US concedes ground to Shia hardliners: Iraqi constitution
BAGHDAD, Aug 20: US diplomats have conceded ground to Islamists on the role of religion in Iraq, negotiators said on Saturday as they raced to meet a 48-hour deadline to draft a constitution under intense US pressure.
US diplomats, who have insisted the constitution must enshrine ideals of equal rights and democracy, declined comment. Shia, Sunni and Kurdish negotiators all said there was accord on a bigger role for Islamic law than Iraq had before.
But a secular Kurdish politician said Kurds opposed making Islam ‘the’, not ‘a’, main source of law — changing current wording — and subjecting all legislation to a religious test.
“We understand the Americans have sided with the Shias,” he said. “It’s shocking. It doesn’t fit American values. They have spent so much blood and money here, only to back the creation of an Islamist state ... I can’t believe that’s what the Americans really want or what the American people want.”
Washington, with 140,000 troops still in Iraq, has insisted Iraqis are free to govern themselves, but made clear it will not approve the kind of role by religious parties as seen in Iran.
US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad has been guiding intensive meetings since parliament averted its own dissolution on Monday by giving constitution drafters another week to resolve crucial differences over regional autonomy and division of oil revenues.
Failing to finish by midnight on Aug 22 could provoke new elections and, effectively, a return to the drawing board for the entire constitutional process.
But a further extension may be more likely, as Washington insists the charter is key to its strategy to undermine the resistance and leave a new Iraqi government largely to fend for itself after US troops go home.
An official of one of the main Shia-dominated parties in the interim government confirmed the deal on law and Islam.
It was unclear what concessions the Shias may have made, but it seemed possible their demands for autonomy in the oil-rich south, pressed this month by Islamist leader Abdul Aziz al Hakim, may be watered down in the face of Sunni opposition.
‘UNITY OF IRAQ’: Sunni negotiator Saleh al Mutlak also said a deal was struck which would mean parliament could pass no legislation that ‘contradicted Islamic principles’. A constitutional court would rule on any dispute on that, the Shia official said.
“The Americans agreed, but on one condition — that the principles of democracy should be respected,” Saleh Mutlak said.
“We reject federalism,” he repeated, underlining continued Sunni opposition to Mr Hakim’s demands. Hundreds demonstrated in the city of Ramadi on Saturday, echoing Mutlak’s views.
Other Sunni leaders are also encouraging their followers to register for the referendum. If two-thirds of voters in at least three of Iraq’s 18 provinces vote no in October’s referendum, the constitution is rejected.
The Kurdish negotiator rushed to make clear his outrage at a deal on Islam: “We don’t want dictatorship of any kind, including any religious dictatorship.
“Perhaps the Americans are negotiating to get a deal at any cost, but we will not accept. A constitution at any cost,” he said. —Reuters
