Unfortunately, the litany remains pretty much unchanged (via th AP): Iraqi Factions Negotiate Over Constitution
With a midnight deadline only hours away, Iraq’s political leaders met Monday in search of a compromise over a new constitution, but negotiators said major differences remained over the role of Islam and women’s rights. A Shiite negotiator said the only hope for a deal was through U.S. pressure.Other issues holding up agreement were believed to include federalism, the distribution of Iraq’s oil wealth, power sharing questions among the provinces and the role of the Shiite clerical hierarchy.
And the following is hardly encouraging:
Such talk of differences between the Shiites and Kurds were significant. Sunni Arab negotiators had complained of being sidelined in the final week of talks and that Shiites and Kurds were cutting deals excluding them. But if the Shiites and Kurds are citing major differences between them, then prospects for a breakthrough would appear even bleaker..