US ‘concession’ marks turn in Iraq constitution

"BAGHDAD: US concessions to Islamists on the role of religion in Iraqi law marked a turn in talks on a constitution, negotiators said on Saturday, as they raced to meet a 48-hour deadline under intense US pressure to clinch a deal.

US diplomats, who have insisted the constitution must enshrine ideals of equal rights and democracy, declined comment. Shia, Sunni and Kurdish negotiators all said there was accord on a bigger role for Islamic law than Iraq had before. But a secular Kurdish politician said Kurds opposed making Islam not ‘a’ but ‘the’ main source of law - a reversal of interim legal arrangements – and subjecting all legislation to a religious test.

“We understand the Americans have sided with the Shias,” he said. “It’s shocking. It doesn’t fit American values. They have spent so much blood and money here, only to back the creation of an Islamist state. I can’t believe that’s what the Americans really want or what the American people want.”

US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad has been shepherding intensive meetings since parliament averted its own dissolution on Monday by giving constitution drafters another week to resolve crucial differences over regional autonomy and division of oil revenues."
Daily Times