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Special Summit Set On Charter for Iraq
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In Washington, a State Department official said Massoud Barzani, the Kurdistan regional president and political leader, who seldom leaves his northern stronghold, "is coming down from the mountains" for the meeting in Baghdad.
"It's the reality of any political system that political leaders need to be involved in deal-making, either directly or indirectly," said a senior State Department official, describing the meeting as a positive development. "This is bringing them into the process more directly."
Committee delegates on Tuesday established an 18-member subcommittee assigned to work out major unresolved issues, chiefly federalism, said Saad Jawad Qandeel, a Shiite Muslim committee member.
Kurds are pushing for federalism as the only acceptable system for their already autonomous north. Some in the Shiite majority also want the same rights for the heavily Shiite south. Sunnis, who governed until the 2003 U.S. invasion that ousted President Saddam Hussein, reject such a provision.
Sunni delegates said Tuesday that they flatly reject a southern Shiite federal region under any circumstance. They proposed putting off the federal question until some months after the constitution is approved, said Salih Mutlaq, a leading Sunni on the committee.
But Qandeel said that position was unacceptable to Shiites. He suggested that a federal system might become part of the constitution despite Sunni objections. Qandeel said consensus was not necessarily the same as unanimity.
Other undecided basic questions include the role of religious law in the constitution, the issue of women's rights and the official name of the country. Khudaier Kuzaie, a committee member, said Tuesday that the latest draft he had seen cited Islam as one main source of laws, rather than the only source -- a key point in determining the extent of religious influence over the government.
A Western diplomat on Friday said the latest draft had dropped a provision, objected to by some women's groups, that said decisions related to divorce, inheritance and other family matters would be governed by sharia , or Islamic law.
Diplomats and delegates have stressed that numerous drafts of the constitution are circulating, with the proposals changing daily.
Wright reported from Washington. Special correspondents Omar Fekeiki, Naseer Nouri and Khalid Saffar contributed to this report.
