Iraqi politicians seek to find agreement on constitution

A blinding sandstorm in Baghdad forced the postponement of a meeting scheduled by Iraqi political leaders to discuss issues blocking agreement on a new constitution, President Jalal Talabani’s office announced.

With only a week until the deadline for a new constitution, Iraqi political leaders had launched marathon negotiations yesterday at Talabani’s home. A second meeting was originally scheduled for this evening but the storm reduced visibility to nearly zero, making it dangerous to move about the city.

Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani had planned to attend but was stranded in northern Iraq since the storm grounded aircraft.

Insurgent violence aimed at derailing Iraq’s political efforts killed three more American servicemen and at least 13 Iraqi civilians and government employees across the country.

Talabani, who hosted a first round of constitution talks at his Baghdad home, expressed optimism that leaders from the Shiite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish communities could reach agreement in time for parliament to approve the charter by the August 15 deadline.

Participants said yesterday’s 2 1/2-hour meeting produced no breakthroughs, and Sunni Arabs repeated their opposition to transforming Iraq into a federal state – a key demand of the Kurdish minority that wants to protect the self-rule its region has held since 1991.

Saleh al-Mutlaq, a Sunni Arab, said the leaders did manage to prepare a “working programme” for a second session this afternoon. He would not elaborate.

With divisions deep on such key issues as the role of Islam, federalism and national identity, Talabani acknowledged that agreement would not come quickly. Some Iraqi politicians said intense American pressure would be required to bring all sides together.

Before the meeting, US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad urged all the parties to make compromises so Iraq “will serve as a democratic model” for the Middle East and “take its proper place in the international community.”

“The US believes strongly that the Iraqi Constitution should provide equal rights before the law for all Iraqis regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion or sect,” Khalilzad said in a statement.

Talabani, a Kurd, said the leaders recognised the gravity of the challenge facing them and would exert all efforts to meet the deadline.

“After this meeting, we’re going to have continuous meetings and I’m optimistic that we will reach, God willing, positive results,” he said. “Eight days are not a little” time.

US President George Bush’s administration hopes a new constitution will build political momentum and, over time, lure many Sunni Arabs away from the insurgency, which is rooted in that once-dominant but now discontented minority.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the insurgency in Iraq was losing steam as a political force.

“If you think about how to defeat an insurgency, you defeat it not just militarily but politically,” Rice said in an article appearing on Time magazine’s website.

Once parliament ratifies the constitution, voters will deliver their verdict in an October 15 referendum. Passage would lead to national elections in mid-December.

If all goes according to plan, the US envisions being able to begin pulling out some of its 140,000-strong military force in Iraq starting next year.

The effort to produce a constitution is being accompanied by a sharp rise in violence. The US command said yesterday two Army soldiers and a Marine died in two bombings the previous day. That brought to 30 the number of US personnel killed this month – most by roadside blasts and suicide bombings.

At least 1,828 US military personnel have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The approach of the charter deadline has brought hardened political positions. Shiites insist Islam be declared the main source of legislation, which is opposed by Kurds and many women activists fearing a rollback of their rights. Sunni Arabs, meanwhile, strongly oppose the key Kurdish demand for federalism.

Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, had threatened to bolt the political process if Kurdish positions are not included in the new charter. He was not able to attend Sunday’s meeting because of the bad weather.

Today, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari sent a delegation to the riot-torn city of Samawah where about 1,000 protesters angry with the lack of clean water and electricity clashed with Iraqi police a day earlier. One person was killed and 75 others injured.

The delegation, headed by Interior Ministry Undersecretary Adnan al-Assadi, was sent to quell public anger in the Shiite city, 230 miles southeast of Baghdad.

Early today, gunmen fired several rocket-propelled grenades at the offices of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the country’s largest Shiite group, officials said. SCIRI members hold several seats in the provincial council and are being criticised by residents for bad services.

Angry demonstrators damaged the governor’s office as well as several buildings nearby, but the city was calm later.

Yesterday, scattered violence across Iraq left at least a dozen people dead, including a suicide bomber who detonated an empty fuel tanker near a police station in Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit.

Al-Jazeera television aired a video of what it said were three Turkish truck drivers kidnapped in Iraq, reportedly while working for a company that transports supplies for US forces. Insurgents have kidnapped more than 200 foreigners seeking to discourage help for the Iraqi government.