Iraq constitution on track

Reuters reported In a month, Iraq should have a constitution, meeting a deadline set as part of a U.S.-backed timetable for its transition from occupation to independence. Whether that can defuse bloody conflict to give Iraqis a stable and sovereign state remains an open question.

It will not solve everything, but once all Iraqis see that the constitution has protections in it for all minority groups, and yet it gives them a voice in their government, I expect many more will beging helping the police and turning in those who are killing other Iraqis.

Three months ago, after it had taken 12 weeks just to form a government, many doubted the Aug. 15 target for the draft constitution could be met; long, bitter wrangling had dented hopes raised by an election held, on schedule, on Jan. 30. Now, few doubt that some form of draft constitution will appear more or less on time -- even though the parliamentary committee working on it has not, as it once suggested, unveiled a preliminary text by July 15. Once a draft text emerges, it will be approved in an October referendum and form the basis of a new election around the end of the year. The process should involve Sunni Arabs, the once dominant fifth of the population, who largely shunned the last vote out of fear of the insurgents in their own community or in protest at a system that handed power to the Shi'ite majority. "I don't think anyone seriously doubts there will be a constitution more or less on time," said one senior diplomat in Baghdad. "I'm impressed by how hard everyone's working on it."