Iraq Takes a Step Toward Democracy

Weary but exultant after all-night negotiations, Iraqi leaders on Monday hailed their agreement on an interim constitution as a breakthrough for the cause of democracy in Iraq and the Middle East.

It was a rare moment of euphoria for members of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, who will sign the constitution Wednesday against the backdrop of a postwar society traumatized by bloodshed and disorder and strained by religious and ethnic tension.

The document enshrines concepts that are progressive for the region, such as a goal of filling a quarter of the national legislature with women and a strong bill of rights balanced with Islamic precepts. It also includes measures intended to bridge Iraq’s societal fault lines, laying out a plan to absorb potentially volatile militias in the Kurdish north and Shiite Muslim south into the national security forces.

“Today, a new Iraq was born,” said Mouwafak Rabii, a moderate Shiite on the council, at a news conference Monday. “Today Iraq is born with a seriousness of purpose, a new Iraq that respects freedoms.”

But there’s work to do if the uplifting words in a chamber guarded by troops, tanks and blast walls are to become a reality on streets haunted by violence and resentment. Although the authors wrote in safeguards that make amendments difficult, future leaders could interpret passages dealing with volatile issues, such as the role of Islam, in different ways or seek not to enforce them.

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Moreover, when a sovereign government is elected, it will write a permanent constitution that could diverge from this text. Unlike the current constitution, the future draft will not involve the United States as an overseer with veto power.

Nonetheless, the achievement was notable for a governing body that represents a spectrum of political, ethnic and religious factions with a propensity for discord. Less than a year after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the council set the stage for democratic debate that will benefit Iraqis whether or not they agree with the constitution, said Judith Yaphe, an Iraq expert at the National Defense University in Washington.

“Let them see that they can criticize something and go home and still have a job the next day and not be in prison,” she said. “That in and of itself is an extraordinary development.”

The accord required compromises on some issues, while other difficult challenges -- such as Kurdish aspirations for regional autonomy -- were postponed. Accepting a proposal for federalism resembling the systems in Canada and Brazil, Kurdish negotiators relented on their demands for the council to expand their region into areas they consider theirs. But Kurdish parties intend to press the matter after elections are held, according to Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the council.

“The constitution is not meeting all our demands,” Othman said in an interview. “Nonetheless, when you enter into a compromise, that’s what you expect. You have to be flexible and help in achieving a compromise. Keeping the country together, that’s what’s important.”

The constructive spirit survived heated debate and a walkout last week by Shiite religious parties. Many leaders are old hands at marathon negotiations; they relied on small sit-downs for the hard carpentry of compromise-building, Othman said.

The final agreement came at 4:20 a.m. Monday with the input of two important non-Iraqis: U.S. civilian administrator L. Paul Bremer III and Jeremy Greenstock, Britain’s emissary to the Coalition Provisional Authority. Bremer is required to sign off on the constitution. He and Greenstock mediated and reminded leaders of the fast-approaching June 30 U.S. deadline for handing over sovereignty to Iraqis, when the constitution is due to take effect, participants said.

“Bremer and Greenstock were very active in the process, and they were very much in a hurry for reaching an agreement,” Othman said.

Bremer has pushed hard on the interrelated questions of Islam and women’s rights. The council abandoned a plan to fix a quota for the percentage of female legislators in a future elected assembly, according to a senior coalition official. Instead, council members set a goal of 25% women in the legislature and a mandate that political parties do everything possible to achieve the target, officials said.

“We worked diligently to give women their rights,” said Rajaa Khuzaai, one of three women on the council, pointing out that an initiative to institute Sharia, or Islamic law, had been beaten back. The constitution makes Islam a source of future legislation, officials said, as opposed to the source, the phrase advocated by Muslim parties.

As Iraqi and coalition officials pointed out, the new protections for women are unusual in the Middle East and beyond.

“We believe that the section on women is constructive and progressive not only for this part of the world but for the West as well,” the senior coalition official said. The document, the official said, “strikes the right balance between the role of Islam and individual rights.”

Elections must be held by the end of January to create a government, as mandated by the interim constitution, with a president, two vice presidents, a prime minister and an array of checks and balances. That government will write a permanent constitution.

But before any of that happens, the Governing Council has to create an entity to run the country until elections are held. The new harmony might be just a respite before additional wrangling, this time over the shape of the transitional government.

The constitution “doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods,” said Noah Feldman, a law professor at New York University who advised the council. “We still need to work a way to transfer power to an interim government in summer.... Also, the insurgency has not run out of steam.”

But Monday was a day for savoring images that are the stuff of history. Participants recalled the scene at an oval-shaped table as they worked into the early morning.

“The atmosphere was extraordinary,” Greenstock said. “Everybody sitting in back came and stood behind us, and this great crowd was standing there ... watching over our shoulders as we negotiated. They just gradually crept in on us. And then when we reached agreement, and the equivalent of the gavel was struck, there was a great round of applause.”

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Cautious Approval

The celebration among the Iraqi leaders, some who returned last year after long exiles in Europe or the Middle East, contrasted with cautious approval and weary indifference among some citizens.

“All that stuff gives me a headache,” said David Skender, 36, a Chaldean Christian barber in Baghdad’s Karada commercial district. “Look at our country: It’s a big mess, it’s chaos everywhere you go. The religious people and people who claim to represent political parties want to interfere in government business.... What we need is someone who will stand by his word.”

Shopping at a pharmacy down the street, government worker Mohammed Firas had more respect for the would-be founding fathers and mothers of the new Iraq.

“You have to consider the fact that the Governing Council is made up of individuals chosen by the U.S., so they have to be competent,” said Firas, 42. “At least one of them has to have the characteristics to lead the country. We can’t judge whether the law will serve Iraqi interests or not; let them make it public, and then we will decide.”

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Times staff writers Maggie Farley at the United Nations, Sonni Efron in Washington and Said al-Rifai in Baghdad contributed to this report.