| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Iraq-Jordan | |
| Iraqi Constitution to Be Approved Unchanged | |
| 2004-03-07 | |
| EFL Shiite Muslim political leaders who had refused to sign the country’s interim constitution said Sunday they would approve the document without changes on Monday despite concerns voiced by the country’s top Shiite cleric. The reversal appeared to end an embarrassing deadlock over a U.S.-backed document that is designed to prepare Iraq for self-government and enshrine broad protections for individual rights. Officials with Iraq’s Governing Council said they hoped to convene a signing ceremony on Monday, resurrecting an event that was canceled on Friday after five Shiite leaders balked at the last minute. A few hours after the Shiite leaders announced their willingness to sign, a car bomb and at least seven rockets exploded a block away from the Baghdad conference center where the ceremony is scheduled to occur. The attack, which injured one person but otherwise caused minimal damage, appeared aimed at Rashid Hotel and the Foreign Ministry building. Both structures are near the edge of the Green Zone, a high-security swath of the capital that houses the headquarters of the U.S. occupation authority. Interesting. Cause and effect? The Shiite politicians agreed to change their position after meeting with the cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, in the holy city of Najaf. In refusing to sign the document on Friday, the politicians said Sistani had rejected two provisions in the interim constitution, one that would give ethnic Kurds effective veto power over a permanent constitution and another that would establish a single president under the transitional administration. After Sunday’s meeting, which lasted for about 30 minutes, a top aide to one of the political leaders said Sistani was not happy with the provisions but would not order the politicians to reject the document. "Sistani has reservations, but it will not constitute an obstacle," Mohammed Hussein Bahr Uloom, a top aide to one of the politicians, told reporters in Najaf. "It will be signed as it was agreed upon before the Governing Council members."
| |
| Posted by:GK |
| #3 That's what I couldn't figure out, his intransigence (sp). Play along and he's the big kahuna, since arabs will now want to flock to Iraq instead of Iran. And when an aid said they don't have a problem w/alcohol..... |
| Posted by: Anonymous2U 2004-3-7 7:01:07 PM |
| #2 Good observation, Fred. Did you intentionally leave out Thomas S. Monson and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? :) Whether Sistani is playing good cop or bad cop is OK with me as long as real progress is being made in Iraq and basic human rights for ALL it citizens are secured. |
| Posted by: GK 2004-3-7 6:33:20 PM |
| #1 Hah I was right, Sistani's playing the good cop role now. (Alright so I'm petty enough to say "I told youse so", so sue me hehehe). |
| Posted by: Valentine 2004-3-7 5:36:49 PM |