Iraq's constitution charter to be signed tomorrow

Iraqi politicians and a top Shiite cleric have successfully resolved their differences over the country’s interim constitution and will sign the charter tomorrow.

But the politicians revealed no details of the discussion with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, and other members of Iraq’s Governing Council must approve the results of the talks before the signing can take place.

The approval of an interim constitution is a key step in the US-backed plan to instill democracy in Iraq following the ousting of Saddam Hussein and the dismantling of his brutal dictatorship.

But sectarian divisions pose an obstacle to a smooth political transition. Some Iraqis suspect the United States is trying to manipulate the process to ensure it retains a degree of control.

Al-Sistani derailed a signing ceremony on Friday by rejecting clauses in the document that were agreed to earlier in the week by the US-appointed council.

With the ayatollah opposing the deal, five out of 13 Shiite members refused to sign – angering some Sunnis and Kurds on the 25-member council.

The dispute illustrated the power the 75-year-old grand ayatollah, who rarely leaves his home in the holy city of Najaf, holds over the political process.

After talks with al-Sistani in Najaf, Shiite council member Mouwafak al-Rubaie said today: “The news is very good and we are going to sign it tomorrow. We are glad the grand ayatollah understood our position.”

Council president Mohammad Bahr al-Ulloum said only that the council would meet tomorrow and added: “All is well.”

A coalition source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said earlier that Kurds and Sunnis on the Governing Council refused to change the disputed text and there was no compromise proposal.

The Shiite members were trying to persuade al-Sistani to drop his objections, the source said.

Salem Chalabi, a top adviser in the Iraqi National Congress, a political party whose leader refused to sign on Friday, said there were “positive results” from the Najaf talks.

He said the results would be put to the other members tomorrow morning, and that he was confident the interim constitution would be signed on the same day.

The main dispute was over a clause in the interim charter that would have given Iraq’s Kurds the power to scuttle a permanent charter. Some Shiite leaders also said they wanted to change a clause that would have provided for a single president instead of a rotating leadership.

A Kurdish official said his side would not consent to changing the clause, which was agreed to by the entire council when it approved the constitution last week after several days of intense debate.

“We are sticking to it because it’s a legitimate demand,” said Kosrat Rasul, an official in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of two main Kurdish parties on the council.

The interim constitution, which will remain in effect until the end of 2005 after a permanent charter is approved, is a crucial part of the US plan for handing over power to the Iraqis on June 30.

It took intense negotiations last weekend, shepherded by the Americans, to overcome sharp divisions and reach a deal.

Al-Sistani has twice before derailed US plans with objections to the timetable and methods for transferring sovereignty to an Iraqi government. The Bush administration wants to carry out the transfer well before US presidential elections in November.

The Shiites opposed a clause regarding a referendum planned for next year to approve a permanent constitution. The clause says that even if a majority of Iraqis support the permanent constitution, the referendum would fail if two-thirds of the voters in three provinces reject it.

The Kurds control three provinces in the north, enabling them to stop any constitution that encroaches on their self-rule. Al-Sistani objected to a minority having the power to block any charter approved by the Shiite majority.

Several officials said another cause of dispute was the makeup of the presidency. The draft approved earlier in the week set up a single president with two deputies.

The Shiites were reviving their demand for a presidency that would rotate among three Shiites, a Kurd and a Sunni – giving the Shiites a dominant role. US and some Iraqi officials, however, said the shape of the presidency was not in dispute.

In Washington, US officials said a team of 50 Justice Department prosecutors, investigators and support staff left for Iraq to assemble war crimes cases against Saddam Hussein and others in his former regime.

In the northern city of Mosul, insurgents in a passing car fired rocket-propelled grenades at a police station today, police and witnesses said. Two Iraqi civilians died and two police officers were injured.

In the southern city of Mahmoudiya, assailants last night shot and injured a policeman who works as a liaison with American troops, police said.

Insurgents view police and other Iraqi officials who cooperate with the US-led coalition as collaborators, and often target them.