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Nasar al-Rubaie, a member of the committee drafting the constitution, said the document would be handed over to the 275-member National Assembly late Monday for a decision on the two unresolved issues. He said those issues were women's rights and self-determination, a Kurdish demand for more autonomy and the right to secede someday.

Jalaldin al-Saghir, a Shiite member of parliament, confirmed agreement had been reached but refused to identify the two remaining issues.

"An agreement has been reached on the constitution and it was signed and it will be handed to parliament," he said. "There are two points that the National Assembly will have to solve."

The announcement came after the parliament twice delayed a session Monday on whether to approve a new constitution by a midnight deadline.

The National Assembly had been scheduled to convene at 6 p.m. (10 a.m. EDT) to consider the draft but moments ahead of the time, the meeting room in the heavily guarded Green Zone was absent of legislators.

It initially was delayed for two hours, but Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman said the parliament would not convene before 10 p.m. (2 p.m. EDT.)



I myself think women should have basic rights too but damn to hold the whole thing up. Let the women fight for their rights later lets get the ball going.

My understanding is that in Saddam-era Iraq, women had some of the best rights in the Arab world. The people holding up on that are people who want to step backwards, not maintain the status quo.

NTM