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Iraq on brink of meltdown
Gloom. Despair. Fairbanks.
The credibility of Iraq's political process was in danger last night as parliament again failed to vote on a draft constitution which a Saddamite Sunni politician said was "fit only for the bin".
In a related development, the credibility of the MSM is in danger because of their alarmist one-sided reporting.
The government had earlier announced plans to bypass parliament in an attempt to push through the document. But as the final hours ran out before the deadline for approving the constitution, Hajim al-Hassani, the speaker of the parliament, appeared to overrule the country's leaders by insisting that negotiations would continue today, meaning that the deadline would be missed for the third time.

Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the prime minister, made an emergency television appeal for peace and sent two police commando units to Najaf where the fighting had started.

Throughout the day in Baghdad, politicians bickered over how to proceed with the constitution without driving the country to civil war. As a dark and stormy night fell, the government's official spokesman, Laith Kubba, announced that a final version of the document had been decided and compromise reached on three issues, although he did not say which.

Sunni leaders said that no consensus had been reached. Hussein al-Falluji, a Sunni member of the drafting panel, said: "If this constitution continues to include federalism, it should be put in the bin and done again."
If the Sunnis continue to think their opinion matters, they shall be locked out of any representation.
The chances of the parliament convening declined by the minute. Kamal Hamdoun, a Sunni negotiator, said the Shia politicians - the dominant force in the national assembly - had not turned up for a meeting. "They are acting according to the law of force instead of the force of law."
Careful with the Irony Meter! Darned near pegged the thing.
"We call on all Iraqis to vote No in the constitutional referendum."

Shia politicians made clear that they did not see any need for the parliament to vote. The draft is to be put to a referendum in October.

The minority Sunnis, who were the masters under Saddam Hussein, are implacably opposed to the federal nature of the constitution. They fear that it will place oil wealth in the hands of the people who actually earn it Kurds in the north and the Shia in the south.
Posted by: Jackal 2005-08-26
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=127780