Accord after GC-Sistani talks; US sends team for case Vs. Saddam

By: Hamoud Kufi

HOLY CITY OF NAJAF, Iraq: Shiite members of Iraq's Governing Council started on Sunday a second day of meetings in the holy city of Najaf with Ayatullah As-Sistani in an effort to overcome an impasse that delayed the signing of the country's interim constitution.

The Ayatullah rejected two clauses in the interim charter — one that would have given Iraq's Kurds the power to scuttle a permanent charter and another that would have provided for a single president instead of a rotating leadership.

Muwaffaq Ar-Rubaie who along with Mohammad Bahrul Uloom, Ahmad Chalabi and a representative of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) visited Sistani said a deal had been struck on the constitution after talks.

“You will hear very good news, very soon, the signing will take place Monday,” he said.

In Washington, US officials said a team of 50 Justice Department prosecutors, investigators and support staff will go to Iraq to assemble war crimes cases against Saddam Hussein and others in his former regime.

The officials will sift through thousands of pages of evidence and provide a roadmap for Iraqis to use when they bring Saddam and others regime officials before war crimes tribunals.

Sunday night, a car bomb and at least 10 rockets exploded in central Baghdad near the area housing the headquarters of the US-led coalition, officials said. Sirens blared for several minutes, and smoke and flames were visible. The former Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs was on fire, a witness said. Iraqi police said there were no casualties from the car bomb.

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