From the AP

Iraqis Miss Third Constitution Deadline

By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer

The speaker of Iraq’s Parliament announced a one-day extension early Friday
in talks on Iraq’s new constitution — a fourth attempt to win Sunni Arab
approval for the draft. But he said that if no agreement is reached, the draft
would be presented to the people in an Oct. 15 referendum.

Hajim al-Hassani, speaking minutes after the midnight deadline, said that
after meeting for three days, “we found that time was late and we saw that the
matters will need another day in order to reach results that please everyone.”

Earlier, however, a Sunni Arab negotiator said Shiites didn’t even show up
for a late-night meeting, and two Shiite delegates told reporters they saw no
reason why the draft presented to the legislature Monday could not be
forwarded to the people for a referendum.

Although the constitution requires only a simple majority in the
referendum, if two-thirds of the voters in any three of Iraq’s 18 provinces
vote against it, the charter will be defeated. Sunni Arabs are about 20
percent of the national population but form the majority in at least four
provinces.

Shiites and Kurds had accepted a draft on Monday but Sunni Arabs opposed
it, and al-Hassani granted three more days to try to bring the Sunnis on
board.

The parliament speaker said that discussions in the past three days were
“very good in which points of views were exchanged.” He said they discussed
federalism, references to Saddam Hussein’s Baath party and the constitution’s
introduction.

Al-Hassani said discussions continued Thursday and were attended by the
Kurdish coalition, Iraqi List party of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and
Sunni Arabs. After those discussions, he said, suggestions were taken to the
Shiite alliance, the largest bloc in the National Assembly.

But compromise did not appear likely.

Senior Shiite negotiator Ali Dabbagh said that the Shiite alliance in
parliament wants the people to decide on the constitution in the referendum
and resist any further changes to the draft.

Some Shiites maintained there was no need for a parliamentary vote because
the constitutional drafting committee had met its legal obligation by handing
in a draft on Monday.

Al-Hassani, a Sunni who was elected on the mostly Sunni ticket headed by
former President Ghazi al-Yawer, said “the constitution is a very important
issue and we hope that tomorrow we will accomplish the work.”

“We legally received the draft. We are optimistic, although there are some
differences. But if we will not be able to reach agreements in the end, this
constitution is going to be presented for the Iraqis in a Oct. 15 referendum.”

“Legally we do not need the parliament to vote on the draft, but we only
need a consensus so that all the Iraqis will say yes to the constitution,” he
said. “I still believe that the door is wide enough for reaching agreements.”

Sounds more and more like they keep extending in order to thwart off the
civil war. They can not agree on it and are afraid to admit that its a failure
(most likely by some US pressure)