Iraqis Fail To Meet Constitution Deadline

Lawmakers Approve Seven-Day Extension

BAGHDAD, Aug. 15 -- Iraqi factional leaders failed to meet Monday's deadline for drafting a constitution in an often-rancorous debate that appeared to have widened rifts among Shiite, Sunni, Kurdish and secular groups.

Unable to resolve differences on such major issues as the role of religion by the midnight deadline, political leaders turned to Iraq's transitional parliament for a one-week extension, winning unanimous agreement with just 23 minutes to spare. The United States had pushed the deadline hard as it eyed troop withdrawals.

Iraqi officials presented the extension as a success. They smiled and shook hands among themselves and with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who strolled on the floor of parliament ahead of the late-night vote.

"This to my mind is real democracy, and proves to the world that Iraq is writing its own constitution," Hachim Hasani, Chairman of the National Assembly, told members of parliament.

"Efforts have been made to reach agreements, but this is a historic issue that needs more study," President Jalal Talabani told lawmakers. "We need more time."

Political leaders had promised constitutional delegates they would reach accord if they had the extra week, said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish delegate to the country's constitutional committee. "I hope they will achieve that."

The insurgency opposed to Iraq's U.S.-backed government made its own voice heard before the vote, sending at least two mortar rounds in the direction of the National Assembly late Monday night. Although the booms resonated in the center of Baghdad, the U.S. military said no damage or injuries were reported in the concrete-walled Green Zone, where the assembly meets.

U.S. officials had pressed openly and strenuously for Iraq to make the deadline, highlighted by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's late-July trip to Iraq, during which he reminded Iraqi leaders of the daily U.S. military deaths here. Rumsfeld's words came ahead of insurgent bombings and ambushes that made the first week of August one of the bloodiest weeks of the war for American forces.

Iraq's national security adviser, Mowaffak Rubaie, said Monday he still expected U.S. military strength to be below 100,000 troops by early spring. About 138,000 American troops are now in Iraq.

Pushed by Washington, Iraqi leaders this month shifted much of the negotiation from parliament's appointed constitutional committee to leaders of Iraq's main political factions. In addition, Khalilzad sat in on the final days of talks and presented political leaders with U.S. proposals for the constitution, according to Iraqi constitutional delegates and other sources close to the talks.

Even so, none of the major sticking points appeared to have been resolved, and new ones emerged in the last days of the talks.

With hopes fading by early Monday, Western officials were pointing to interpretations of the country's interim, U.S.-written charter that they said would technically allow more time for the drafting. Delegates were presented with two versions of a draft constitution, one from Hasani, the parliamentary speaker, and one from constitutional committee Chairman Humam Hamoudi. Neither managed to close the gaps.