July 27, 2005

Rumsfeld urges Iraq to meet constitution deadline

By Will Dunham

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made an unannounced visit to Baghdad on Wednesday and urged Iraqis to finish their draft constitution before an Aug. 15 deadline.

"We don't want any delays," Rumsfeld told reporters. "Now's the time to get on with it."

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (L) walks with U.S. Army General George Casey after arriving at the Baghdad International Airport July 27, 2005. Rumsfeld made an unannounced visit to Baghdad on Wednesday and urged Iraqis to finish their draft constitution before an August 15 deadline. (REUTERS/Joe Raedle/Pool)

He also said Iraqi leaders should resist what he described as interference by neighbours Syria and Iran. Washington accuses Syria of allowing militants to enter Iraq, and says Iran is trying to gain political influence in Baghdad.

"It's important for them (the Iraqis) to work with their neighbours to see that the behaviour of particularly Iran and Syria improves. It has been harmful," he said.

"They need to be aggressively communicating with their neighbours to see that foreign terrorists stop trying to cross those borders and their neighbours do not harbour insurgents."

Rumsfeld's tenth visit to Iraq since the war comes at an crucial moment in the political process, which the United States and Iraq's leaders hope will defuse an insurgency of Sunni Arabs opposed to the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led interim government Washington backs.

A committee drafting Iraq's new constitution resumed work on Tuesday after a six-day boycott by Sunni Arab members, one of whom was assassinated last week.

The draft constitution is due by Aug. 15. The drafters can call a six-month extension on Aug. 1 if they are not ready, but committee chairman Humam Hamoudi has said they will be.

Rumsfeld said he felt very strongly a delay would be wrong, and that Washington, with troops in the line of fire, had an interest in pressing Iraqis to reach a deal.

"(A delay) would be very harmful to the momentum that's necessary. We have troops on the ground there. People get killed," he said. "It's time for compromise. That's what politics is about."

He also said the United States was working to train Iraqis to take control of the roughly 15,000-16,000 Iraqi detainees now held by U.S. forces, although he set no timetable for transferring them to Iraqi custody.

Iraq's leaders should "find opportunities to thank" countries that have contributed to the U.S.-led international force in Iraq, he said.

Washington is working on a new legal arrangement to define the role of the more than 160,000 foreign troops in Iraq, he said. This could take the form of a renewed U.N. Security Council resolution or a "status of forces" agreement with Iraq.

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