The Trial of Saddam Hussein and The Fallout of The War

The Trial of Saddam Hussein

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The fallout in the Middle East from the regime change in Iraq

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Constitution Wrangle Continues

Iraq's parliament continues to debate its first constitution, since the toppling of Saddam Hussein.

A draft was presented to parliament, minutes before a new deadline ran out. However, there are a number of issues still unresolved.

Parliament speaker Hajim al-Hasani said that it was incomplete and could still be modified.

"Few issues remain to be settled and will be dealt with within three days," Hasani said, addressing MPs.

There is a determination to reach an agreement on all points ... All parties will work within the next three days to reach an agreement. We will meet in three days to finalise this issue
."

Hasani said that there are three issues that still need to be sorted out.

"These points include federalism, and the way to form these (federal) regions ... the terminology used (in the de-Bathification process), whether to use the term Baath party or Saddam's Baath ..., the other issue is structuring of authority between the presidency, parliament and the government."

President Jalal Talabani said the three outstanding issues would be discussed by MPs:

"The big majority of it has been agreed but three articles remain. Now we will give a chance to members of the national assembly to look at it and I hope within three days these problems will be solved."

However, Sunni panelist Saleh al-Motlag told CNN:

"If the document does not have consensus it is illegal.

The document does not have a Sunni voice in it...it does not have the voice of Iraq. The document will be defeated in the referendum not just in the three Sunni provinces but all across Iraq
."

Zalmay Khalilzad, US ambassador, said:

"We will work together with the members of the commission to broaden the support from the Sunni participants in the constitution process. It is absolutely vital for the stability of Iraq and for winning the war against insurgents that Sunnis see themselves in this new picture of new Iraq that is emerging."

Sunnis oppose a federal structure, because they believe that they will lose out on their "fair share" of Iraq's oil.

The risk is that Iraq decends into civil war, as the various groups become more entrenched in their views as to what the constitution should say.

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