LAT - Deal Is Elusive in Iraqi Talks

[Starfury]

BAGHDAD — Iraqi negotiators worked down to the wire Saturday to hammer out details of a draft constitution, but mounting frustrations over contentious issues raised the specter of a Sunni Arab walkout just one day before Monday's deadline.

A last-minute Sunni withdrawal would signal a failure of the months-long effort to coax the former ruling minority into the new Iraqi political order, and could set the stage for the constitution's rejection in an October referendum. It could also deepen the sense of alienation that has fed the country's Sunni-led insurgency and launch a new cycle of violence.

A top Sunni negotiator warned of dire consequences if Shiites and Kurds force through a constitution that establishes a federal system, with semiautonomous regions in the Kurdish north and Shiite south and a comparatively weak Baghdad government.

"If we are pushed in this direction, then the country will continue in the situation it is in now — no stability and no security," Salih Mutlaq said in an interview broadcast on the Al Arabiya news channel.

"We are saying if federalism is going to be approved now, it will mean the destruction of Iraq."

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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-constitution14aug14,0,1678005,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines