- Aug 20, 2000
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Sunnis' best friend in Iraq negotiations? The US
One of the more amusing things the article says (near the bottom) is that there's a worry that if the Sunni faction is unsatisfied with the constitution and needs its people to veto it, the insurgents may not interfere with voters trying to cast a ballot to do that. Now that's cutting off your nose to spite your face!
It's a strange form of excitement, watching the minutes count down towards the midnight deadline for the new Iraqi constitution proposal. I'll be staying tuned to see what happens in this Middle Eastern experiment in democracy the United States has going on.BAGHDAD ? Saleh Mutlak is a lead negotiator for Iraq's Sunni Arab community on the constitutional drafting committee and says he frequently feels isolated and pushed around.
He says Iraq's majority Shiites and politically powerful minority Kurds seem determined to ignore the concerns of his community in the constitutional negotiations, which face a provisional deadline of midnight Monday. He warns of the consequences if a constitution is drafted over Sunni objections.
In fact, he says he'd despair completely of the process if it weren't for the help of a surprising new ally: the US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad.
"Zalmay is the boss,'' says Mr. Mutlak, who himself has received death threats from members of his own community for participating in the process. "He's played a very good role slowing the other parties down, in talking to those who are asking for too much."
The US envoy and Iraq's Sunni Arab leadership might seem strange bedfellows. The Sunnis continue to refer to the country's Sunni-led insurgency as the "resistance" and often view the US project here as determined to convert them into Iraq's new underclass. After all, the toppling of Saddam Hussein lifted the boot from the necks of Iraq's Kurds and Shiites, and ended the dominant status of Iraq's Sunni Arab minority.
But US officials say they recognize that if a constitution is completed without buy-in from Iraq's Sunni Arabs, and without language that balances most of the country's competing interests, then it won't have a chance of fulfilling its primary goal: Ending the war.
"Despite the very real possibility that pushing through a draft constitution over Sunni Arab objections could prolong the violence, the Shiites and Kurds are pressing their agendas as if they had no understanding that such dire consequences were a serious possibility,'' says Mr. White.
US diplomats say they are aware of those risks, and Khalilzad's role has been to push them - sometimes cajoling, at other times reminding them of American blood spilled and money spent here - toward common ground. He participated in at least 10 hours of negotiations on Sunday, and was closeted with Iraqi political leaders throughout most of Monday.
One of the more amusing things the article says (near the bottom) is that there's a worry that if the Sunni faction is unsatisfied with the constitution and needs its people to veto it, the insurgents may not interfere with voters trying to cast a ballot to do that. Now that's cutting off your nose to spite your face!