Iraq Watch: August 20, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - As the Monday deadline steadily approaches for the draft of an Iraqi constitution a potential breakthrough may have been made Saturday when, according to multiple sources, U.S. diplomats working with the Iraqi drafting committe dropped their long-standing opposition to having Islam used as the main source of legislation in Iraq.

In another potentially positive political development Kurdish leaders on Saturday, showing signs of flexibility, announced that they may drop their demand of being guaranteed self-determination, which could eventually lead to full secession, in the new constitution.

The idea of Kursdish secession or dividing Iraq into three federated states, as previously proposed by some Iraqi lawmakers most notably powerful Shiite Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, is one of the crucial sticking points in agreeing on a draft constitution.

If no agreement can be reached by the Monday, August 22nd, deadline the Iraqi parliament would be dissolved. This would be a major blow for the transition to democracy in the Land of the Two Rivers. The dissolution of government would negate the historic January 30th elections held in Iraq and the political process would, for all intensive purposes, be forced to 'start over'.

Many in Iraq are vehemently opposed to the idea of federalism. This point is evident by the multiple protests held across Iraq over the last two days. On Saturday, thousdands of demonstrators - both Sunni and Shiite - took to the streets in the cities of Ramadi and Kirkuk. Friday's protest, which were organized by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, were held in Baghdad and Baqouba.

Violence persisted throughout Iraq on Saturday. Four Iraqi soldiers were killed in the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad. Three other soldiers were wounded in the hand grenade attack.

In the capital city of Baghdad, two police were killed in a gunbattle with insurgents near the Al-Shurta tunnel in the Amiryaa neighborhood. Insurgents also killed two civilians in the Al-Amil district of the city which is home to over five and a half million people.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced the death of an American soldier today. The soldier, assigned to the 42nd Military Police Brigade, died from wounds suffered in a roadside bombing.

Elsewhere, in the northern city of Mosul, located about 225 miles northwest of the capital, gunmen killed former Iraqi army brigadier-general Yasser Abed Moussa in a drive-by shooting. Also in the volatile city, located along the banks of the Tigris River, at least six civilians were injured when a roadside bomb exploded near a passing American convoy.