BAGHDAD, Iraq ¡ª President Bush urged Shiites to make concessions to Sunni Arabs on two key points - federalism and Saddam Hussein's Baath Party - to win their support for Iraq's constitution, a Shiite official said Friday following a third extension of the deadline to approve the charter.
U.S. officials have also appealed to the country's powerful Shiite clergy, including Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, to help resolve the standoff, said Ali al-Adeeb, a Shiite member of the committee drafting the charter.
Shiite negotiators agreed to study suggested changes to the document Friday after parliament speaker Hajim al-Hassani announced officials would try again to reach unanimity after the latest deadline passed at midnight Thursday.
A Sunni negotiator, meanwhile, pointed the finger at the Kurds, citing their "intransigence" over the issue of federalism, which the Sunnis oppose.
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