World

Iraqis Miss Deadline On Charter

February 29, 2004 / 2:08 PM EST / CBS/AP

Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council failed to meet a deadline Saturday for drafting an interim constitution, with members deadlocked over issues including Islamic law and the status of women, a U.S. coalition official said.

The earliest the charter can be completed is Sunday, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Drafting an interim constitution is a key step in U.S. plans for handing power to Iraqis on June 30. While a delay of a few days won't derail those plans, the dispute over the constitution reflects the depth and persistence of divisions among the 25 members of the Governing Council.

And CBS News Correspondent Elizabeth Palmer in Baghdad says there are still concerns that those divisions could lead Iraq into civil war.

The central problems: how to distribute power among the country's ethnic and religious groups, and how to balance Islam and secularism.

Members met throughout the day Saturday, at one point joined by top U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer in a bid to overcome the differences, said Hamed al-Bayati, an adviser to a leading Shiite party with a seat on the council.

The Feb. 28 deadline was agreed to by the Iraqi Governing Council last November. Bremer, who must approve the final document, has hinted he would veto any text enshrining Islam as the main source of law in Iraq, as conservatives on the council are seeking.

The document is to remain in effect until a permanent charter is adopted next year - but all sides are pushing to get their interests met in the interim constitution, which will likely be a basis for the permanent version.

In other developments:

The New York Times reports in a story prepared for its Sunday editions that, in its final years in power, "Saddam Hussein's government systematically extracted billions of dollars in kickbacks from companies doing business with Iraq, funneling most of the illicit funds through a network of foreign bank accounts in violation of United Nations sanctions." This, as "millions of Iraqis were struggling to survive on rations of food and medicine," the newspaper points out.

Soldiers with the 4th Infantry Division arrested the leader of a local insurgent cell in Samarra, the Army said Saturday, and detained seven more, including one involved with a truck bombing that killed two Iraqis and injured 40 more last month. Maj. Josslyn Aberle said soldiers with the division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team, working with the Iraqi Civilian Defense Corps and Baghdad police raided a house in Samarra late Friday and captured Nahdum al-Marsumi.

At a meeting of Iraqi donors in the United Arab Emirates, Iraqi Planning Minister Mehdi Hafedh sought $3.9 billion to fund reconstruction in the next 12 months and expected creditors to forgive his country $72 billion in debts. A U.S. official said about $10 billion will go into reconstruction projects by the time sovereignty reverts to Iraqis.

An explosion damaged part of Iraq's oil pipeline system, witnesses said Saturday, the second time an oil facility near Samarra was damaged. The blast happened near Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad. Another bomb was used to damage part of the oil pipeline near the same city Thursday morning. The Oil Ministry had no comment. Fixing Iraq's ruined economy depends on oil production.

In Baghdad, U.S. soldiers guarding the headquarters of the Coalition Provisional Authority broke up a demonstration by nearly 100 Iraqi Turkomen, who live mostly in the north and seek official recognition as a national minority in the proposed interim constitution.

Iraq was reinstated Friday by the International Olympic Committee, clearing the way for Iraqi athletes to compete under their national flag at summer games in Athens.

The tipster who pointed American forces toward the hideout of Saddam Hussein's two sons has been paid the bulk of $30 million in reward money. The informer, along with his or her family, has also been relocated, Julie Reside, a State Department spokeswoman, said Friday.

In a sign of the tensions over the interim charter, some Shiite Muslim members stormed out of a meeting about it late Friday in a dispute over Islamic law and the women's rights.

Around eight of the council's 13 Shiite members walked out of talks after a vote that canceled a controversial resolution that would have made Islamic law the basis for issues like divorce and inheritance. Resolution 137 had angered many women who fear their rights would be restricted.

"The meeting was supposed to be about the fundamental law, but the chairman raised the issue of 137. Then they brought women (spectators) into the council and pressured the vote," said Hamed al-Bayati, an adviser in a top Shiite party that participated in the walkout.

"The purpose was to affirm women's rights in the interim constitution," said Raja Habib al-Khuzaai, a Shiite woman on the council.

The interim constitution is supposed to serve as the foundation of the Iraqi government until a permanent charter can be completed next year. It will be the basis of the legal system after the U.S.-led coalition returns sovereignty to the Iraqis. Amid wrangling over the document, Iraqi and U.S. officials have also been unable to agree on a process for picking the provisional government due to take power June 30.

Al-Bayati said he expected the council to agree in principle for the constitution bridging the differences by Saturday night, though he said it could take two or three more days "to work out the wording."

Still being worked out is the wording for Islam's role in the country. Islamic conservatives on the council want the constitution to state that Islam is the main source of legislation and no law should be passed if it is contrary to Islamic values, said Mahmoud Othman, a Sunni Kurd council member.

Earlier this month, Bremer suggested he would wield his veto if Islamic sharia law were made the principal basis of the law. The U.S.-favored text would enshrine Islam as one of the sources of law - but not the only one.

Also unresolved are Kurdish demands for self-rule powers under a federal system - including control over their region's oil and natural resources and the right to maintain their militias as a distinct armed force.

The constitution will create a federal system to decentralize power after a long history of Baghdad keeping a strict hold on Iraq's disparate regions.

The process of establishing such a government overcame a major hurdle Thursday when Iraq's most prominent Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, dropped his objection to an unelected administration taking power on June 30.

Al-Sistani said he would accept a weak, unelected government if elections are scheduled as soon as possible and the United Nations guarantees no more postponements.