US frees Iraq prisoners as Sunnis resist charter

By Michael Georgy

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – The U.S. military said on Saturday it
had freed 1,000 detainees from Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison at the
Baghdad government’s request, in the largest release to date.

It was not clear if the decision was linked to a demand by
Arab Sunnis opposed to a draft constitution that authorities
release Sunni prisoners so they can participate in a referendum
on the text and elections later this year.

Negotiations on the constitution, involving leaders from
rival sectarian and ethnic groups and U.S. diplomats, continued
amid a battery of conflicting public statements.

There were signs of splits within the Sunni camp, with
other delegates saying that some Sunnis had been won round to a
compromise proposal from the Shi’ite and Kurdish-led government
while some Sunni leaders said they saw nothing to agree on.

But one leading Sunni figure, Saleh al-Mutlak, said he had
not even seen the document.

It remained unclear what would happen next or even if
parliament would meet on Sunday to review the draft after
Sunnis respond to the proposed changes, as parliament speaker
Hajem al-Hassani said late on Friday and repeated on Saturday.

Later on Sunday, some delegates cast doubt on whether the
timetable would hold after two weeks of missed deadlines.

Sunnis are fiercely opposed to a constitution which
enshrines federalism, fearing it would give the Shi’ite and
Kurdish leaders who dominate the government control over oil
resources in northern and southern Iraq.

On the prisoner releases, U.S. military spokesman
Lieutenant Colonel Steven Boylan said: “I know this is a big
one, but I can’t say if it is related to anything that is going
on.”

A statement from President Jalal Talabani’s office said
prisoners from the town of Madaen, just south of Baghdad, had
also been released. Sunni negotiators had also demanded freedom
for Sunni prisoners from Madaen.

Whether or not the releases were part of negotiations on
the charter, they are likely to ease concerns over the
estimated 10,000 Iraqi prisoners held in U.S. detention centres
in Iraq.

“This is a good move that we definitely welcome,” said
Hussein al-Falluji, one of 15 Sunnis on the panel drafting the
constitution.

The plight of prisoners in the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib, once
one of Saddam Hussein’s most feared prisons, has been one the
most emotional issues for Iraqis since a U.S.-led invasion
toppled the former Iraqi president in 2003.

A scandal broke in the facility west of Baghdad last year
when leaked photographs of U.S. military guards abusing
prisoners and forcing them to simulate sexual acts provoked an
international outcry.

“This major release, the largest to date, marks a
significant event in Iraq’s progress toward democratic
governance and the rule of law,” said a U.S. military
statement.

CONSTITUTION DEADLOCK

Shi’ite and Kurdish leaders, as well as Washington, are
hoping to get Sunni leaders on board for the constitution in a
bid to neutralize the insurgency and allow some of the 140,000
U.S. troops to leave.

President Bush again rejected calls to withdraw on Saturday
saying that would only embolden insurgents.

“Our efforts in Iraq and the broader Middle East will
require more time, more sacrifice and continued resolve,” he
said.

Negotiations over the charter, described as a blueprint for
democracy by Shi’ites and Kurds, and a possible trigger for
civil war by the Sunnis, have been deadlocked for weeks.

Apart from federalism, the fate of former members of
Saddam’s Baath party is also an obstacle. Some Shi’ite figures
say they should never be allowed back into public life, but
Sunnis say not all former Baathists have blood on their hands.

“There was a concession on Baathism but we believe this is
a political matter and we should not include it in the
constitution at all,” said the Sunni politician Falluji.

Sunni leaders said if no major concessions are made, they
will mobilize a “No” in an October referendum on the charter.
They are a majority in three provinces.

Under Iraq’s interim constitution, if two thirds of voters
in three of Iraq’s 18 provinces vote “No,” the charter is
rejected and parliament dissolved before December elections.

Iraq’s top Shi’ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani,
urged all Iraqis to register to vote in the referendum, a
message sure to inspire the majority 60 percent Shi’ites.

In one example of Iraq’s complex violence, hospital
officials said 20 members of two rival tribes were killed near
the western town of Qaim. Both tribes are Sunni but one
supports the militant group al Qaeda in Iraq, clerics in the
town said.