Iraq Constitution Committee Determined to Reach Agreement Despite Obstacles

The committee drafting Iraq’s new constitution presented its first draft to parliament Monday, minutes before its midnight deadline.

But while Iraqi leaders met the Aug. 22 deadline, the vote on Iraq’s first post-Saddam draft constitution was put off and the Parliament adjourned in a bid for three more days to win over the Sunni Arab minority whose support is key to stopping the insurgency.

"Few issues remain to be settled and will be dealt with within three days," said Parliament speaker Hajim al-Hasani, according to Agence-France Presse.

"There is a determination to reach an agreement on all points ... All parties will work within the next three days to reach an agreement. We will meet in three days to finalise this issue."

After missing the previous August 15 deadline, Iraqi leaders were pressed to agree on the draft before the new deadline in hopes that its approval would help stem the raging insurgency and pave the way for a withdrawal of foreign troops.

"Iraq's leaders are once again defying the terrorists and pessimists by completing work on a democratic constitution," US President Bush said in a speech to 15,000 war veterans on Monday. “The establishment of a democratic constitution will be a landmark event in the history of Iraq and the history of the Middle East.

"All of Iraq's main ethnic and religious groups are working together on this vital project. All made the courageous choice to join the political process. And together they will produce a constitution that reflects the values and traditions of the Iraqi people," he said.

Bush noted that producing a constitution “is a difficult process that involves debate and compromise.”

“We know this from our own history,” he said. “The Constitutional Convention was home to political rivalries and regional disagreements.”

In comments made to CNN, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad described the draft constitution as "very