Hope political differences can be resolved in Iraqi constitution

Escalation of attacks in Iraq comes at a time when leaders of the political blocs in Iraq continue their marathon negotiations to complete the draft constitution within the new grace period set by the parliament which expires on August 22nd.

The Iraqi prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari expressed his conviction on the possibility of completing the constitution during the said period. He urged the political sides to reach an agreement, noting that the date of completing the drafting of the constitution should not be postponed once again.

In a press conference in Baghdad, Jaafari admitted that there are differences in view points over certain details in the constitution, but he explained that the pending issues are not many, and the main ones pertain to the distribution of wealth and the federalism structure.

In this regard, the Iraqi prime minister indicated the possibility of postponing certain areas of difference if the political parties agreed to that, but he stressed simultaneously the need that all sides concerned to make concessions to reach a solution.

For his part, US Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, expressed hope to a completition of the draft constitution within the next two days. He explained in a press conference in Baghdad that there was consensus on the need to delay the draft constitution announcement.

US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld described postponing the laying of the constitution by one week as "not useful." But he expressed his confidence that there will be not delay to the referendum on the constitution set for October 15.