Star of reinvented Chalabi rising again

Hannah Allam, Knight Ridder Newspapers - Wednesday 27th July, 2005 (UPI)

A tall Texas engineer in a John Deere cap and cowboy boots spoke slowly and a little too loudly to make sure a visiting Iraqi dignitary could grasp the mechanics of a power plant in a dusty village south of Baghdad.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi listened calmly to the contractor's carefully enunciated syllables, the kind a teacher might use with an ignorant student. Then, the MIT-educated mathematician shot back with an eloquent stream of jargon-laced comments that made the engineer's eyes widen.

"So, can we see the turbines now?" Chalabi finished with a grin.

"Absolutely," the humbled Texan replied.

The contractor was only the latest American to learn lesson No. 1 in dealing with Chalabi: Never underestimate him. A year after observers pronounced him finished - spurned by one-time American sponsors and with no apparent political base in Iraq - Chalabi has emerged more powerful than ever.

From his deputy premier's seat in the elected Iraqi government, Chalabi, 60, oversees Iraq's vast oil resources as chairman of the energy council. He presides over a board that regulates multimillion-dollar rebuilding contracts. He commands the controversial purge of former Baath Party members from government posts and the Iraqi Special Tribunal prosecuting Saddam Hussein. Until an oil minister was named, Chalabi held that job, too.

One of his top aides, Entifadh Qanbar, is headed for a plum job at the Iraqi Embassy in Washington. Chalabi's Harvard-educated nephew is the finance minister; rebel Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al Sadr is an ally. On a visit to a hospital in southern Iraq, the secular Chalabi was introduced as "the pride of the Shiites," suggesting that at least some members of the majority sect now claim him as their own.

"Chalabi is a clever politician who knows how to get ahead," said Sheik Khalaf al Alayan of the Iraqi National Dialogue Committee, an umbrella group for Sunni factions. "In any place related to money, you can be sure to find Chalabi's people in control."

A comeback of Chalabi's magnitude is hard work, and he started from rock bottom. He'd become an easy scapegoat for the now-unpopular invasion of Iraq after peddling false or exaggerated intelligence to the Bush administration to fulfill his lifelong dream of Saddam's ouster. His pagoda-style villa in Baghdad was ransacked during a probe into allegations of counterfeiting and kidnapping, and American officials accused him of passing secrets to Iran. The Jordanian government asked for his extradition on a 1992 embezzlement conviction.

Abruptly spurned by his hawkish friends in Washington and faced with little street support in Baghdad, Chalabi's star dimmed. Then came a total makeover. He turned critical of the Americans, who a year earlier had airlifted him into Iraq, and relied on Iraqi power brokers to protect his shaky Baghdad empire.

He helped build the United Iraqi Alliance, the Shiite coalition that swept the January elections and installed him as one of three deputy premiers to Prime Minister Ibrahim al Jaafari. An Iraqi court threw out the charges that led to the raid of Chalabi's home, and the judge who signed the search warrant was demoted and fired.

Chalabi has cemented his longstanding relationship with Iraq's Kurdish minority in the north and has reached out to Iraq's disaffected Sunni Arabs, who accuse him of overzealous persecution of the mostly Sunni members of Saddam's former Baath Party. Still, even militant Sunni clerics such as Hareth al Dhari of the Muslim Scholars Association receive their nemesis, albeit with a challenge summed up as: You brought the Americans, you get them out.

"After America saw the real Chalabi and abandoned him, he turned to the tribal and religious movements," said Hazem Ali, a political analyst at Baghdad University. "It's campaign season for the elections. He's going to do whatever he can to get votes."

Even the U.S. government has warmed to Chalabi again. American officials never pursued the allegation that his associates passed intelligence to Iran, and both U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Chalabi to congratulate him on his election win. He accepted the U.S. military's offer to train his phalanx of bodyguards. And he attended the American Embassy's Fourth of July celebration, where diplomats and U.S. military commanders greeted him like an old friend.

Even his most bitter rivals exhibit a grudging admiration for Chalabi's phoenix-like ability to reinvent himself, though some complain he deals without principle to advance himself.

"This is his problem," said Sheik Homam Hamoodi, a senior Shiite politician who leads the drafting committee for the Iraqi constitution. "This comes from his background as a banker. ... He sells and buys without a specific strategy."

Chalabi rejects claims that he lacks popular support. While he said it's "too early" to talk about his plans for the December elections, he's obviously hard at work on his latest makeover.

This time, he's fashioning himself as an Iraqi patriot able to reach across Iraq's sectarian lines. He's even become something of a populist, as one of the very few leaders to live outside the U.S.-guarded Green Zone compound or to risk the perilous roads leading out of the capital. Last week, he made a dangerous foray south along a route where gunmen had previously ambushed his convoy.

Chalabi wanted a firsthand look at the aftermath of the inferno in Musayyib, a tiny, mostly Shiite village where a suicide bombing killed nearly 100 people this month. He pored over maps with local Iraqi authorities, recreating the bomber's path. He comforted survivors in a rank hospital. He paused to gaze at the shimmering Euphrates River.

He glad-handed two American soldiers stationed in the area, thanking them for helping to get rid of Saddam. Then he was gone.

"Um, who did I just meet?" asked a bewildered Lt. Col. John Rhodes of the 155th Separate Armored Brigade.

"Remember the guy the CIA cut off, the one pumping the bad intelligence that got us over here in the first place? That was him," the other soldier replied.

"Oh, yeah. That guy," Rhodes said with a shrug.

Many Iraqi leaders found out about the trip only when the state-run television station showed Chalabi touring the bombing site. Grandstanding, his Shiite allies privately griped. Days later, however, Jaafari followed suit by presiding over a luncheon at the prime minister's office for the parents of children killed in another suicide bombing.

Chalabi denied that the Musayyib visit was early campaigning.

"I do the right thing for the people who have suffered," Chalabi said, snacking on Iraqi apples as his convoy of 20 white Land Cruisers sped back to Baghdad. "If there are other interpretations, that's up to them."

In the shifting landscape of Iraqi politics, holding onto power is a full-time job that leaves Chalabi unable to pursue his many intellectual interests. His Lebanese wife and their four children live mostly outside of Iraq, and his taxing schedule seldom permits travel abroad. In the past week, however, Chalabi entertained a houseguest: the Lebanese-born scholar Fouad Ajami, a pariah among many Arab intellectuals for his cozy relationship with Israel and the United States.

Ajami, director of Middle Eastern Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, had accompanied Chalabi on the solemn trip to Musayyib. Over a traditional Iraqi meal of cinnamon-spiced rice and okra stew later that evening, the like-minded men skewered their mutual critics, lambasting an array of self-proclaimed Iraq experts, the Arab intelligentsia, famous journalists and Washington lawmakers. After dinner, Ajami and Chalabi's aides, exhausted by the grueling day, sank into plush chairs.

Chalabi disappeared for a moment to swap his dusty suit from the bombing tour for a crisp navy blazer. He said good night to his guests and set off for a Cabinet meeting.

"We'll rest now," said Qanbar, one of Chalabi's closest aides. "But he'll keep going until midnight."

Before Ajami left town, Chalabi did manage to carve out a leisurely summer day at the picturesque, poolside Baghdad estate built by his father in 1934. They lounged in a room where the television was tuned to coverage of Condoleezza Rice's visit to Beirut, and a boxed set of "The Sopranos" sat on a shelf. The men discussed authors and debated Arab contributions to science as Moroccan folk music, Palestinian rap and Lebanese pop boomed from a stereo. Chalabi's nephew, the finance minister, joined them for lunch.

Sporting chinos and a Nike T-shirt, Chalabi led a visitor through his family's majestic, century-old palm groves and a greenhouse built with reeds from Iraq's southern marsh country. The raw ambition and ruthlessness he often exhibits in the political arena melted away as he strolled around his boyhood retreat.

Chalabi's roots are in the landed Iraqi aristocracy that was close to the former monarchy. He was born in the Baghdad neighborhood of Adhemiyah and still keeps a family home there, though the area has become a haven for Sunni insurgents. He left at age 14 and as an adult fought his way into the leadership of the Iraqi opposition in London. The bitterness of his four decades of exile became apparent as he lovingly described the taste of Iraqi dates and the elegant architecture of the poolside cabana his father added to the house as a gift to his young son in the 1950s.

Chalabi mentioned he was reading "The Orientalist," the acclaimed biography of a Russian Jew who masqueraded as a Muslim prince early last century. Chalabi seemed fascinated by the fabulist at the heart of the story. As one literary critic wrote of the character: "Inventing and reinventing himself, he left a confused and perplexing trail."

BNN

Rumsfeld in surprise visit to Iraq

Defense chief says country must fight interference

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) Wednesday, July 27, 2005 -- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived in Iraq on an unannounced visit Wednesday, planning to meet with the country's leaders as well as U.S. military commanders and troops. As he arrived, Rumsfeld said Iraq needs to be more aggressive in its stance against interference from its neighbors such as Syria and Iran, and the borders with those countries should be shut off to stem the flow of insurgents into Iraq.

"They need to be aggressively communicating with their neighbors to see that foreign terrorists stop coming across those borders and that their neighbors do not harbor insurgents and finance insurgents in a way that is destructive of what the Iraqi people are trying to accomplish," Rumsfeld said.

His comments seemed to echo those by Iraqi Defense Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi, who said Tuesday that Syria "ignores demands by Iraqis to stop the infiltration of terrorists." Al-Dulaimi's comments were made during a news conference about a nationwide security plan to be implemented in coming days. He warned countries that are slack toward the infiltration of insurgents, singling out Syria.

"When the lava of the exploding volcano of Iraq overflows, it will first hit Damascus," he said, adding that militants are infiltrating Iraq from Syria using three routes and with intentions of targeting the Baghdad region.

In addition, a Western diplomat in Iraq said last week, "It is no secret that the Iranians have friends in Iraq, and they want to influence the government in Iraq. They need, however, to let the Iraqis make their own decisions." The diplomat added: "The Syrians have not done all they can to stop the flow of people and weapons across the border. Syria is an authoritarian state ... they can and need to stop these things."

Rumsfeld also encouraged the Iraqi constitution committee to meet its Aug. 15 deadline to come up with a draft of the country's constitution. If the draft is approved by the transitional National Assembly, it will be put before voters in an Oct. 15 referendum.

Rumsfeld's visit coincides with polls that cite declining support for the U.S.-led war in Iraq and a lack of confidence in the United States' ability to help establish a permanent Iraqi government and train Iraqi security forces to defend the country without coalition support.

According to a recent CNN poll, 60 percent of Americans say they don't believe the United States will be able to establish a permanent government in Iraq. In addition, a Pentagon report issued last week said 171,000 Iraqi security forces are now trained and equipped but that only 2,500 are capable of mounting counter-insurgency operations on their own without Coalition Forces help.

Attack on Iraqi workers kills 12

Insurgents killed 12 Iraqi workers and wounded 22 in an attack Tuesday on minibuses at a factory west of Baghdad, an Iraqi police official said. Workers were departing an iron factory in Abu Ghraib on the capital's western outskirts when the attack occurred.

Several buses were bringing laborers home for the day, but the two vehicles attacked were those headed for the mainly Shiite neighborhoods of Sadr City and Shula in Baghdad. Police said they believe the attackers targeted those two minibuses.

In the northern city of Mosul, an ambulance driver and a female civilian died when they were caught in crossfire between insurgents and Iraqi soldiers, police said. Six other civilians were wounded.

In other violence Tuesday, the Baquba leader of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia was shot and killed, police said. He was identified as Sa'ad Yunis al-Difa'I.

Other developments

Four U.S. troops died when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in southwest Baghdad, the U.S. military said. The casualties in the incident Sunday evening were members of the Army's Task Force Baghdad, according to a military statement. The latest deaths bring the number of American troops killed in Iraq to 1,779.

An Internet statement posted Tuesday in the name of al Qaeda in Iraq claimed the group had issued death sentences against two Algerian envoys kidnapped last week in Baghdad. The statement -- published by several Islamic Web sites -- could not be immediately authenticated. Algeria has withdrawn its diplomats and their families from the country after the abductions, Foreign Minister Mohammed Bedjaoui told Algerian television Monday. (Full story)

Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka met Tuesday with Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and other transitional government officials in Baghdad. Poland has been a key member of the U.S.-led operation in Iraq.

A study by the U.S. State and Defense departments found that insurgents and other criminals have infiltrated Iraqi police ranks due to poor screening procedures by American forces. (Full story)

- CNN

U.S. backs off withdrawing troops from Iraq

Big News Network.com Friday 29th July, 2005

Despite claims earlier in the week that the U.S. could begin to substantially reduce troop levels in Iraq as early as next year the military has been quick to qualify that any withdrawals will require a number of major conditions to be met.

Any reduction of U.S. troops will be based strictly on security conditions in the country and the readiness of Iraqi forces to conduct independent operations, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman in Baghdad said Thursday.

"The United States will not reduce forces until the Iraqi security forces can maintain the security environment," Air Force Brig. Gen. Donald Alston stressed in a news conference. The United States and Iraq will consult on when these conditions have been met.

Army Gen. George W. Casey, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, said Wednesday that substantial troop reductions could begin as early as spring or summer if the insurgency is put down and Iraqi forces are ready to handle the security mission.

"The commissioned-established conditions will cover the combat capability of the Iraqi forces as well as the ability of the Iraqi government's ministries to sustain the forces and support them logistically," Alston said. "The progress of Iraqi forces, however, isn't something that can be measured only quantitatively, he explained."

"Combat capability is not just a function of numbers," he said. "It has a subjective quality in terms of the combat seasoning that is going on with Iraqi security forces, and that's, I think, more of an art - a subjective assessment - that the leaders are inputting to their assessments."

Joint readiness assessments are being conducted every month, Alston said, and the information gathered is giving leaders an idea of what the conditions for withdrawal should be. These assessments are important to ensure the transfer of authority is handled correctly, he said. "This is critical we get this right," he said. "So we need to be as self-critical as we can be to continue to assess the readiness."

The Iraqi forces continue to make progress toward achieving readiness, Alston said. The Iraqi Army now has eight ground divisions with 29 brigade headquarters and 101 battalions, he said. The army also has a mechanized division with a brigade headquarters and two battalions and three battalions undergoing training, he added. "The training is being conducted in Iraq and Jordan by international and Iraqi trainers," he said. "As the Iraqi forces complete training, they join coalition forces in the field, and their presence aids operations significantly," he added. "The increased numbers and growing capabilities of Iraqi security forces allow us to continue to put constant pressure on the insurgency," he said. - BNN

Iraqis say 15 dead after military shooting -- but U.S. denies

Sat Aug 13, 2005 6:13 AM ET RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - An attack on a U.S. military patrol followed by U.S. gunfire left 15 Iraqis dead and 17 wounded in a town west of Baghdad, residents said on Saturday, but the U.S. military said it was not responsible.

Residents of Nasaf, a town just outside the city of Ramadi, said a roadside bomb exploded next to a U.S. armoured patrol as it passed near the Ibn al-Jawzi mosque shortly after prayers on Friday.

They said U.S. troops opened fire immediately after the explosion, shooting toward people emerging from the mosque.

Munem Aftan, the director of Ramadi General Hospital, said 15 people were killed, including eight children, and 17 wounded. Pools of blood lay on the steps outside the mosque, and bullet holes marked its walls.

But the U.S. military said its troops had not been involved in any firing in the area. "U.S. forces were not involved in any shooting incident in eastern Ramadi or anywhere near a mosque," Captain Jeffrey Pool, a spokesman for the Marines in Ramadi, said in an e-mail reply to written questions. "U.S. forces were certainly not involved in any indiscriminate fire incident," he said.

He did not comment on whether a bomb attack had taken place on a U.S. patrol or whether there had been U.S. casualties.

The death toll was initially put by residents at two dead, but doctors said it had risen sharply overnight, with several of the severely wounded succumbing to their injuries. Iraqi civilians frequently complain that U.S. troops open fire wildly after they are attacked. The U.S. military says it does everything possible to avoid civilian casualties and is careful to respond to attacks in a measured fashion.

Human rights groups have documented scores of cases in which civilians have been shot and killed after approaching U.S. military roadblocks too quickly, or not following instructions to keep away from U.S. military convoys as they pass.

Roadside bombs -- explosives, typically artillery shells, buried in the side of the road and detonated as U.S. vehicles pass -- are the biggest killer of U.S. troops in Iraq. In the bloodiest such incident, also in western Iraq, 14 Marines were killed when an armoured vehicle was destroyed by a land mine earlier this month. A U.S. general said on Friday that roadside bomb attacks on U.S. supply convoys in Iraq had doubled in the past year, although the number of casualties had declined because of increased use of armoured vehicles. - reuters.com

Iraq deadline looms without deal

2005/08/22 09:11:31 GMT - With the deadline for agreeing a new constitution just hours away, Iraq's deadlocked communities are meeting in a final attempt to hammer out a deal. An original deadline last week was shifted to midnight this Monday (2000 GMT) when no agreement was reached. Officials are being forced to discuss a further delay, or even the more radical option of dissolving parliament.

Shia, Sunni and Kurdish teams have been unable to agree on key issues including federalism, oil and the role of Islam.

"If the text is not handed to the national assembly by the [new] deadline, one choice is to task for another one-week extension," the prime minister's spokesman, Leith Kubba, told reporters. "Or... the national assembly would be dissolved and the government becomes a caretaker government."

The Americans want the constitution to be submitted on the deadline, but Iraqis know that it is not ready - Saleh Mutlaq Sunni committee member

Correspondents say there appears to be little appetite for fresh elections, so an extension appears the more likely outcome if the deadline is not met for the second time. The United States has led the way in urging the completion of the constitution, seeing it as a step towards stabilising Iraq.

But as the wrangling continues, a leading Sunni member of the committee accused the US of applying too much pressure.

"The Americans want the constitution to be submitted on the deadline, but Iraqis know that it is not ready," said Saleh Mutlaq.

Issues 'unresolved'

In Washington, Senator Chuck Hagel, a senior Republican and Vietnam veteran, said US involvement in Iraq had destabilised the Middle East. Speaking to US network ABC, Mr Hagel urged the White House to find a strategy to leave Iraq, warning that the longer the US stayed, the more the conflict looked like another Vietnam War. Anti-war feeling in the US has been increasingly in the public eye as hundreds of protesters camp outside President George W Bush's Texas ranch.

Two US soldiers died when their vehicle overturned near Tal Afar, a town to the west of the northern city of Mosul, the US military said on Monday.

The BBC's Mike Wooldridge in Baghdad says Sunni politicians complain of being sidelined and have urged the international community to prevent the pushing through of a constitution lacking consensus. He says significant differences remain on crucial issues, and the most optimistic participants believe a final text at this stage would still leave some details unresolved.

Officials say the communities have edged closer on some issues, but not close enough to come up with a draft form of words for the constitution.

"Differences have narrowed... and everyone is determined to reach an agreement which is essential for the future of Iraq," Mr Kubba said.

The Sunni contingent remains strongly opposed to allowing greater autonomy for the Kurdish north and Shia south, fearing its share of revenues from those oil-rich regions could eventually be compromised. A draft constitution agreed by the committee would be put to a referendum due in October.

If it was approved, fresh elections would follow to elect a fully-mandated parliament under its terms, probably in December. BBC NEWS

Bush tells Sunnis they must compromise to end deadlock over Iraq's constitution

By Kim Sengupta - Published: 24 August 2005

President George Bush has issued an ultimatum to Iraq's Sunni Muslims, who are opposing the new constitution in Iraq.

"The Sunnis have a choice: do they want to live in a society that is free or do they want to live in violence?" Mr Bush told reporters in Idaho yesterday.

Attempts to introduce Iraq's new constitution remain mired in a sectarian stalematewith opposing sides declaring that they are not prepared to compromise. Hopes that a deal could be hammered out, after a three-day extension of the deadline, appeared to be fading with the Shia-dominated interim government saying yesterday that no significant changes would be allowed to the draft document already rejected by Sunni factions.

Voting on the constitution was postponed for 72 hours on Monday,the second extension in two weeks. But the head of the committee drawing up the document acknowledged that the extra time was unlikely to lead to any progress.

Sunni officials have warned that the country will be dragged into civil war if Shia and Kurdish parties use their majority in the National Assembly to vote through the constitution.

Yesterday they reiterated their vehement opposition to the federal structure proposed for Iraq's future government and highlighted other points of contention. As well as the wording on federalism, their objections include the banning of the Baath party from political activity and the failure to describe Iraq as an "Arab" nation. The Sunnis also oppose a clause which could allow the Kurds to secede from Iraq at a future date.

Last night the draft constitution appeared to be heading for a vote along sectarian lines. Amid renewed Sunni forecasts of a violent backlash, Shia leaders insisted that federalism remained the central tenet of a post-Saddam administration. The draft needs only a simple majority in the 275-member assembly to be ratified and the Shias have an overwhelming majority due to demographic advantage as well as a Sunni boycott of elections earlier this year. If approved, the constitution will be put to a referendum on 15 October where it can become defunct if any three of the country's 18 provinces reject it by two-thirds or more.

Sunnis are mobilising a campaign of opposition. Salih al-Mutlak, a senior Sunni official, said: "If it passes there will be uprising ... there will be a lot of trouble." Soha Allawi, another Sunni on the drafting committee, warned: "We will campaign among Sunnis and Shias to reject the constitution which has elements that will lead to the break-up of Iraq and civil war." But Jalal al-Din Sagheer, a leading Shia negotiator, added: "The only possible change now is that the Sunnis become convinced on federalism."

The drafting committee's chairman, Humam Hammoudi, put further pressure on the Sunni negotiators by stressing that, unlike the Shia and the Kurds, they were not elected but appointed following the election boycott. " Therefore, who can say they really represent the people on the street?" he said.

The adoption of the new constitution is a key plank of Mr Bush's exit strategy from Iraq, and US diplomats, led by ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, have been strenuously pressing for it to be adopted.

Yesterday the Saudi government expressed concern over the impasse. The Saudis, who are Sunnis, have expressed concern about supposed Iranian influence over the largest Shia party in the National Assembly.

Meanwhile, seven people ­ five Iraqis, a US soldier and a US civilian contractor ­ were killed and 20 people injured when a suicide bomber attacked a joint US-Iraqi army base near Baghdad.

* Saddam Hussein met his lawyer and the chief judge investigating him yesterday and confirmed that the rest of his legal team had been sacked. Saddam's family have said they will pick lawyers to defend him against war crimes charges.

independent.co.uk

Iraqi constitution hits another snag

Thursday 25th August, 2005 (UPI) - The Iraqi National Assembly canceled a meeting to decide on the draft constitution and no new date was set, the Speaker's office said Thursday.

Soon after the delay was announced, President Jalal Talabani said efforts to reach a consensus were continuing, the New York Times reported. He held a joint news conference with a Sunni leader and stressed the Sunnis should get a bigger role in drafting the document.

A vote was originally postponed Monday by Speaker Hajim al-Hassani, who said three days of talks would be held to try to win over Sunni Arab negotiators.

Iraqi leaders and the U.S. representatives advising them must decide whether to move on without the Sunnis and just vote to approve the charter. The Kurds and Shiites have already agreed.

But, the danger is that such a move could lead to a Sunni walkout, and a possible increase in the Sunni-led insurgency. - Big News Network.com

Forty die as Iraqi factions are given another day to agree deal

By Kim Sengupta - Published: 26 August 2005

The speaker of the fledgling Iraqi parliament has announced a 24-hour extension to talks over the country's new constitution on a day of renewed sectarian infighting that left at least 40 people dead.

Hajim al-Hassani declared the second extension to negotiations shortly after the midnight deadline. "We found that time was late and we saw that the matters will need another day in order to reach results that please everyone, " he said.

The chaos inside the new legislature continued against the background of another surge in violence.

The latest bloodshed ­ including the deaths of 13 policemen and an American ­ came after dozens of masked gunmen occupied parts of Baghdad. President Jalal Talabani escaped an assassination attempt in which eight of his bodyguards were killed and 15 injured. In further evidence of sectarian unrest, the bodies of 36 men, thought to be Kurds, were found in a dry river bed near the Iranian border at Badrah. They had been "executed" with shots to the head.

Today's talks are an attempt to give the Shias time to respond to proposals tabled last night, Mr Hassani said.

Adding a fresh dimension to the crisis over the constitution, fighting also broke out between Shia groups divided over the issue. Nine people were killed.

Sunni officials are vehemently opposed to the federalism continued within the draft document, claiming it is a pretext for Shias and Kurds to carve up the oil-rich north and south of the country between them.

However, the radical Shia cleric Muqtada Sadr and his Mehdi Army, whose powerbase is in the relatively resource-poor central provinces, are also opposed to federalism, and yesterday they clashed with pro-constitution Shias of the Badr group, led by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim. A series of gun battles was waged across the Shia heartland in southern and eastern Iraq.

Earlier yesterday, confusion surrounded the political process, with conflicting accounts from officials about the draft constitution. At one stage, a government spokesman, Laith Kubba, declared that changes had been agreed on the documents and it would be put to the vote in the National Assembly immediately. "By the end of the day we will have a final version of the draft. It will be approved. The National Assembly will then rubber-stamp it," he said.

However Bishro Ibrahim, a spokesman for the National Assembly, announced that no agreements had been reached.

While negotiations continued last night, one mooted scenario was for the draft ­ with some amendments but still containing the federalism reference ­ to be presented before the Assembly, but with the voting on its adoption deferred until Sunday.

The Shias and Kurds have an in-built majority in the National Assembly and will have little difficulty in driving through a vote. The constitution will then be the subject of a referendum in which it can be blocked if a two-thirds "no" vote is cast in at least three of Iraq's 18 provinces.

The US President, George Bush, has announced the dispatch of extra troops to Iraq in anticipation of an upsurge of violence at the time of the referendum. Major-General Rick Lynch of the US Army said that coalition forces were ready to meet the situation. However, the attack on Baghdad appeared to have caught US and Iraqi government forces by surprise.

Dozens of masked gunmen took over the Khadra and Jamaa districts and killed alleged collaborators. Police who arrived in the area were then the targets of a succession of car bombs.

Maj-Gen Lynch said the insurgents appeared to "have the ability to pick the time and place of their choosing ... They have used swarm tactics and conducted a complex attack against civilians and Iraqi police officers."

A senior Iraqi police officer said: "They [the insurgents] are getting more and more daring. We weren't expecting this attack and we had to fight very hard. But we succeeded at the end."

independent.co.uk