Iraq Interim Constitution Finally Signed

"This is an historic moment, decisive in the history of our glorious Iraqi people."

Monday, March 8, 2004
IslamOnline.net & News Agencies

"There is no doubt that this document will strengthen Iraqi unity in a way never seen before. This is the first time that we Kurds feel that we are citizens of Iraq."

BAGHDAD -- IOL
U.S.-picked Iraqi Governing Council cast aside its deep communal and religious differences Monday, March 8, and signed the country's historic new interim constitution after delays which courted disaster.

The 25 member Council hailed the document as "enshrining basic freedoms and the protection of human rights" in Iraq after decades living under the dictatorial rule of Saddam Hussein, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Headed by the Council's current president, Shiite scholar Mohammad Bahr Al-Uloom, the lawmakers stepped up one by one and put their signatures to the document as it lay on a wooden table, covered with green baize, using individual pens provided.

The ceremony, graced with singing children costumed in the tribal wear of Iraq 's rich ethnic tapestry, marked the end of two turbulent weeks as the country's Shiite and Sunni Muslims, Kurds, Turkmen and Christians made a pointed show of unity.

Over the course of heated negotiations concerning federalism, women's rights and the role of Islam, the politicians demonstrated Iraq had a long way to go before the nation overcomes the deep divisions among its citizens that gave rise to strongmen like Saddam Hussein.

* ‘Historic Moment’

(More: IslamOnline.net)

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Also at Islam Online:

* Iraqi Interim Code.. Reservations, Objections

Al-Hakim said he was absent from the signing ceremony due to 'reservations'

Dan