Iraq: Constitution writing: Sunni Arabs signal their readiness to resume work on Constitution drafting commission

UPDATES:

•Nathan Brown of the Carnegie Endowment for Peace explains developments in the Iraq Constitution drafting process of its Bill of Rights. By clicking up the new linked page of the title above, you can get a PDF download of the document in translation by Brown, with his commentary. Also his explanatory notes will prove quite helpful. - Owlb

•In comparison, look at the unsigned commentary, "Iraqi citizenship: Anyone but Israelis - Draft bill singles out Jewish state," here in the premiere rightwing online daily, WorldNetDaily. - Owlb

ORIGINAL BLOG ENTRY

Sunni Arabs signal their readiness to end Constitutional boycott, reports USA Today, July 23, 2005.

Whew! This was a close one. You can't blame the Sunni participants in the commission now drafting the Iraq constitution which is supposed to be submitted to a national referendum on August 15, just 3 weeks away. But two members of the Sunni "delegation" had been picked off in assassination attacks by Sunni extremist terrorists, who resent any participation with the Shia-majority interim parliament elected while Sunnis largely boycotted that entire election.

Since then more and more Sunnis have been saying they had better participate to ensure that not everything in the new Constitution is stacked against them, to put it as pessimistically as I assume many now-cooperating Sunnis do. But the assassinations became an unbearable factor, and some Sunnis were inclined to blame extremist Shi'ites seeking revenge for what the Sunni extremists have doled out against the Shi8a community.

So, those working on the drafting commission and its committees went on strike, so to speak. In the meantime, the committee drafting the section for the new Constitution on the rights of women, divorce and inheritance (apparently all Shi'ites, and a certain hardcore declaring themselves just after Canada adopted gmarriage as the law of the land) decided to junk the more liberal law that Saddam Hussein's regime had supplied on these isssues. What an irony, eh?

Work on the draft charter stalled after 12 remaining Sunni members announced a walkout following the Tuesday assassination of colleagues Mijbil Issa and Dhamim Hussein al-Obeidi.

The committee is working against an Aug. 15 deadline for completing the charter — considered a key step in the establishment of a broad-based, constitutional government — and the Sunni walkout raised doubts whether the document could be finished on time.

On Saturday, however, Sunni committee member Saleh al-Mutlaq said he and his colleagues had nearly reached agreement on most of the demands set by the influential minority — including an international investigation into the killings, better security and a greater role in deliberations.

"We have reached an agreement on most of the points, except for the international investigation," al-Mutlaq said. "We will try to find a formula to solve this problem and return to participating in the committee."

Earlier Saturday, the drafting committee decided to postpone discussions on key disputed issues until the Sunni Arab members ended their boycott. Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the committee, identified those issues as federalism, self-determination, dual nationality and Iraq's national identity.

To these latter four issues - federalism, self-determination of the federated "states" or "provinces," dual nationality (of Iraqis abroad who have taken citizenship in their countries of refuge?), and Iraq's national identity (as a Muslim or non-sectarian state?), I would add the ensemble of women's rights in regard to marriage, divorce, and inheritance. Altogether, that's a lot of work to do in the time-frame for which most Iraqis seem to hope. - Owlb