Bush puts best face on delay in Iraq constitution

The Bush administration is trying to put its best face on the delay in agreeing on a constitution in Iraq, insisting “they are going to finish this”.

President George Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice led the orchestrated US effort to allay concerns that failure to meet the Monday midnight deadline was a setback.

In Baghdad, Iraqi leaders gave themselves another week to draft a new constitution, thereby raising questions whether Iraq’s factions were capable of compromise.

The postponement appeared to be a rebuff to US officials, who were pressing for a deal, if even an incomplete one, to maintain political momentum in face of a deadly insurgency.

Bush had a statement issued that complimented “heroic efforts” by Iraqi drafters and “substantial progress” on preparing a constitution.

While Bush remained on a month-long holiday at his Texas ranch, he issued a statement saying, “I applaud the heroic efforts of Iraqi negotiators and appreciate their work to resolve remaining issues through continued negotiation and dialogue. Their efforts are a tribute to democracy and an example that difficult problems can be solved peacefully through debate, negotiation and compromise.”

Rice said at a State Department news conference, “I believe they are going to finish this.”

She said it was only natural that compromises on difficult issues would take another week or so. “They have achieved a lot, and they have generated considerable momentum toward the completion of their constitution,” she said.

The draft document that emerged from negotiations in Baghdad put off key issues the US wanted to see resolved clearly and quickly.

The drafters had reached a tentative deal, resolving issues like oil revenues and the country’s name but postponing decisions on the most contentious questions – federalism, women’s rights, the role of Islam and possible Kurdish autonomy.

Larry Diamond, a Hoover Institution scholar who was an adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority that ran post-war Iraq, said, “We set ourselves up for political embarrassment by pressing so obsessively for this one particular deadline, and I think we need to listen more to our Iraqi interlocutors,” he said.

Noah Feldman, a New York University professor who helped advise Iraqis on writing laws, said he would have been surprised if the Iraqis had agreed on a deal by the deadline. And he questioned the Bush administration’s hands-on approach.

“We said absolutely, positively no extensions, and then ended up having to say, ’Well, OK, some extension,”’ Feldman said.

By contrast, the US ambassador to Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, had predicted the constitution would be ready yesterday. He was in the parliament hall yesterday evening, apparently expecting to congratulate Iraqis for meeting the deadline.

The drafting of the constitution, even with US help, exposed deeper divisions and resentments among Iraq’s ethnic groups than the US had bargained for.

Especially worrisome to the US were demands last week for a self-governing Shiite region. Politically, majority Shiites have been the ones to benefit most from Saddam Hussein’s downfall and the ones who have worked most closely with US advisers.

Key parts of Iraq’s draft constitution that address central issues such as the role of Islam and the power of local governments remain undecided, Iraqi leaders said today.

The Iraqi parliament yesterday voted to give negotiators another seven days to try to draft the charter. The delay was a strong rebuff of President George Bush’s insistence the deadline be met, even if some issues were unresolved, to maintain political momentum and blunt Iraq’s deadly insurgency.

“We should not be hasty regarding the issues and the constitution should not be born crippled,” said Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite, shortly after the brief parliament session. “We are keen to have an early constitution, but the constitution should be completed in all of its items.”