And let the civil war begin

A leading Shiite leader told the Sunni's and the Bush administration to take a flying leap.
Leading Shiite Rejects Making Changes to Iraqi Charter

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 11 - Iraq's most powerful Shiite leader today rejected making major changes to the new constitution, dealing a blow to Sunni Arab hopes of amending the charter to avoid being shut out of the nation's vast oil wealth.

Sunni Arabs were reluctant to sign on to the constitution last fall, fearing that provisions granting wide powers to autonomous regions would leave oil in the hands of Kurds in the north and Shiites in the south. The Sunnis dominate in western and much of northwestern and north-central Iraq, but the oil lies beneath Kurdistan and portions of southern Iraq that one day may be subsumed in a similar semi-independent region controlled by Shiites.

As a carrot for the Sunni Arabs, the constitution was amended before its successful October referendum so legislators elected in the national ballot last month could alter it with a two-thirds vote. Some Shiites also voiced a willingness to negotiate with Sunnis on amendments to the charter.

But today Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, vowed to give no ground on crucial portions of the constitution.

It appears there is no place in the government for the Sunnis who have controlled the country for over 70 years. This is certainly bad news for the Bush administration.

Desperate to deflate the Sunni-dominated insurgency, American officials are pushing Shiites to accept changes to the constitution. The American ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, wrote in The Wall Street Journal on Monday that the charter "will likely need to be amended in the coming year to broaden support." He cited compromises "on some substantive issues such as federalization in Arab regions of Iraq."