Top Politicians Meet to Settle Charter Issues

Iraq’s top political leaders huddled behind closed doors Sunday to start a series of meetings aimed at settling the remaining details of the country’s new constitution.

Held amid tight security at the central Baghdad home of President Jalal Talabani, the event brought together top Kurdish, Sunni Arab and Shiite officials to take on such topics as the role of Islam in the country’s legal framework and the relationship between the central authorities and Iraq’s regions.

In the tense backdrop to the constitutional haggling, insurgent attacks killed at least 10 people in Iraq on Sunday. A violent protest in the southern city of Samawah triggered clashes with police that reportedly left one person dead and 46 wounded.

Talabani professed optimism that rival leaders would be able to put aside differences that had stalled the parliamentary committee drafting the constitution. The final document must be submitted to the National Assembly for approval by Monday. If approved, it will be put to a national referendum.

“Eight days are not a little,” Talabani told reporters before the meeting Sunday. “There’s enough time.”

In a statement, new U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the meetings provided “the opportunity to lay the foundation for a new Iraq, one that will serve as a democratic model for the region and help Iraq take its proper place in the international community.”

“All sides will need to make compromises, but should feel that their essential needs are met. The hopes of the Iraqi people and the eyes of the world will be focused on them,” he said.

U.S. officials have pushed hard to keep the process on schedule. But Talabani denied that the United States was pressuring politicians to make specific concessions or defer controversial issues.

Among those who attended were Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari and Abdelaziz Hakim, rival leaders of the conservative Shiite Muslim ticket that captured a majority in January’s parliamentary election. Former interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a secular Shiite, and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd, also attended.

Shiite lawmakers have pushed for a constitution that cites Islamic Sharia law as the primary source of Iraq’s legal code. Kurds are seeking wording that guarantees the sweeping autonomy they have enjoyed in the north since the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War and control of the oil-rich Kirkuk region.

Talabani promised a spirit of compromise on all sides, but there were signs that Kurdish representatives were digging in to seek the best deal possible. A presidential spokesman sought to dispel the rumor that the Kurds had agreed to postpone the Kirkuk question until after the constitution was written.

Representatives of Sunni Muslim Arab political groups that did not take part in January’s legislative election were not invited. Talabani said Sunday’s meeting was for government officials and that meetings today would include Sunnis, the former ruling minority whose dissatisfaction is widely seen as fueling the country’s insurgency.

“We will not deny anyone a role in building the new Iraq,” Talabani said.

The only Sunni Arabs attending Sunday were National Assembly Speaker Hachim Hassani and Adnan Janabi, a lieutenant in the leadership of Allawi’s faction.

Talabani’s rival Kurdish leader, Massoud Barzani, was absent, stranded in Kirkuk by sandstorms, which painted the Baghdad sky a muddy beige.

Ten people were killed in violence in Baghdad and Tikrit, the hometown of former President Saddam Hussein.

A suicide bomber detonated his vehicle near a police recruiting station in Tikrit. Police sources said seven people were killed and 17 were wounded.

In Baghdad, three police officers were killed and a fourth was wounded in a drive-by shooting Sunday morning. The officers were on their way to work and dressed in civilian clothes, the Interior Ministry said.

In Samawah, police opened fire on hundreds of demonstrators angered by the lack of electricity, water and other services. Protesters began throwing rocks and set fire to police vehicles. A source at the main hospital said a civilian was killed and 46 people, including several policemen, were wounded.

The U.S. military announced the death of two soldiers Saturday night from injuries they sustained when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle in Samarra. Three other soldiers were wounded. A Marine was killed Saturday by a car bomb east of the capital, the military said.

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Special correspondent Hassan Halawa in Samawah and a special correspondent in Tikrit contributed to this report.