Shia walk out of Iraq constitution talks

[leftchick]

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4F8F881B-AE97-459F-BF71-FA4144D7F709.htm

<snip>
Iraqi leaders trying to make a deadline for writing an interim constitution have hit a roadblock after several Shia members walked out of last-minute talks.

Mahmud Uthman, a Sunni Kurd on the 25-member council, said on Saturday a decision not to make Islamic law the basis for issues like divorce and inheritance issues prompted eight of the council's 13 Shia members to walk out, halting the talks.

Missing the Saturday deadline by a few days will not set back US plans to transfer power on 30 June. But the walkout illustrated the deep divisions on the body running generally along the country's religious and ethnic lines.

Iraq's Shia majority, long oppressed by Saddam Hussein's regime, are eager to hold power under a new government, worrying the Sunni minority. Kurds, meanwhile, are pressing to maintain their autonomy in the north.

[loudnclear]

1. Rob them of their land and resources, then take away their culture and

you can own them...body, mind, and soul. Just ask the Native Americans and African Americans.