Iraqi constitution.

Mixed signals on Iraqi constitution. :

"A draft of Iraq's constitution is expected to be ready today, several members of the panel writing the document said.

'We are still holding discussions on four points but the draft will be finished,' said Saad Jawad Qindeel, a Shiite member of the committee."

How long did the drafting of the American constitution take? How long did it take to formulate the French one? How long did our Australian one take? It is unrealistic to expect the Iraqis to come up with the perfect constitution in record time when other nations went through an extended process. The important point to note is that they have isolated their areas of disagreement and they are discussing these issues in a constitutional way! We have to facilitate the process, not hurry it and we have to show them that we , too, faced the same disagreements and difficulties when we went throughthat period of our history. They are not aliens:they are fellow beings transversing a huge divide which we have previously transversed with considerable difficulty. I think they are great. They should neither be patronised nor seen as inadequate. They are now colleagues.