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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alighieri who wrote (184289)	3/7/2004 12:53:18 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1578305

<font color=brown>Actually, I may have criticized FOX News too quickly on this issue. It looks like Iraq may have a constitution come Monday. That doesn't change the fact that FOX News sucks! <g><font color=black> ******************************************************** Iraqi Shi'ites strike constitution deal Sun 7 March, 2004 13:47 By Ghaith Abdul-Ahad NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq's interim constitution will be signed on Monday without changes to the text and despite the reservations of the country's foremost Shi'ite cleric, Shi'ite politicians say. "We will sign the interim constitution on Monday as it stands," Mohammed Hussein Bahr al-Uloum, the son and chief adviser to Mohammed Bahr al-Uloum, the current president of the Iraqi Governing Council, told Reuters on Sunday. "We told (Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani) our interest is in signing the constitution," he added. "We don't want the rest of the Council to fear that the Shi'ites want to demolish the whole process. We don't want them to fear that the Shi'ites are trying to control things." The interim constitution, which will oversee Iraq's functioning for the next year or more, was due to have been signed on Friday in a highly publicised event in Baghdad. But at the last minute, five Shi'ites balked at approving the document after it emerged that Sistani, who holds immense influence with the country's 60 percent Shi'ite majority, objected to several key clauses. The constitution is a crucial step in the process of U.S. authorities handing power back to Iraqis at the end of June. Friday's failed signing had caused deep embarrassment and concern the June deadline could be thrown into jeopardy. In an attempt to overcome the impasse, a delegation of Shi'ites from the 25-member Council have spent the weekend holding talks with Sistani and his senior aides in Najaf, a holy city south of Baghdad where the cleric lives. They met Sistani early on Sunday and emerged confident the document would be signed. "We have reached an agreement. There is going to be very good news very soon," Mowaffaq al-Rubaie told reporters after half an hour of talks with Sistani. "We are going to sign on Monday." DEEP RESERVATIONS Mohammed Hussein al-Hakim, who is the son of a senior Najaf cleric and sat in on the discussions, said Sistani had expressed profound reservations about the interim constitution, but also understood its importance. "Sistani has made his position clear to the politicians, but he doesn't want to interfere directly," Hakim told Reuters. "He has deep reservations, but he also knows that this interim constitution is a step in the right direction." Others present said Sistani would have liked to push for changes, but felt the furthest he could go was to make his objections clear and leave it up to the politicians to do what they felt necessary. Sistani, a 73-year-old Iranian born religious scholar, has increasingly exerted his influence in politics in recent months. He has previously expressed objections to the U.S. timetable for handing back power, forcing the Americans to bring forward planned elections. His biggest concern in the interim constitution is a clause that effectively gives the Kurds, who make up about a fifth of Iraq's population, a veto over the country's permanent charter, which will be drawn up after elections next year. "If we give the right of veto to one people, the whole constitutional process will be a vicious circle which could even harm the Kurds and the rest of the Iraqi people," said Hakim, who is the son of Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Saed al-Hakim. But those present at the meeting said Sistani had acknowledged that for the greater good of the nation and for the process of political transition to move forward, it was better for the document to be signed as it currently stands. The Council is due to meet early on Monday to debate he document further. If the Shi'ites propose changes this could be met with a flat rejection by the Kurds who are determined to hold onto their veto. "Everyone made concessions in the process, and everyone agreed to the result. There is no way you can accept (changes) at the last moment," said Adel Murad, deputy to Council member Jalal Talabani of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. " "We've got a painful history, and it's only natural that we would seek some guarantees in this law," he said. "Do they want to push us to secede? It's not going to happen. We're not seceding, we have built Iraq, we are essential to it, and we are not strangers here." U.S. officials say the dispute over the document is nothing unusual in a nascent democracy and that "98 percent" of the constitution is agreed. As well as objecting to the veto clause, Sistani is also said to have wanted a proposed presidential council expanded to include more Shi'ites. reuters.co.uk