Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Issues in Dispute for Iraq Constitution

Updated 11:18 AM ET July 30, 2005


By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The role of Islam and even Iraq's future name are among the issues that remain in dispute only two weeks before the deadline for parliamentary approval of the new constitution, committee members drafting the document said Saturday.

More than 90 percent of the document is complete, the members say. But the toughest issues remain unresolved, and some say it is unlikely they can be settled before the Aug. 15 deadline for parliamentary approval.

By plan, after parliamentary approval, voters will decide whether to approve the charter in a national referendum in mid-October.

The United States considers meeting the deadlines key toward building political momentum to take the steam out of the insurgency.

Kurdish legislator Hussein Mohammed Taha, detailing the disputed issues, said Kurds and Shiites agree that Iraq should become a federal state while Sunni Arabs object, fearing it could lead to the division of the country.



"There is a group that wants Iraq to be called `The Iraqi Islamic Federal Republic,' while the other wants it called the `Iraqi Federal Republic' and another group rejects both names," Taha said.

Another problem is whether the official language of Iraq should be Arabic alone or Arabic and Kurdish, he added.

There are even differences over whether Iraq should be formally declared part of the Arab and Islamic nation, or whether the document should state that the Iraqi people are parts of those nations, he said.

A serious point of disagreement appears to be the role of Islam in the state. Shiites, who make up about 60 percent of Iraq's estimated 27 million people, want Islam to be the main source of legislation, while the Kurds want it to be one of the sources _ as it is in the interim constitution approved before the Americans restored Iraqi sovereignty in June 2004.

"The Americans and the British are demanding that the constitution be done on time and we are asking the Americans and British to put pressure on the Kurds," said Jawad al-Maliki, a member of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's Dawa party.

But Kurdish committee member Mahmoud Othman criticized U.S. officials for pressuring the Kurds and other framers to meet the deadline.

"If they want to interfere they should do it openly inside the committee. The American ambassador should ... come speak during our meetings. He should not speak to members on the side," Othman said. "It is a shame for a superpower to behave like this."

Sunni Arab members of the drafting committee are against extending the constitutional deadline because "we believe this will give an opportunity to the current anarchy and bad security situation to continue," Sunni Arab committee member Saleh al-Mutlaq said.

Some decisions may have to be deferred until after Iraqis elect a new parliament Dec. 15. Whether the election is held at all, however, depends on approval of the constitution, al-Mutlaq said.


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