THEY LOST THE ELECTION, NO?:

Shiite Leader Rejects Big Charter Changes, Frustrating Sunnis (RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and QAIS MIZHER, 1/12/06, NY Times)

Iraq's most powerful Shiite leader on Wednesday rejected making major changes to the new Constitution, diminishing Sunni Arab hopes of amending the charter to avoid being shut out of the nation's vast oil wealth.

Sunnis were reluctant to sign on to the Constitution last fall, fearing that provisions granting wide powers to autonomous regions would leave oil in the hands of Kurds in the north and Shiites in the south. Sunnis dominate in western and much of northwestern and northcentral Iraq, but the oil lies beneath Kurdistan and parts of southern Iraq that one day may be subsumed in a semi-independent region controlled by Shiites.

As a carrot for the Sunnis, the Constitution was amended before the October referendum so legislators elected in the national voting last month could change it with a two-thirds vote. Some Shiites also voiced a willingness to negotiate with Sunnis on amendments.

But on Wednesday Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, vowed to give no ground on crucial parts of the Constitution.

The point of getting the Sunni to participate was to demonstrate to them that federalism favors their small minority, not to transfer even greater power to the dominant Shi'ite majority.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 12, 2006 9:12 AM