BAGHDAD, Iraq – After battling over Iraq’s draft constitution for months in the halls of government, Iraq’s Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds prepared Monday to take their fight over the charter to the streets, mosques and airwaves before a nationwide referendum on the document.
As many as 6 million copies of the draft are being printed for distribution to Iraqi citizens before the Oct. 15 vote. Kurdish and Shiite politicians, who finalized the text over the weekend despite the objections of Sunni Arabs, vowed to make a strong push for passage.
| The latest identifications reported by the U.S. military of personnel recently killed in Iraq: Army Sgt. 1st Class Trevor J. Diesing, 30, Plum City, Wis.; and Army Master Sgt. Ivica Jerak, 42, Houston; died Thursday in Husaybah of injuries sustained from an explosive; assigned to the Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C. Army Cpl. Timothy M. Shea, 22, Sonoma, Calif.; died Thursday in Husaybah of injuries sustained from an explosive; assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Ga. |
“We will use everything,” said Jawad Maliki, a Shiite politician who helped draft the charter. “We will use mosque preachers. We will even use Christian churches. We will use everything we need to make a great campaign for this constitution.”
But Sunni Arabs, bitterly opposed to a document they view as a recipe for dismembering Iraq into semi-autonomous regions, vowed to oppose the constitution in the courts, through international forums and in the voting booth, even though some doubt they can beat the powerful Shiites and Kurds at the polls.
On Monday, Sunni Arab anger over the proposed constitution spilled onto the streets of Saddam Hussein’s hometown, Tikrit, where about 2,000 demonstrators marched to condemn the proposed charter and held up portraits of the deposed Iraqi president.
About 85 percent of Sunni Arabs boycotted parliamentary elections in January, but Iraqi officials predicted many more would take part in the October poll.
Sunni Arabs are urging followers to register by the Thursday deadline and reject the constitution in the referendum. Voter registration in the Sunni stronghold of Anbar province was extended for a week so more people could sign up.
“This time is different,” said Hussain Hindawi, an election official. “Last time they were boycotting. This time they were practically begging us to open election centers.”
Iraq’s transitional law does not clearly state whether politicians can make changes to the proposed constitution even as the text is being read and studied by the public. Both Sunni and Shiite leaders said behind-the-scenes negotiations continue over the document.
Sunnis also said they plan to make appeals for intervention to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, European Union leader Javier Solana and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mousa, who blasted the draft constitution as a “recipe for chaos” in an interview with the BBC on Monday.
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