A flavour of the political opposition set to intensify in parts of Iraq between now and the October 15th referendum on the country's proposed new constitution was evident yesterday in Tikrit, home town of former president Saddam Hussein. Holding pictures of the deposed dictator and banners declaring "No to the Zionist-American-Iranian constitution", around 2,000 people organised by the Association of Muslim Scholars, a hardline Sunni Muslim clerical group, chanted their opposition.
They would sacrifice their blood for Saddam, they said. More measured concern was expressed by Amr Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League, who said he feared the constitution, which envisages a federal Iraq with shared resources, was "a recipe for chaos".
Verbose comment is a mainstay of what passes for political dialogue in much of the Middle East and much more can be expected. Would that that was all, however. Sadly, as President Bush acknowledged yesterday, there will be atrocities committed in the cause of torpedoing this particular template for Iraq's future. But not all Sunni reaction to the proposed constitution is either unreasonable or totally antagonistic. Sunnis represent around a third of Iraq's Muslim people and were the ruling elite under Saddam. They account for around a third of Iraq's 80 per cent Arab population (Shias account for two thirds) and Kurds account for around 20 per cent of the total population. The constitution was negotiated by a committee of an interim National Assembly, chosen in elections boycotted by most Sunnis. But 15 Sunni negotiators took part in the committee and yesterday, the largest Sunni party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, said it might yet support the proposed constitution if some further changes can be made.
Such a move is greatly to be desired. The constitution will fall if it is rejected by just three of Iraq's 18 provinces. Sunnis have comfortable majorities in two provinces and account for large minorities in two more. Such electioneering as may be possible in the appalling climate in Iraq will be concentrated on winning Sunni support in these two provinces. It is an irony of the proposed constitution that Sunni interests in a new Iraq would likely be protected best, as would all others, by the very sort of federal agreement to which they are opposed. But the proposed constitution does command Shia and Kurd support, amounting to the overwhelming majority of the country. If the constitution is not passed, a new National Assembly will be elected and the process started over again. In a democracy, even an emerging one, any group is entitled to oppose. But it is not entitled to derail if it does not get its way.