- BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi politicians
agreed on the draft of an interim constitution early Monday, reaching a
compromise on the role of Islam and putting off the details of Kurdish
autonomy, an Iraqi official said. The charter will likely be signed Wednesday.
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- Members of the Iraqi Governing Council, with U.S. administrators
mediating, ended a second late night of negotiations at 4:20 a.m. with
"full agreement ... on each article," said Entifadh Qanbar, spokesman
for Shiite Muslim council member Ahmad Chalabi.
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- The interim charter, officially the Transitional Administrative
Law, will remain in effect until a permanent constitution is drafted and
ratified next year. It underlines that the rights of all Iraqi citizens
will be respected and sets aside for women 25 percent of the seats in the
provisional legislature, Qanbar said.
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- According to Qanbar, the interim constitution charter
will recognize Islam as a major source of legislation and ban any laws
which violate the tenets of the Muslim faith. U.S. officials and secular-minded
members got their way with the phrase "a source" - out of many
sources - but the ban on laws that violate Islam was aimed at pleasing
conservatives.
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- U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer had hinted he would
veto conservatives' phrasing setting Islamic law as "the" main
basis of law, which some feared would create an Islamic state and restrict
women's rights.
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- The interim charter affirmed the principle of federalism
but left details of how this would be implemented - particularly in areas
where ethnic Kurds enjoy self-rule - to a future elected government.
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- There was no comment from Kurdish and hardline Muslim
members of the Iraqi Governing Council. However, if they accepted the language,
that would remove a major hurdle on the path to a new sovereign Iraqi government
taking power on schedule June 30.
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- About eight of the council's 13 Shiite members stormed
out of a meeting on the constitution late Friday in a dispute over Islamic
law and the women's rights.
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- The walkout was prompted by a vote to cancel a resolution
that would have made Islamic law the basis for issues like divorce and
inheritance. The resolution, pushed through the Governing Council by hard-liners
in December, angered many women who feared their rights would be restricted.
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- The document will likely be signed Wednesday, after the
Shiite Muslim religious holiday of Ashoura ends, said Qanbar, of the Iraqi
National Congress. Bremer must then sign the document.
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- "There was an agreement among all council members
that Iraq (news - web sites) will not be an Islamic state," Qanbar
said. "The language was put in a way not to offend the Islamic identity
of most of the people but nor to offend the other side and give the impression
that it's an Islamic state."
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- The deal came two days after a deadline for finishing
the document - a key part of the U.S. plan for handing over power to the
Iraqis on June 30. Saturday's deadline had been set by the Americans and
agreed to by the Governing Council in November. When it passed with the
council still deeply divided, Bremer helped organize marathon talks.
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- The members, however, appeared to have been unable to
agree on the terms and size of the Kurdish self-rule region in the north.
Kurdish leaders had demanded the right to keep their peshmerga militia
as a distinct armed force and to control oil and other resources in their
region. They also sought to add districts to the autonomous area.
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- Qanbar said the final version accepts the principle of
federalism throughout Iraq and allows the current Kurdish autonomy government
to continue "under a united Iraq."
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- But it leaves it up to a future elected national assembly
to decide the details of self-rule for the Kurdish minority, Qanbar said.
Shiites, who dominate southern Iraq, insisted that if the Kurds had the
right to self-rule in their northern strongholds, Shiites should enjoy
the same privilege in areas of the south where they predominate.
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- "The atmosphere was very constructive," he
said of the long negotiations. "Alternative language and creative
ways were brought to the table to come out with consensus on each issue."
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