By Dexter Filkins The New York Times - MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2005


BAGHDAD Iraqi leaders trying to complete a new constitution moved toward deals on such contentious issues as Shiite autonomy, sharing oil revenues and Kurdish self-rule. But as they progressed on those fronts, a tentative agreement that would have given Islam an expanded role in the state and in family disputes appeared to unravel.Islam is back on the table, said a person close to the negotiations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the talks.

[Iraqi leaders could seek another one-week extension for drafting the constitution if they again miss the Monday deadline, Leith Kubba, spokesman for Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, told reporters on Sunday, Agence France-Presse reported from Baghdad.]

Under a deal brokered Friday by the U.S. ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, Islam was to be named "a primary source of legislation" in the new Iraqi constitution, with the proviso that no legislation be permitted that conflicted with the "universal principles" of the religion.

The latter phrase raised concerns that Iraqi judges would have wide latitude to strike down laws now on the books, as well as future legislation.

At the same time, according to a Kurdish leader involved in the talks, Khalilzad had backed language that would have given clerics sole authority in settling marriage and family disputes. That gave rise to concerns that women's rights, as they are enunciated in Iraq's existing laws, could be curtailed.

Finally, according to the person close to the negotiations, Khalilzad had been backing an arrangement that could have allowed clerics to have a hand in interpreting the constitution.

That arrangement, coupled with the expansive language for Islam, prompted accusations from the Kurds that the Americans were helping in the formation of an Islamic state.

The U.S. Embassy has declined to comment on the negotiations.

Much of the Shiite leadership favors the establishment of an Islamic state, but several Iraqi leaders, including most of the Kurds and many Shiites, oppose it.

Khalilzad has taken an active role in trying to secure a constitution that could be agreed to by Iraq's three main groups, the Shiites, the Sunnis and the Kurds.

In Washington, a senior State Department official acknowledged that Iraqi leaders were considering a concession to Shiite leaders on religious authority over personal law, but he cautioned that "nothing is done until everything is done" and that the final charter needed to be judged by all its pieces, not just one.

"This piece might be there," the official said, referring to language that would give authority over family and other matters to religious leaders.

Iraqi leaders spent much of Saturday discussing a formula for sharing Iraq's vast oil wealth. As on Friday, Khalilzad was the primary catalyst in the negotiations, shuttling between the Shiite and Kurdish camps. The discussions over oil stretched past midnight.

Though no deal on oil was struck, the bargain under consideration would involve some mix of federal and local control over oil, said the person close to the negotiations.

Iraqi leaders said they had reached a tentative deal on the contentious issue of a Shiite autonomous region in southern Iraq.

Under the arrangement, the voters of each province would be allowed to decide the matter by referendum.

Such a deal would appear to clear the way for the establishment of the federal region envisioned by Abdul Aziz Hakim, the powerful Shiite leader, who publicly endorsed the formation a nine-province autonomous area for Shiites.

"It's done," said Bahaa al-Araji, a Shiite member of the constitutional committee. "Iraq will be a federal state."

A federal Iraq would sharply conflict with the desires of the country's Sunni leaders, who oppose allowing the Shiites to form their own autonomous area. The Sunni leaders argue that Shiite autonomy, coupled with that already enjoyed by the Kurds, could lead to the dissolution of Iraq.

Sunni leaders complained Saturday that they were being left out of the negotiations. Indeed, it appeared that an American-Iraqi strategy was to strike a deal between the Shiites and the Kurds first, and then present it to the Sunnis as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition.

Because of a widespread Sunni boycott of the January elections, the Sunnis have few members in the National Assembly, which is supposed to approve the constitution. It has been a principle of U.S. policy to make sure the Sunnis are included in any deal.



Steven R. Weisman contributed reporting from Washington.