Shiites, Kurds present draft of constitution over Sunni objections

A vote on a new constitution for Iraq was delayed last night for another three days due to the bitter, fundamental differences among the various political factions in the parliament.

The US-dictated Transitional Administrative Law (TAL) currently in force in Iraq stipulated that if a draft was not accepted by August 15, then the parliament had to be dissolved and new elections called. A referendum is supposed to take place on October 15, and elections on December 15.

Twenty minutes before the first deadline elapsed, more than two-thirds of the legislators voted to amend the TAL and extend the deadline for an extra week. Last night, the dissolution of parliament was bypassed with another manoeuvre. An incomplete draft was tabled just before midnight, enabling the speaker to declare the deadline had been met and to schedule a vote for Thursday.

There is little prospect that a consensus among the ruling factions will be reached. The draft that was tabled is a thoroughly sectarian document drawn up behind the backs of the masses. It was drafted entirely by the Shiite Muslim fundamentalist parties and the Kurdish nationalist bloc, the two largest factions in the parliament, in back-room negotiations with the US ambassador in Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad. Sunni representatives were excluded.

The Bush administration appears to have abandoned the perspective of winning over elements of the traditional Sunni Arab ruling class and former Baathist regime. For months, US officials have pressured the Shiite fundamentalists to compromise with the Sunni elites in the hope they would use their influence to curb the armed resistance to the occupation.

The document presented last night makes no such concessions. Instead, it provocatively aims to entrench American economic and military domination over the country by the reduction of Iraq into a loose federation, in which a layer of the Shia establishment and the Kurdish elite would benefit at the expense of the Sunni ruling class and the Iraqi masses as a whole. The constitution establishes the basis for the privatisation of Iraq’s state-owned oil industry and will enable a puppet government to sanction long-term US military bases.

The constitution would set in place a weak central government and powerful autonomous regions that would siphon off most of the revenue from the country’s oil. Iraq’s 18 provinces would have the right to conduct referenda on whether to form or join a region. While the central government would continue to receive the revenues from currently operating oil fields, the regions would be ceded control over all new production in their jurisdiction. Most of Iraq’s known oil reserves have never been tapped.

Reportedly under intense pressure from Khalilzad, the Kurdish nationalists have dropped their demand for “self-determination,” which was viewed across the Middle East as the first step toward the establishment of a separate Kurdish nation-state in northern Iraq. They will maintain their regional government in the north, however, and seek to expand it to include the province of Al Tamim and the city of Kirkuk, where there are substantial oil fields.

The US was adamant that Kurdish self-determination be excluded because it threatens to provoke tensions with Iraq’s neighbours. Turkey, in particular, has warned that it will take military action against any attempt to establish an independent Kurdish state. Moreover, if the Kurds are granted the right to self-determination, it could trigger similar demands among Shiites in the south, leading to a further fracturing of the country.

The proposed draft constitution would allow Shiite parties to form one or more regional authorities in the south where over 50 percent of Iraq’s oil reserves are located. The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), one of the two main Shiite fundamentalist organisations in the parliament, has called for a Shiite-dominated autonomous region consisting of nine southern provinces, and covering nearly half the country’s territory and population.

The Shiite fundamentalists and Kurdish parties are seeking to use their current dominance to keep long-term control over the central government and therefore of the US-created Iraqi military and internal security forces. The draft constitution does not include demands by Sunni representatives and secular politicians for the president and prime minister to be elected by a two-thirds majority vote, instead of a simple majority. Such a clause would strengthen the position of the Sunni minority after new elections.

To ensure a document was drafted, Washington pressured the secular Kurdish parties to drop their opposition to the demand of the Shiite fundamentalists for a greater constitutional role for the Islamic clergy and Islamic law. The draft tabled last night would place clerics on the Supreme Court and enable people to choose to have Islamic religious courts preside over issues such as marriage, divorce and inheritance.

While this would have little impact in the Kurdish zone, in the areas dominated by the Shiite fundamentalists it would have far-reaching implications for women. Women’s associations demonstrated in Baghdad on Sunday against the prospect of the equal rights that were guaranteed in the previous constitution being stripped away. Protest organiser Yanar Mohammad told the Guardian: “We are fighting to avoid becoming second-class citizens.”

A Kurdish representative Mahmoud Otham told the Washington Post: “It seems like the Americans want to have a constitution at any cost. It is not good to have a constitution that would limit the liberties of people, of human rights and freedoms.”

While there will be three more days of horse-trading, the Shia and Kurdish blocs appear to be intent on using their parliamentary majority to ram through the constitution. Sunni Muslim organisations, supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the group led by former interim prime minister Iyad Allawi have declared they will vote against the tabled document and work for its rejection at the referendum.

In Iraq and more broadly in the Middle East, the document is provoking opposition. The resource-poor western and central regions of Iraq, where the bulk of the Sunni population live, would be deprived of substantial revenues under the federal structure. Further alienating the Sunnis, the constitution would proscribe former senior members of the Baath Party from holding political positions. In many ways, the Bush administration has created a situation where the Sunni establishment has nothing to lose by throwing its weight behind the armed resistance to the US military and the government.

At the same time, Sunni leaders are urging their supporters to take part in the referendum and elections instead of boycotting them. The main Sunni organisation, the Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), is calling for Sunnis to register. Last week, it was joined by six of the most prominent Sunni armed resistance organisations, which issued a joint statement calling for all Iraqis to register to vote so as to defeat the constitution at the referendum.

Sections of the Shiite elite are also opposed to the breakup of the country and to Iranian influence in southern Iraq. On Friday, thousands of Shiite Arab supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr demonstrated in Baghdad against federalism, alongside Sunnis brought into the streets by the AMS. Last year, the Sadrist movement took up arms against the US military. A representative in the parliament declared: “Sadr’s concern is that Iraq must be united, not divided. He is calling for unity and against the occupation.”

Sunni legislator Salih Mutlak warned the Washington Post that “the streets will rise up” if the constitution was pushed through. Even if the parliament does finally pass the draft, there is no guarantee that a referendum would approve the constitution. Under the TAL rules, a vote against the referendum by a two-thirds majority in three provinces is enough to ensure its defeat.

http://wsws.org/articles/2005/aug2005/iraq-a23.shtml

...
"If it passes, there will be an uprising in the streets," Sunni negotiator Saleh al-Mutlak said after the brief sitting.

"We will campaign ... to tell both Sunnis and Shi'ites to reject the constitution, which has elements that will lead to the break-up of Iraq and civil war," Soha Allawi, another Sunni on the drafting committee, told Reuters.

Interim rules say the charter will fail if two thirds of voters in three of Iraq's 18 provinces vote against it. By some reckoning, that could happen in the three provinces around the cities of Mosul, Tikrit and Ramadi, north and west of Baghdad.

Iraq's government hopes the constitution will divert more Sunnis from insurgency into peaceful politics. Fresh violence underlined what a tough challenge it is facing.

Three car bombs exploded in quick succession near U.S. forces in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, in an apparently coordinated strike by insurgents, police and witnesses said.

In the first blast, a car blew up as a U.S. convoy passed through the center of the Sunni city, police said.

Minutes later, a suicide truck bomber rammed his vehicle into a building frequently occupied by U.S. troops in an industrial zone on the edge of Ramadi, witnesses said.

As U.S. troops arrived, a third bomb, concealed in a car parked near a mosque, went off, a reporter for Reuters near the scene said. There was no immediate word on U.S. or Iraqi casualties.

In Ad Dawr, close to Tikrit,
Saddam Hussein's home town, hundreds of Sunnis demonstrated against the draft constitution. "Long live the honorable insurgency," the crowd yelled.

Some Shi'ites, notably radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, also reject federalism. But government-run television showed wild rejoicing in the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf after news of the ruling coalition's plans to force through its charter.

Secular Shi'ites, notably a party led by U.S.-backed former interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, have voiced doubts at the way the draft constitution is being pushed through parliament.

The draft makes Islam "a main source" of law in an apparent compromise between Islamist Shi'ites and secular Kurds.
...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050823/ts_nm/iraq_dc

Sunnis get last chance for deal

Iraq minority given three days to agree constitution

Rory Carroll in Baghdad
Tuesday August 23, 2005
The Guardian

Iraq's ruling coalition submitted a new constitution to parliament last night but delayed a vote for three days to try to win over Sunni Arabs who said it could lead to civil war.

Shia and Kurdish leaders said they had reached a compromise between themselves and delivered a thinly veiled ultimatum to the Sunni minority to sign up to the deal by Thursday or retreat deeper into the political wilderness.

The document was submitted eight minutes before midnight, meeting a deadline mandated by the current constitution, but then withdrawn to give negotiators a last chance to forge consensus.

"Today we received a draft of the constitution but there are some points that are outstanding and need to be addressed in the next three days," said the speaker, Hachim al-Hassani. "There should be consensus so the constitution is acceptable to all."

Bringing the Sunnis on board has been billed as a crucial step to weakening the Sunni-driven insurgency. The prospects of reaching a consensus appeared bleak, with Sunni delegates complaining that their objections to federalism had been ignored.

Two other sticking points to be resolved were the division of powers between the president, the parliament and the cabinet, and so-called de-Ba'athification, the extent to which former members of Saddam Hussein's regime should be purged in the new Iraq.

Shias and Kurds appeared to have resolved other outstanding issues however. Iraq is to be defined as a federal republic which would combine the principles of Islam with human rights and democracy. Oil and other natural wealth would be shared "according to the needs" of the central government and the provinces.

A precise definition of federalism was believed to have been deferred to allay Sunni concerns that would allow Kurds in the north and Shias in the south to form their own states and break up Iraq.

However even before its unveiling some Sunni delegates rejected the draft, saying they were sidelined in negotiations and misled that there would be no deal without consensus.

"We reject the political process as it is now," said a spokesman, Salah al-Mutlik. "It will put us far from reconciliation and without reconciliation in this country we cannot advance." Soha Allawi, another Sunni member of the drafting committee, said: "We will campaign ... to tell both Sunnis and Shias to reject the constitution, which has elements that will lead to the break-up of Iraq and civil war,"

Once approved by parliament, which is dominated by Shias and Kurds, the constitution will be submitted to voters in a referendum on October 15 which, if passed, will pave the way for elections in December.The US drove this ambitious timetable, arguing political progress would take the sting out of the insurgency.

US diplomats lobbied for a deal on the constitution in what was seen as an effort to help President George Bush quell domestic criticism of US involvement in Iraq.

Speaking to war veterans in Utah, Mr Bush welcomed the news from Baghdad. "Iraq's leaders are once again defying the terrorists and the pessimists by completing work on a democratic constitution," said President Bush. "The establishment of a democratic constitution will be a landmark event in the history of Iraq and the history of the Middle East."

But unless Sunnis are persuaded to support it the referendum campaign could turn into a political battle along sectarian and ethnic lines.

Sunnis, a dominant minority under Saddam, have felt alienated since the 2003 US-led invasion and largely boycotted January's election, saying it lacked legitimacy while foreign troops were in the country.

But this time clerics, politicians and even some insurgent groups want Sunnis to vote and registration centres have sprouted in strongholds such as Ramadi and Falluja.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1554619,00.html

BAGHDAD, August24 , 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Iraq's Sunni leaders stood staunchly against the draft constitution Wednesday, August24 , saying it was slam-dunked on them by the US-backed Shiites and Kurds and warned would divide Iraq.

Adnan Al-Dulaimi, head of an umbrella group called the National Conference for the Sunni People of Iraq and the Sunni Waqfs, said at a Baghdad press conference that the charter sidelines the Sunnis and devolve too much power to the Shiites and Kurds.

But he said at the conference aired live by Al-Jazeera satellite channel that the Sunnis are resolved to heavily engage in the country’s political landscape “despite continued crackdown and arrests”.

“We will never slip into the sectarian quagmire and will stand firmly against those who want to pit the Iraqis against each other,” he said, slamming what he called a “conspiracy” against Iraq.

“We will cooperate with all factions to meet the aspirations of the Iraqis and urge in the meantime the Iraqi people to stand united. We therefore reject federalism in the central and southern regions, we reject it because it has no basis other than sectarianism.

“Every Iraqi must stand in the way of all those who want to deepen sectarianism in Iraq.”

The Shiites and Kurds, who dominate the government and have an overwhelming majority in parliament, presented the draft minutes before a extended deadline of Monday, August22 , expired despite Sunni opposition.

The speaker of the assembly accepted the document, but called for three more days of talks to see if the Sunnis could be convinced to rally behind it.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani held further talks with leaders from the three major communities Wednesday, but he looked unlikely to be able to forge a consensus before Thursday's parliamentary meeting, when the constitution will be voted on, according to Reuters.

Positive Attitude

Dulaimi said the Sunnis have showed a positive attitude in accepting to co-draft the constitution.

“But the Kurds and the Shiites have been keen on marginalizing us from day one,” he said.

The 15 Arab Sunni constitution framers said in statements carried by the Associated Press Monday that they were only invited to a single meeting with the other negotiators since August15 , the original deadline. That session was held Friday, August19 .

Dulaimi reiterated that the current draft is “illegal” because it does not have consensus.

He also called for prisoners to be freed. Most of the more than10 ,000 detainees in US-run facilities in Iraq are Sunnis.

“Iraq is going through a crisis that needs all to raise their voice to release prisoners before the elections so they can participate in the vote,” he said.

Blunder

Abdel Salam Al-Kubeisi, an official with the influential Association of Muslim Scholars, said in another press conference that the parliament will be committing a blunder if it passes the draft constitution.

“All in all, we reject the constitution because we never resolved sticking points despite statements from Kurds and Shiites to the contrary,” he said on Al-Jazeera.

“We, for instance, called for making Shari`ah as ‘the’ not ‘a’ main source of legislation, but it was rejected.”

The Sunni official further said the AMS is coordinating with Shiite leader Moqtada Al-Sadr, who strongly opposes the constitution in its current form.

“Iraq is actually split down the middle vis-à-vis the US-led occupation,” he said.

Kubeisi said it is high time the United States put a timetable for its withdrawal from chaos-mired Iraq and the United Nations took over.

In a veiled threat to the Sunnis, US President George W. Bush said Tuesday that Iraq's Sunnis have to decide if they want to live in a society of freedom or violence.

“This talk about Sunnis rising up, I mean the Sunnis have got to make a choice. Do they want to live in a society that's free, or do they want to live in violence?” Bush told reporters at a resort in Idaho.

‘Recipe for Disaster

Veteran correspondent and columnist Patrick Cockburn criticized Wednesday in an article published by Britain’s The Independent the intense pressures exerted by the Bush administration on Iraqi politicians, calling the US interference a “recipe for disaster.”

“The determination of American diplomats in Baghdad over the past few days to force a draft constitution through the Iraqi national assembly at high speed is not aimed at producing a political success to coincide with the birthday of President George Bush,” he wrote.

“But it has everything to do with the desperate need of the White House, as popular support for the war in Iraq ebbs by the day across the US, to show that it is making progress. It is not Iraqi but American political priorities which are paramount.”

The Americans are showing more discontent with Bush’s handling of Iraq, with high-profile protests during his ranch vacation and new poll results showing nearly six in 10 Americans worried about the outcome of the war.

Asked whether the United States was meeting its objectives in Iraq,56 percent of those polled said it was not and 39 percent said it was.

The poll is to be published in next month's issue of Foreign Affairs, the journal of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Bush's month-long vacation has been marked by a growing anti-war protest campaign near his ranch in Crawford, Texas, led by Cindy Sheehan, whose24 -year-old son Casey was killed in Iraq.

Anti-war groups have sought to keep up pressure on Bush while he is away from Texas.

In Boise, 90 miles ( 144km) from where Bush is staying, dozens of protesters gathered for a rally, including Melanie House of California, whose husband was killed in Iraq when their son was four weeks old.

“I don't want other people to live the life I live,” as a27 -year-old widow, she said, urging a pullout of troops from Iraq.

http://islamonline.net/English/News/2005-08/24/article05.shtml