Iraq assembly gets charter draft, Sunnis irate (may cause Civil War)

[jsamuel]

By Alastair Macdonald Tue Aug 23, 2:22 PM ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) -
Iraq's Shi'ite-led government on Tuesday ruled out any major change to a draft constitution that parliament looks set to pass this week in the teeth of minority Sunni objections that it could ignite civil war.

"The draft that was submitted is approximately the draft that will be implemented," government spokesman Laith Kubba said after parliament received the text before a midnight deadline. The assembly put off a vote for three days to let tempers cool.

Sunni leaders, who largely shunned a January election that gave Shi'ites and Kurds control of parliament, quickly indicated they would try to mobilize support for a "No" vote in the October referendum on the charter.

President George W. Bush said Iraq's Sunnis had to decide what kind of society they wanted to live in. "This talk about Sunnis rising up, I mean the Sunnis have got to make a choice. Do they want to live in a society that's free, or do they want to live in violence?" he told reporters in Idaho.

<snip>

More:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050823/wl_nm/iraq_dc

[daleo]

1. They saved this for the last three paragraphs of the article

"Some Shi'ites, notably radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, also reject federalism. But government-run television showed wild rejoicing in the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf after news of the ruling coalition's plans to force through its charter.

Secular Shi'ites, including a party led by U.S.-backed former interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, have voiced doubts at the draft constitution being pushed through parliament.

The draft makes Islam "a main source" of law, in an apparent compromise between Islamist Shi'ites and secular Kurds."

Who would have thought Bush would go to all this trouble to help install an Islamic state in Iraq (to replace Saddam's secular state)?

[Disturbed]

2. The Sock Puppet doesn't care what...

sort of Govt. Iraq ends up with as long as the Iraqi soil
produces oil and the Multi-Corps can set up shop in Iraq.

[FloridaPat]

3. They're free now and there's lots of violence. So it looks like there

are no choices - as usual with *.

[ninkasi]

4. He says Sunnis have to choose

whether to live in a society that's free, or live in violence. The question only applies to male Sunnis, since once Islam is the main law, the women of Iraq will not live in a free society, and they will not be free from violence. Since the violence will be from their male family members, I guess Smirk's not too worried. The guy he's trying to put on the Supreme Court doesn't think too much about women's freedoms himself, so he probably doesn't see this as a big deal.

[Roland99]

5. They only need 3 provinces of the 18 to reject it.

[alcibiades_mystery]

6. I love the idea that the assembly has "received a draft"

Yeah, no shit. They probably had a draft last week too. Th point isn't to produce a draft, but to agree on a finalized version. Drafts are meaningless as drafts! I wonder what all the corporate lawyers must be thinking here in the US: "Oh, a draft that hasn't been agreed to...hmmm, that's nice!" The fact that they were trumpeting this nonsense yesterday as some kind of accomplishment was truly high comedy: Assembly receives a draft! Big fucking deal. They delivered a draft in lieu of an agreement on the draft! That means they've got precisely zero accomplished. Every corporate lawyer would tell you that draft negotiations are a zero sum game. You either reach an agreement, or you don't. You don't get to celebrate the existence of a draft. :rofl: