Iraqis Miss Third Constitution Deadline

[wtmusic]

"BAGHDAD, Iraq - The speaker of Iraq's parliament announced a one-day extension early Friday in talks on the new constitution — a fourth attempt to win Sunni Arab approval. But he said that if no agreement is reached, the document would bypass parliament and be decided in an Oct. 15 referendum.

Shiite leaders signaled they had lost patience with protracted negotiating and wanted to refer the draft approved by them and the Kurds last Monday to the electorate. With repeated missed deadlines and no sign of compromise, a process designed to bring the country's disparate ethnic, cultural and religious groups closer together appeared instead to be pushing them further apart.

A Shiite power play would undercut one of Washington's goals for the constitution: to invigorate a political process that will lure disaffected Sunni Arabs away from the Sunni-dominated insurgency so that U.S. and other foreign troops can begin to go home next year."

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050826/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

[madeline_con]

1. "... the document would bypass parliament ..."

Man, these guys are learning fast, huh? They've got this democracy thing all figured out!

[Erika]

2. and the populace would vote on 10/15

This should be interesting. Paid for by the lives of American service men and women.

[ClusterFreak]

3. "Democracy is....hard work!!!"

.....he said dripping with sarcasm.