It’s being reported an agreement about Iraq’s constitution has been accepted by the parties involved.

National Assembly member Bahaa Al-Aaraji just told Al-Iraqia TV that an agreement has finally been reached among the leaders of political bodies on the final draft of the constitution and that disputes over issues like federalism, distribution of resources and the role of Islam have been solved.

As usual, I have The Jawa Report to thank for the information. No mention yet of what the actual agreement is.

Will give updates as they become available. This news comes via Iraq The Model, a blog run by two Iraqi brothers who were born in and still live and work in Iraq. They have some great insights, as you could probably imagine.

UPDATE: Iraq The Model has an update in which they discuss the role of Islam in the Iraqi government.

It was agreed upon that no laws that are against the widely agreed upon values of Islam can be issued and no laws that are against the values of democracy and human rights can be issued.
Natural resources according to the draft will be managed in cooperation between the central government and the local administrations of the federal states/provinces.

Captain Ed’s got some related items and thoughts too. He goes a little deeper into how the Sunnis are gonna get screwed. Iraq The Model touched on that a bit. According to Captain Ed we’re pretty much at the same place we were when the extended deadline was issued. Sad and probably true.

UPDATE 2: More updates from Iraq The Model and also at Captain’s Quarters. The most important part:

Voting will be postponed for another 3 days until the leaders of political blocks can reach accord on the few remaining disputed issues.

Gotta try to get the Sunnis on the ship. Like 3 days will make any difference…

And Jay at Pro Ecclesia is getting “off the bus” in his support for the Iraq war. I’m afraid there’s probably a lot of people that feel how he does. I have the same feeling, but I’m not giving up on the war as the war isn’t just about Iraq.

Chrenkoff has a great post titled “When democracy becomes infections”. He points out that many Sunni insurgent groups are calling on their supporters to register to vote. It’s a really good read. Also, Aaron at Lifelike Pundits highlights some of the draft constitution sections that caught his attention. One piece he makes note of is “Iraqis are free to abide in their personal lives according to their religion, sects, beliefs or choice”. I hope the draft is full of that stuff. I’m going to read through it tonight.

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Sounds like it could be. I just hope it’s not true. Reuters is reporting that U.S. diplomats have basically just said screw it and are allowing Islam to be “the” religion of Iraq. This can’t be a good idea, Islam is basically what we’re at war with here. How they could just allow this is beyond me.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. diplomats have conceded ground to Islamists on the role of religion in Iraq, negotiators said on Saturday as they raced to meet a 48-hour deadline to draft a constitution under intense U.S. pressure.

U.S. diplomats, who have insisted the constitution must enshrine ideals of equal rights and democracy, declined comment.

Shi’ite, Sunni and Kurdish negotiators all said there was accord on a bigger role for Islamic law than Iraq had before.

But a secular Kurdish politician said Kurds opposed making Islam “the,” not “a,” main source of law — changing current wording — and subjecting all legislation to a religious test.

It doesn’t really suprise me. They’ve got what, three major ethnic groups in Iraq? All fighting for control certain areas of Iraq. It’s just not gonna work. If I had a say, I’d tell them flat out they cannot have a government built around a specific religion. I don’t think they should be focusing on splitting Iraq up into somewhat seperate entities at all. Sure, that might work 20 years down the road, but not now!

It’s really sad. All the lives and money lost just to allow something like this to take place. Makes no sense to me. Maybe I just don’t see the entire picture, who knows. If this really happens, in 15 years Iraq will be in the same state it was in 2000.

In the Bullpen was the first place I read about this. Mac agrees that if true, this could be really, really bad. Richard at Hyscience has very relavent things to say about it. I think his summary is a little clearer than mine. Patrick over at Clarity and Resolve sums the whole thing up quite nicely with this quote “a statement of Islam’s utter failure at compatibility with the principles of rights and freedom”. That’s pretty much how I see it too Patrick.

The Fourth Rail has a great post about Islam, al Qaeda, and the future of Iraq. I highly recommend it.

I’ll post updates when/if there are some. In the meantime, go have some fun at the OTB Caption Jam or checkout what Basil has for brunch today.

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