Iraqis compromise on constitution

BAGHDAD -- Iraqi political leaders reached a compromise yesterday to include more Sunni Arabs on the committee responsible for writing the country's next constitution, ending weeks of stalemate and raising hopes that the document can be crafted before the panel's deadline expires in two months.

''The problem is solved and ended. The Sunnis will participate in the process of writing the constitution," said Tariq Hashimi, the secretary general of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a leading Sunni Arab organization.

Also yesterday, the US military reported that a roadside bombing killed five Marines on Wednesday near Ramadi, the second time in less than a week that an explosive device in western Iraq has killed that many Marines. A US sailor serving with Marines in Ramadi was killed by gunfire Wednesday.

The military also announced that multinational forces in the northern city of Mosul had apprehended a key lieutenant of Al Qaeda in Iraq, the insurgent group led by Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Mohammed Khalaf, known as Abu Talha, was captured Tuesday without a fight, although he had vowed not to be taken alive and was known to wear an explosives-packed vest at all times, said Air Force Brigadier General Donald Alston, the chief spokesman for the US-led military force in Iraq.

Alston said the arrest was made possible by tips from local residents. Since Zarqawi declared in May that it was permissible to kill civilians in attacks against security forces, Alston said, ''we are getting reporting that cells, as part of his network, are concerned about the consequence of this behavior and the consequence of what they've done to the Iraqi people. The Iraqi people increasingly are exposing the insurgents."

The breakthrough in bringing minority Sunni Arabs into the constitution-writing process bridged a division between leaders of the 55-member constitution committee, who had offered to add 13 Sunnis to the two already on the panel, and Sunni groups that demanded 25 be added. Under the compromise announced yesterday by committee leaders, the new panel will include the members of the existing committee, 15 additional Sunni Arabs with full voting rights, and 10 more Sunnis in an advisory, nonvoting role. A member of Iraq's Sabean sect will also be added and allowed to vote.

Adnan Janabi, the head of a subcommittee that has been negotiating for weeks to involve more Sunnis in the process, called the compromise ''the best we could reach. It was unanimously agreed upon by both sides."

But Salih Mutlak, who leads a Sunni coalition known as the National Dialogue Council, said: ''We bitterly agreed on the decision. The country is in a critical situation, and if we don't agree, the political process will be delayed."

Iraq's Sunni Arabs, who held the bulk of power in Iraq under empires, monarchies, and dictatorships spanning centuries, boycotted January's parliamentary elections and hold relatively few seats in the 275-member National Assembly. When the Shi'ite Muslim coalition that holds a majority in the assembly formed a constitution committee in April, only two Sunni Arabs were included.

Since then leaders from across Iraq's political and sectarian spectrum have been working to ensure that more Sunni Arabs have a role in writing the constitution, which must be completed by Aug. 15. The committee could extend the process by six months, but that would also delay a referendum on it scheduled for Oct. 15 and ultimately postpone election of a permanent government.

Party leaders said yesterday that they would assemble a list of candidates' names to be presented to the National Assembly for inclusion in the new constitution panel.