Meanwhile, The New York Times reported today that Khalilzad signaled yesterday that the United States would work to guarantee the rights of Iraqi women and to blunt the desires of ethnic and religious factions pushing for broader autonomy in the new Iraqi state.
Committee members have been rushing to complete the constitution so the Iraqi National Assembly can set the final wording by Aug. 15. Parliament's version would be put to a public vote by mid-October, and if approved, elections would follow by year's end.
The drafting panel's efforts got a boost yesterday when its 12 Sunni Arab members ended a boycott, easing fears the document might be rejected by the ethnic community at the heart of the insurgency. Sunni Arab support is crucial because the charter can be scuttled if voters in three of Iraq's 18 provinces reject it by a two-thirds majority -- and Sunni Arabs are a majority in four provinces. Sunni Arabs make up about 20 percent of Iraq's 27 million people but dominate areas where the insurgency is raging.
A Sunni member of the constitutional commission, Saleh al-Mutlaq, told AP that he and his 11 colleagues agreed to resume work after receiving assurances from the government that their grievances would be addressed. Those concerns included better security after last week's assassination of two colleagues, which triggered the boycott, and for an expanded role for the Sunni Arab minority in the constitutional deliberations.
Most worrying for women's groups has been the section on civil rights, which some feel would significantly roll back women's rights under a 1959 civil law enacted by a secular regime.
In the copy obtained by AP, Article 19 of the second chapter says ''the followers of any religion or sect are free to choose their civil status according to their religious or sectarian beliefs."
