Delay Sought on Iraqi Constitution … NOT

BAGHDAD—Hah! That was interesting. Apparently, there will be no delay after all, because the chairman of the constitutional committee, Sheikh Humam al-Hammoudi, appeared on Arabiya this morning saying the constitution will be delivered on time. So much for my previous post, but damn, the AP and others (for a while) sure seemed sure there would be a delay and when I called the embassy for comment, they didn’t sound very confident and hedged all their comments.

It’s increasingly likely the Americans, once they heard word of the proposed delay, kicked things into overdrive to head it off. The new ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, is known as a charmer who’s willing to be an arm-twister when it’s needed, and I’m sure a few Iraqis walked out of his office yesterday evening rubbing their elbows and grimacing.

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Category: Iraq, Politics