Iraqi's agree on Constitution

This is awesome -- I would have loved to seen some of the closed-room sessions that resulted in this. From the NY Times

Leaders in Iraq Agree to Change in Constitution
Iraqi political leaders said they had agreed to an important last-minute change in the draft constitution on Tuesday evening in exchange for a promise by some prominent Sunni Arab leaders to give public support to the document in the nationwide referendum on Saturday.

The change would create a panel in the next parliament with the power to propose broad new revisions to the constitution. In effect, the change could give the Sunnis - who were largely shut out of the constitution-writing process - a new chance to help redraft the document after elections in December.

The agreement was a major victory for American officials, who had spent weeks urging Iraq's Shiite and Kurdish leaders to make changes that could soften Sunni opposition to the charter and forge a broader consensus. The Americans had voiced fears that if the constitution passed over strong Sunni opposition, more would turn toward violence.

And a bit more about why:

The change would also give Sunni Arabs, who largely boycotted elections in January, a significant new motive for participating in politics. The more parliament seats they win in the December elections, the better chance they would have of changing the constitutional provisions they oppose, like allowing for the creation of semiautonomous regions within Iraq.

The constitutional panel would have four months after its creation to propose changes to the document, Mr. Makky said. Those proposed changes would then be voted on by the full assembly, which would have to approve them by a two-thirds majority. The changes would then have to be approved in another popular referendum.

Some Shiite's are happy about this:

It was not clear what led to the breakthrough in the talks, but some Shiite lawmakers seemed supportive of the agreement. "Anything that brings our views closer and relieves this polarization will be helpful," said Ali Dabagh, a member of the Shiite alliance that holds a majority of seats in the National Assembly.

The Shiites won the majority of the vote but not all that many Sunni's voted for whatever reason. Now that they see the Coalition is serious about hearing their voice, maybe they will step up and be counted.