BAGHDAD, 27 August 2005 — Iraq’s Shiite majority made its final proposals on the text of a new constitution yesterday as US President George W. Bush personally intervened to bring the tortuous negotiations to a head.
Washington has been putting massive pressure on negotiators to reach a compromise acceptable to the disenchanted Sunni Arab former elite amid warnings from commanders that future US troop levels will largely depend on its reaction to the text.
“We reached today the final limit beyond which we can’t move any further.” said Jawad Al-Maliki, No. 2 in the Shiite Dawa party of Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari.
“Our final proposal stipulates removing all obstacles to federalism and putting every obstacle in the path of the resurrection of the Baath party and continuing to prosecute its leaders,” he said.
He reported progress in talks with the Sunni Arabs and Kurds on federalism but problems on the proposal to ban members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party from public life. Maliki said the issue, known here as “de-Baathification,” was especially difficult because it was something “we cannot drop.” “We will not be easy with this point at all,” Maliki. said. He said the Sunnis were being tough in defending the rights of former Baath party members and “it is regrettable to us that the Sunnis and the Baath are in the same pot.”
He said on federalism, there had been progress after Shiites guaranteed that the Parliament to be elected in December would take up the issue first.
The constitution bans Saddam’s party and “its symbols” and grants legal status to a committee responsible for purging Baath members from government and public life.
The Shiite proposal came after Bush called Shiite leader Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim personally from his Texas ranch to try to break the deadlock which has seen negotiators miss three deadlines for a vote in Parliament.
Both the White House and Hakim’s office confirmed the phone call.
“The Americans are very angry that the Shia are not agreeing on this,” the New York Times quoted an unnamed Iraqi official as saying. “They really want them to make these concessions to the Sunnis to keep them on board.” Sunni Arabs denied they wanted to resurrect the Baath party. “We don’t want to mention names of any party in the constitution. We want to ban ideologies which advocate racism and sectarianism, without naming,” Sunni negotiator Saleh Al-Motlag said. Motlag reiterated the Sunni demand to drop federalism. “We can make compromises on any issue, except the dismantling of Iraq... No single region has the right to secede by itself,” he said.
A hundred thousand Iraqis across the country marched yesterday in support of Moqtada Sadr who is opposed to the draft constitution. Supporters of Sadr also protested against poor services during their marches.
