Baghdad's Fissures and Mistrust Keep Political Goals Out of Reach

The Khalilzad proposal, designed to bring minority Sunnis into the political process, would disband the de-Baathification commission and set a 90-day limit for Iraqi citizens to bring complaints in court against former Baathists.

Shiite politicians in Maliki's coalition said they would like to see those who suffered under Hussein's government compensated before former Baathists have their jobs and pensions restored.

"All of this may lead to the delaying of the law, or else producing a law not as good as Americans want it," said Haidar al-Abaidi of Maliki's Dawa party.

Many Shiites and Kurds are wary of allowing former Baathists back into national security-related jobs and worry that they could regain power. "This swift transition could create negative reaction toward the state," said Bassam Sharif, a legislator from the religious Shiite Fadhila party, which withdrew from Maliki's coalition in March. "If they had properly punished the Baathists, there would be more positive results."

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the dominant Shiite party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, described Baathists as "the first enemy of the Iraqi people." Disbanding the de-Baathification commission, he said, would be unconstitutional. "All those criminals, the Baathists, their trials should continue and it is necessary to fund the proper mechanisms to carry out their tasks," he said.

Sunni Arabs, said Hashimi, insist that the de-Baathification commission be ended within six months and that the courts provide a forum for falsely accused Baathists to demonstrate their innocence.

But Chalabi said Iraq's swamped legal system could not handle more cases to judge Baathists. "What does it mean? You make the Sunnis happy and make all the Shia unhappy. That's not reconciliation. It has to be agreed," he said.

"We have to turn a new page for Iraq. But they want to keep going," Hashimi said.

Constitutional Changes

In October 2005, Khalilzad brokered a deal with Hashimi and Sunni Arab leaders. In exchange for their participation in a referendum on Iraq's new constitution, the document would be amended to address Sunni concerns. But that has not happened, and Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds remain split over key issues: whether Iraq should be divided into autonomous regions under a federal system; the authorities of the prime minister and the president; the national identity of Iraq; and the fate of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

Fouad Masoun, a Kurdish legislator and deputy chairman of the parliament's constitution review committee, said: "There are some revisions which are necessary, but there are also demands by certain parties we reject, such as returning Iraq to a centralized government or reducing the powers of the Kurdistan region and other regions."

Sunnis, such as Hashimi, would like to weaken the powers of the prime minister, who in a democratic Iraq will almost certainly be a majority-Shiite.

"Right now, all the power is injected into one post in the government," Hashimi said. "We are, whether we like or not, now getting another dictatorship but under the umbrella of democracy. This is in no way acceptable."

Humam Hamoudi, the Shiite chairman of the constitution review committee, said it hoped to submit charter revisions to parliament by the middle of next month.

That's where the real fight will begin, Iraqi lawmakers say.

With the legislature polarized along sectarian lines, compromise is difficult. Last week, anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr pulled six of his ministers from the cabinet, but did not pull his 30 loyalists from the parliament. Bahaa al-Araji, a Sadrist legislator, said this would free the Sadr bloc to vote independently of Maliki and others.

They hold posts in the parliamentary legal and de-Baathification committees, and have influence over all three political benchmarks set by the Bush administration.

A constitutional amendment approved by parliament would face a referendum. Any three provinces can vote it down with a two-thirds majority.

The political benchmarks, Hamoudi said, are on track -- on an Iraqi timetable.

"We have a saying in Iraq. We say, 'Inshallah' " -- God willing. "We never say 'yes,' " he said. "And 'inshallah' has many interpretations."