"In this framework, three out of the four amendments passed last week to assuage Sunni voters will not achieve their aim. The first amendment, adding the phrase "The Constitution is the guarantee of the unity of the country," might have important symbolic value, but is meaningless if the violence and insurgency continue. The second, mandating Arabic as an official language in Kurdistan, will also make little difference for Arabs living in Kurdistan if, as is case with Arabic in Israel, official recognition is not translated into acceptance by the Kurdish majority of Arabic as a language of public discourse.

"The third amendment, slowing down the de-Baathification program and ending the purge of former party members who weren't directly involved in the former regime's crimes, is the one positive step of the four, as it will go a long way to ameliorating the concerns of Sunni politicians, and even ordinary workers, who were part of the Baath party during the previous regime.

"But the final and most important amendment, setting up a Parliamentary committee to suggest a one-time set of changes or amendments to the Constitution after the elections in December, will likely not bring any of the changes to the Constitution Sunnis are demanding. Even if every eligible Sunni voter had voted on Saturday and in the parliamentary elections scheduled for December, they will remain too small a minority to change the Constitution in a manner that would shift significant resources, revenues or political power away from Kurds and Shiites and to their communities.

"Because of this, the statement by President Talibani that the Constitution has addressed all Sunni concerns is simply not true. More accurate is the statement made by Shiite legislator Saad Jawad that the last minute amendments were "an added bonus" to convince Sunnis to vote for the Constitution without making any substantive changes to the balance of power enshrined therein.

"Given this situation it is unlikely that most Sunni leaders will change their view of the insurgency as the only true bargaining chip they have to force Kurds and Shiites to sacrifice some of their power, or to achieve a full withdrawal of Coalition forces from Iraq."

Now the USA will arm twist the international community to accept the new Constitution, which is made by the Americans, for the Americans and of the Americans. Commented Andrew Arato, "There is great confusion in the English language, and I must assume in the Arabic press as well concerning the text added to already patched up document just three days before the referendum. In a version released by the UN Office for Constitutional Support, and the NY Times Bureau, both in Baghdad, there are only relatively minor changes, that regarding the fundamental issue of "federalism" establish only "a committee from its members…representative of the main components of Iraqi society…to make recommendations in a period not to exceed four months for necessary amendments that can be made to the Constitution". Otherwise this addition leaves the existing complicated amendment rule in place, which in spite of numerous mis-readings in the press banned all amendments for two parliamentary cycles only for fundamental rights, and for state principles that do not involve "federalism."

"As to rights of regions, while these could not be amended at all without a region’s consent, this provision applies only to regions already formed, presently Kurdistan. In this version it would seem that the Iraqi Islamic Party sold its support for a pot of porridge, i.e. a mere committee, since the regulations concerning regions all remain in place, and require, as before the so-called compromise, a 2/3 parliamentary vote to change them, which a nationalist side led by the Sunnis or anyone else is not going to have against Kurdish and Shi'ite opposition under any conceivable electoral and coalition building scenarios.

Another authenticated version that was read in the Parliament 'also involves the formation of the relevant committee, but suspends the operation of all sections of the normal amendment rule (previous art. 122, now art. 125) for the relevant period of four months after the election of the National Assembly. That body under this rule would approve a full package of amendments, as a whole, by absolute majority (i.e. of all members).

"For whatever amendments would emerge from the four month process they have reinstated the ratification rule of the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL) used in the present referendum: simple majority in the country plus the three province veto. Still only a pot of porridge, then? Very possibly, because the veto that may have been given up on the level of parliament is still retained by both the Shias and the Kurds on the level of provinces."

Another 6 months would have given a chance for a historic compromise among the three major groups as now defined, or among more and different ones if there were a political re-orientation and re-alignment. But this did not fit with the Bush Agenda. The Shias and Kurds did not act in good faith when making the concession to the Sunnis; in fact they were engaging in nothing but an effort to get a few more Sunni votes in the referendum, and to split the Sunni parties. There appears little real chance still for some kind of historic compromise. For the moment, the parties of the government got their very poor constitution passed despite all the gaps and illegalities.

The right to life of civilians in Iraq has fallen victim to a combination of terrorism, violent crime and military excesses, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said last month. More than 80 percent of the 1,100 bodies brought in to Baghdad's Forensic Institute during the month of July bore evidence of violent death, "far in excess of the averages in previous months," Annan told the Security Council in a progress report on the world body's operations in Iraq. "These figures are indicative of a steadily deteriorating trend and provide an important indicator of the absence of protection of the right to life which prevails at this time in Iraq," his report said.

In addition to insurgent attacks, there was continuing concern about military operations by the U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq that have resulted in "civilian deaths, injury and displacement caused by excessive or apparent indiscriminate use of force," he said. The Iraqi security forces, which often lack training on how to treat persons and property, also use force to excess and conduct mass arrests "often without attention to due process."

First- and second-hand reports from Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, Kirkuk and Kurdish areas in northern Iraq "consistently point to the systematic use of torture during interrogations at police stations and within other premises, in many instances belonging to the Ministry of Interior," the report said.

Annan said the United Nations remained concerned about the large number of detainees being held without due process. Citing Ministry of Human Rights figures, he said Iraq's Justice Ministry was holding 7,300 prisoners, the Interior Ministry 2,300 and the Defense Ministry 120. U.S. forces held around 9,600 detainees. The U.S. military now runs three prisons in Iraq including the notorious Abu Gharib.

Robert Fisk, Middle East correspondent for 'The Independent' said that "most of Iraq is in a state of anarchy, with insurgents controlling parts of Baghdad just half a mile from the so-called Green Zone.” He painted a picture of deepening chaos and misery in Iraq more than two years after Saddam Hussein was illegally toppled. Fisk doubted the sincerity of Western leaders' commitment to bringing democracy to Iraq and said a lasting settlement in the country was impossible while foreign troops remained. "In the Middle East, they would like some of our democracy, but I think they would also like freedom from us."

In a recent debate in London he said: "The Americans must leave Iraq and they will leave Iraq, but they can't leave Iraq and that is the equation that turns sand to blood. At some point, they will have to talk to the insurgents. But I don't know how, because those people who might be negotiators, the United Nations, the Red Cross, their headquarters have been blown up. The reality now in Iraq is the project is unfinished. Most of Iraq, except Kurdistan, is in a state of anarchy."

He said that the Western leaders claims of introducing democracy are "unreal" to most of Iraq's citizens. In Baghdad, children and women are kept at home to prevent them from being kidnapped for money or sold into slavery. They face a desperate struggle to find the money to keep generators running to provide themselves with electricity. "They aren't sitting in their front rooms discussing the referendum on the constitution."

Eighty years after the carving out of the state from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire, Iraq and the entire region is on the brink of a precipice again.

In this Constitution, Iraqi Kurds may not get the independent state that 98% of them want, but they get vast legislative powers, control of their own militia and authority over discoveries of oil - which only strengthen the semi-independence they have enjoyed since US led protection at the end of the 1991 Gulf war, making it an American protectorate, which Kurds hope would lead to their centuries old dream. The disturbing development for the Sunni Arabs in the region is that not only have the Shias established political ascendancy in a large Arab country for the first time in centuries but they are doing so, like the Kurds, in a constitutionally prescribed autonomy which, which will cover central and southern Iraq, with more than half the country's population and the bulk of its natural assets.