Powell’s Iraq plan scuttled

Powell said last week that six months was ‘‘a good timeline’’ for the creation of the constitution. ‘‘It’s impossible to do it in six months as Powell wants,’’ said council member Dara Noureddine, the council’s liaison with the committee.

Noureddine said in an interview Monday that Iraqis first need to decide how to select the drafters. Then those people will have to be chosen. Once they finally gather to begin drafting the document, they will have to sort through a raft of contentious issues, including whether to adopt a presidential or parliamentary system, and whether Islam is recognised as the sole basis for laws.

Resolving those matters almost certainly will involve lengthy debates among not just the delegates but politicians, religious figures and other prominent members of Iraqi society.

Samir Shakir, another council member, said there is a general consensus on the council that the constitution should be written as quickly as possible. Noureddine and other council members said a longer timetable to write the constitution should not result in a longer occupation. They rejected the US view that a constitution and elections must precede a transfer of sovereignty. The US contends that if they transfer sovereignty before a constitution is drafted and a democratically elected government is seated, the interim political authority could prolong the process. (LAT-WP)