From Al Jazeera:
Some sections in Iraq’s draft constitution are a “recipe for chaos”, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said on Monday, a day after Iraqi politicians completed the draft charter without the endorsement of Sunni Arabs.
Moussa told the BBC that the Arab League shared Sunni Muslim concerns over federalism and the fact the charter does not identify Iraq as an Arab country.
Shiite and Kurdish officials have endorsed the document on Sunday. But Sunni politicians refused to sign it, and delivered their rejection in a joint statement, describing the final text as “illegitimate” and urging the Arab League and the United Nations to intervene before the document goes to a referendum on October 15.
The Sunnis fear that federalism could split the country into a Kurdish north and Shiite south, depriving them of the country’s oil resources.
“I think if this constitution passes as it is, it will worsen everything in the country,” said Saleh Al Mutlaq, a Sunni negotiator.
On Monday, more than 2,000 Sunni demonstrators rallied in Tikrit, the hometown of the ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, to protest the new constitution, AP reported.
The protesters gathered near the office of the Association of Muslims Scholars, a Sunni group opposed to the U.S. occupation, carrying Iraqi flags and portraits of Saddam Hussein, as well as pictures of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and Jawad Al Khalisi who joined the Sunnis in rejecting the charter.
“We sacrifice our souls and blood for you, Saddam,” chanted the demonstrators…