Veterans of Foreign Wars 106th Convention Host President Bush

Bush says Iraq constitution will be landmark event

Veterans of Foreign Wars 106th Convention Host President Bush

SALT LAKE CITY – President George W. Bush on Monday said the development of an Iraqi constitution would be a landmark event both for that country and for the Middle East and said he believed the final document would reflect Iraqi values.

His words were echoed at the 106th National Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW)

“The establishment of a democratic constitution will be a landmark event in the history of     Iraq, in the history of the Middle East,” Bush said in a speech to U.S. veterans.

He said all of Iraq’s main ethnic and religious groups are working together on it and “made a courageous choice to join the political process and together they will produce a constitution that reflects the values and traditions of the Iraqi people.”

But he said the process would inevitably involve compromises……

Iraq’s ruling Shi’ite Islamists are preparing to force a constitution through parliament before a midnight Monday deadline but minority Sunnis have vowed to vote it down in a referendum and warned of civil war.

Critics have accused Shi’ite Islamists who dominate the interim government and parliament of planning to impose clerical rule in the style of neighboring Shi’ite     Iran. They deny it.

Kurds have complained that U.S. diplomats, who have insisted that women and minorities should enjoy equal rights, had conceded ground to the Islamists in order to meet Monday’s deadline for passing a draft constitution in the legislature.