer and the chief British representative, Jeremy Greenstock, mediated with council members. Compromises were struck on some of the toughest issues, particularly the role of Islam and federalism.
The draft would recognize Islam as a source of legislation. In a concession to religious conservatives who wanted Islam to be the main source, it also states that no law would be passed that violates the tenets of the Muslim religion.
It also accepts the principle of federalism but leaves it to a future elected national assembly to decide the details of self-rule for Iraq's Kurdish minority.
Delegates hammered out a system that would allow any of Iraq's 18 provinces to form federal regions — a provision that would open the door for Shiites to form a region of self-rule in the south, similar to the Kurds’ region in the north.
The U.S.-based rights group Human Rights Watch criticized the document Friday, saying it would not do enough to protect women’s rights, particularly in the area of family law.
“Equal rights for Iraqi women in marriage, inheritance and their children's citizenship should not be left in jeopardy,” said LaShawn R. Jefferson, executive director of the Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. “The interim constitution should explicitly guarantee these rights.”
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Phaedrus
