More Constitution Delays

As I've said all along, I think that little extra time for an Iraqi constitution on which all sides can agree is preferable to pushing through a half-baked compromise document that leads to increased instability and more bloodshed. After another delay on Thursday, it looks as though the transitional assembly will now probably not consider the constitution until next week, as the gap between consideration and a planned October 15 national referendum on the governing structure narrows.

I continue to hold out hope that negotiators will reach consensus on the sticky issues of federalism and the status of members of the former Ba'ath Party, and that the constitution when it finally emerges will be one that most Iraqis can feel comfortable with. I hope that all Iraqis - Shiites, Kurds, and Sunnis, will come out in droves in October and support the constitution that emerges from a negotiated compromise.

However, as CSIS' Jon Alterman says in Friday's Christian Science Monitor, if the Shiites and Kurds go ahead with a constitution which does not meet Sunni approval (as they said Thursday they might), high Sunni turnout in the October 15 referendum - even if it defeats the constitution - might not necessarily be a bad thing. Says Alterman, "There's a silver lining in that, if it finally draws the Sunnis inside the political process."