Sunnis Say They've Been Left Out of Talks

"BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Sunni Arabs complained Saturday they were being sidelined in talks on the new constitution only two days before the deadline and warned that their community will reject the document if it is submitted to parliament without Sunni consent.

"They will surprise us in the final hour," Saleh al-Mutlaq, one of four main Sunni negotiators, told The Associated Press. "We will reject it and the people will be angry, the street will be angry and as a result we will be back to square one."

But a Shiite politician, Khaled al-Attiyah, was upbeat and said the negotiations were in the final stage. He said the Shiites submitted a new proposal on the distribution of Iraq's oil wealth, one of the remaining obstacles to a deal by the Monday night deadline.

Sunni Arabs also object to demands by Kurds and the largest Shiite party for a federal state, and oppose a major role for Shiite clergy in Najaf...

...As the haggling dragged into its final hours, violence continued.

Twenty civilians were injured in Fallujah on Saturday after attackers tossed two hand grenades into a crowded marketplace, the U.S. military said. The U.S. military said there were no Iraqi security forces killed or wounded and all casualties were civilians.

Elsewhere, two Iraqi policemen were killed in a gunfight in western Baghdad.

The U.S. military said Saturday that U.S. troops raided an insurgent hideout in central Baghdad, rescued a hostage and arrested three kidnappers. The military did not give the nationality of the hostage freed in the Thursday night raid."
My Way