Iraqi politicians ‘will meet deadline for agreement on constitution’

WITH the deadline for Iraq’s constitution rapidly approaching, the US ambassador to the country dismissed the suggestion yesterday that Iraqis may need a few more weeks to iron out differences.

"The Iraqis tell me that they can finish it and they will finish it (on Monday)," Zalmay Khalilzad said. "There are options, obviously, should they need it, but at this point, my information is and I've just come from a meeting with the Iraqi leaders that they intend to finish it (on Monday)."

Mr Khalilzad acknowledged the importance of getting Sunni Arabs to sign off on the document, particularly since the insurgency is dominated by Sunnis.

"This constitution can be a national compact bringing Sunnis in, isolating extremists and Ba'athist hard-liners and setting the stage over time for defeating them," the ambassador said.

Negotiations have been focused on two issues: the role of Islam and the establishment of a federal system of government in Iraq.

Mr Khalilzad also said there may be an increase in the level of American troops ahead of a second round of Iraqi elections in December. He stressed, however, that an increase or decrease would be up to military planners and US President George W Bush.

Two leading politicians, Senators Joseph Biden of Delaware and John McCain of Arizona, said the administration should be putting more troops on the ground.

Mr Biden, the senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, returned recently from his fifth trip to the region. "Every flag officer, every general-level officer I met with pointed out we don't have enough troops to mount a sufficient counter insurgency," Mr Biden said.

Mr McCain said too few Iraqis have been trained to take over from US troops.

"When you've only got three battalions out of 120 that are fully trained and equipped to do the job, we've got a ways to go," Mr McCain said.

While there is agreement that Islam would be recognized as the official religion, Kurdish legislator Mahmoud Othman said on Saturday that questions remain about "whether Islam will be the main source or a source of legislation in the constitution."

Many secular-minded Iraqi women fear a loss of their rights if Islam is designated as the main source of legislation in the country.

Thirty bodies were found in a grave south of Baghdad at the weekend.

Iraqi commandos were led to the grave in the Owerij industrial district in southern Baghdad after interrogating insurgents.

The grave, estimated to be 10 to 14 days old, included the bodies of two women.