Iraq’s Shi’ite-dominated parliament completed its work on a constitution on Sunday that was at once rejected by minority Sunnis, who said it would be thrown out in an October referendum. The text read to parliament failed to overcome objections by Sunnis, who lost their political dominance with the fall of president Saddam Hussein, despite intense US efforts to broker a compromise between Iraq’s divided ethnic and religious groups.

The United States and Britain, who see approval of a constitution as key to defusing an insurgency, welcomed the draft, hailing it as a victory for democracy over extremism. Rejection in the three of Iraq’s 18 provinces dominated by Sunni Arabs would be enough to torpedo the constitution under current referendum rules.

President Jalal Talabani urged Iraqis to vote “Yes” in the referendum – due by Oct. 15. “We hope that this constitution will be accepted by all Iraqis and that it will be for everybody. We are optimistic...” Talabani, a former Kurdish guerrilla leader who fought Saddam Hussein, told a news conference.

But he acknowledged that rejection by Sunni voters was a possibility. “If they (Sunni voters) do participate, then the constitution will (probably) fail and new elections will have to take place to create a new drafting committee to come up with a new constitution,” he told Al Arabiya television.

<B>Atrocities expected</B>

A Sunni Arab delegate on the drafting committee said all his colleagues on the panel objected to the draft presented to parliament. “We have not agreed on this constitution. We have objections which are the same as we had from day one,” Hussein al-Falluji, the Sunni Arab delegate, told Reuters. “If there is no forging of the results, I believe the people will say ‘No’ to the ‘American’ constitution,” he said.

US President George W. Bush on Sunday touted the merits of Iraq’s new constitution but acknowledged Sunni opposition and that the referendum could spark a new wave of violence. “Of course, there’s disagreements,” said Bush, who had made a personal appeal to Iraqi Shi’ites to cut a deal with Sunni Arabs. “That’s their right.”

Bush urged Iraqis to debate the constitution on its merits and praised the document, saying it “contains far-reaching protections for fundamental human freedoms including religion, assembly, conscience and expression.” But he warned: “We can expect... atrocities to increase in the coming months because the enemy knows that its greatest defeat lies in the expression of free people in freely enacted laws and at the ballot box.”

Although Iraq’s parliament adjourned without a vote, delegates in the Shi’ite- and Kurdish-dominated assembly said the draft’s reading in parliament was enough to signify its acceptance. The text suggested limited concessions to the Sunnis. These are mobilising for the referendum and the election. An official of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq said a date for the popular vote had not yet been set, but that it was likely to take place close to a deadline of Oct. 15.

<B>Michael GEORGY</B>

<B>Reuters soundman killed in Baghdad, police blame US</B>

A Reuters Television soundman was shot dead in Baghdad on Sunday and a cameraman who was wounded was still being questioned by US troops 12 hours later. Iraqi police said the two, both Iraqis, were shot by US forces. A US military spokesman said the incident was being investigated. The cameraman was being held and questioned because of “inconsistencies in his initial testimony,” he added. Waleed Khaled, 35, was hit by a shot to the face and at least four to the chest as he drove to check a report, called in to the Reuters bureau by a police source, of an incident involving police and gunmen in the western Hay al-Adil district. Cameraman Kadhem, 24, who was wounded in the back, told colleagues at the scene: “I heard shooting, looked up and saw an American sniper on the roof of the shopping center.” The only known witness, he was later detained by the US troops. For 10 hours, US officers said they could not trace Kadhem. Fnally a US statement was made, saying that units responded to a terrorist attack, “killing one civilian”. Asked about the incident at a news conference marking the adoption of a draft constitution for Iraq, US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said: “Sometimes mistakes are made.”