Iraq Watch: August 27, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Top Sunnis, icluding deputy prime minister Abed Mutlaq al-Jbouri, on Saturday spoke out against the proposed draft constitution demanding that changes be made to the current charter.

Shiites and Kurds have already agreed on the document and plan to formally pass it during a parliamentary meeting on Sunday. The draft constitution would then be sent to the Iraqi people who would vote on it during the planned October 15 referendum.

U.S. officials including ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad appealed to the majority Shiites and Kurds on Saturday to reach a general consensus with their Sunni counterparts before sending the document to parliament.

The U.S. has strongly pushed to have Sunni approval and acceptance of the draft constitution in the hope that having Sunnis invloved in the nations politics would help weaken the Sunni-dominated insurgency.

In an apparent concession to the minority Sunnis, who form about 20 percent of Iraq's total population, the U.S. military announced on Saturday that it has released nearly 1,000 - mostly Sunni - detainees from the notorious Abu Ghraib prison over the past few days.

In violence on Saturday, Iraqi army Maj. Ahmad Abdullah was killed when gunmen opened fire on him near his house in the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk.