BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) In the highly charged and fractious climate
of today's Iraq, bringing together a representative group to write
a new constitution is an enormous challenge. Producing a document
that satisfies everyone may prove to be even more difficult.
Chief among the problems is the crucial question of how to
include Sunni Arabs in the process to lend it credibility and meet
U.S. demands.
But Sunni Arabs, politically marginalized because of their
boycott of January's historic elections, are setting tough
conditions for their participation in the constitutional process,
slowing it down and raising tensions with the country's Shiite and
Kurdish majority, which dominates parliament and the government.
Iraq's 275-member National Assembly has until Aug. 15 to draft
the charter, which will be put to a nationwide vote two months
later. If adopted, it will provide the basis for a general election
by Dec. 15, concluding a U.S.-sponsored political process spanning
nearly two years starting with the adoption in March last year of
an interim constitution.
Riding on the proposed document is the future of Iraq, a
potentially wealthy country prone to sectarian strife and
secessionist sentiment because of deep ethnic and religious
divisions.
''The goal is to arrive at a constitution that will be accepted
in October,'' said Hummam Hammoudi, a Shiite cleric who heads a
parliamentary committee mandated to draft the document.
''What we're after is a document that has a vision for Iraq's
future, power-sharing and gives assurances to everyone that their
rights are safeguarded and their chances are equal,'' he said.
Easier said than done.
Like virtually every aspect of public life in Iraq since Saddam
Hussein's ouster, sectarian politics cast a shadow on the
constitutional process as soon as it got under way with the
creation last month of Hammoudi's committee. The two-year,
Sunni-dominated insurgency also bears on the process, indirectly
giving some Sunni groups with ties to the insurgency some leverage.
If unhappy with the outcome, Sunni Arabs can vote against the
proposed charter in the four provinces where they enjoy a majority.
Under the interim constitution, if three of Iraq's 18 provinces
reject the constitution by a two-thirds majority in the October
referendum, parliament must be dissolved and a new election held.
Already, the Shiite majority on Hammoudi's 55-lawmaker committee
have balked at Sunni Arab conditions for joining, including demands
to admit as many as 25 Sunnis to the panel and give them voting
rights equal to those enjoyed by lawmakers.
''We are the ones who have taken part in the electoral process
and these are our exclusive rights,'' said Bahaa al-Aaraji, a
Shiite deputy and the committee's coordinator.
''We already have started to write the constitution and will not
wait for the Sunnis to give us their list of nominees,'' he said.
With little more than two months left before the deadline, he
said 13 would be the ideal number of Sunni Arabs joining the
committee. The 13, he explained, would join two Sunni Arab
lawmakers on the committee, bringing the total to 15, the same
number of Kurdish members. Iraq's Kurds and Sunni Arabs account for
a similar share about 20 percent of Iraq's estimated 26 million
people.
The committee's own set of conditions for accepting Sunni Arabs
may not go down well either.
Former senior members of Saddam's now-disbanded Baath party will
not be admitted, said al-Aaraji. Sunni candidates also must have a
publicly stated ''positive'' attitude toward the political process
and enjoy the support of their communities, he said.
Sunni leaders, meanwhile, are complaining that a
counterinsurgency campaign by U.S.-backed Iraqi forces has poisoned
the political climate. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's
government, they insist, must introduce confidence-building
measures to reassure the community and aid the constitutional
process.
At least 1,000 terror suspects have been detained since the May
30 start of the crackdown, dubbed Operation Lightening and carried
out by 40,000 Iraqi troops.
''Many injustices have befallen a large number of people as a
result of the operation,'' said Ayad al-Samaraai, a senior official
of the Iraqi Islamic Party, the country's largest Sunni Arab party.
''The way Operation Lightening is conducted is contributing to
existing tensions. I fear the consequences,'' he told The
Associated Press.
Another problem that could dog the process is conflicting
interests.
For example, Iraq's Kurds want federalism enshrined in the new
constitution to protect the autonomy they've enjoyed in their
northern region since 1991. Shiites and Sunni Arabs see a strong
federal system as a prelude to Iraq's breakup.
Al-Samaraai said Sunni Arabs who join the constitutional
committee should have the right to vote in parliament, where Sunni
Muslims have only 17 of the 275 seats.
Al-Aaraji rejected that demand as a ''legal impossibility,'' but
suggested Sunni Arabs would have a voice if the expanded committee
had to have consensus on decisions.
Associated Press writer Hamza Hendawi has covered Middle East
politics for The Associated Press since 1996.
