http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/29/1077989432265.html<snip>Iraqi political leaders have failed to meet the Bush Administration's deadline for an interim constitution because of continuing disputes between the country's two principal groups of Muslims.
Under a US-Iraqi plan drawn up in November, a transitional constitution was to have been completed by midnight on February 28 (early yesterday, Melbourne time).
Although members of Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council, the body charged with drafting the document, expressed optimism that they would reach a compromise over the next few days, they said significant disagreements remained.
"There are serious problems," council member Muwaffaq al-Rubaie said. The delay is not expected to affect US plans to hand over sovereignty to Iraq on June 30, but the failure to meet the deadline represented another element of the Bush Administration's political transition plan that has gone unfulfilled.