Iraq races to meet charter deadline
Iraq was racing against time to wrap up its new constitution but the ousted Sunni Arab elite played hard over federalism, raising concerns the new charter may not be ready ahead of today's deadline.
Iraqi leaders claimed they were under tremendous US pressure to draft the constitution by Monday, while Sunni Arab members of the draft panel said they would reject a federal structure for Iraq.
"We will not accept federal system in the constitution," Saleh al-Motlag, a Sunni panel member, told AFP.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. "It will be left to the people of Iraq to decide the administrative and political system they want after the next elections. This is a red line for us as it concerns the unity of Iraq and we will not bargain on this."
Parliament speaker Hajim Al-Hasani said leaders were still discussing the contentious issues and had not reached any solution.
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