A crucial national meeting of Iraqi leaders scheduled for Friday to resolve constitutional problems was postponed for two days because of an emergency meeting of the Kurdish autonomous parliament. The delay came against a backdrop of unremitting violence that has killed about 40 military personnel in 10 days, and new Al Qaeda warnings that the United States and Britain risk more death and destruction if they do not leave Iraq and other Muslim lands.

"The meeting of leaders was delayed from today to Sunday in order to allow for a greater number of participants to attend as many people had not received invitations," a spokesman at President Jalal Talabani's office said. Talabani had called the meeting to break the deadlock on a new constitution and resolve outstanding problems on which members of the constitutional committee have so far failed to agree. The issues include federalism, official languages, the relation between religion and state, the name of the republic, the rights of women and the question of the oil-rich center of Kirkuk, which the Kurds want included in their own autonomous region.

Iraqi leaders have pledged to draft a new constitution by August 15 ahead of a referendum in mid-October, to be followed by elections in mid-December and the inauguration of a new government at the start of 2006. Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the constitutional committee, said that the national conference was delayed because of an emergency meeting on Saturday of the Kurdish autonomous parliament to discuss the charter. Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani cannot come to Baghdad before Sunday due to this meeting.

"The leadership in Kurdistan asked for the Kurdish committee members to return and explain to our parliament what has been discussed in Baghdad," said Falah Mustafa, a spokesman for Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party.

"We are worried about comments from some constitutional committee members about federalism, Kurdish rights, democracy and women's rights," Adnan Mufti, head of the Kurdish regional parliament and senior official of Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Party said in Arbil. He said that the Kurds are ready to endorse the charter "if all parties understand that a constitution must give rights to all Iraqis; otherwise no agreement can be reached. We are insisting on federalism, there is no way to have a unified Iraq without federalism." Mufti hoped that others in Baghdad would accede to Kurdish federalist demands, but said that three issues could be problematic - the future of Kirkuk, the name “ Iraq” and the role of Islam. "We want Islam to be a main source of legislation, but not the main source," Mufti said. " Iraq is a country for all - Christians and Yezidis, as well as Sunni and Shia." Iraq will be a parliamentary republic with a strong prime minister and a figurehead president, according to the latest draft of the constitution.

There has been no let-up in insurgent violence. Some 40 U.S. military personnel were killed in the last 10 days, one of the deadliest American tolls since the March 2003 invasion. On Wednesday alone, 18 U.S. troops were killed in various attacks across Iraq, 14 of them in a single roadside bombing. Osama Bin Laden's right-hand man, Ayman Al Zawahiri, again warned the United States and its allies of more death and destruction in a video broadcast on Al Jazeera television. "The Americans ... will see horror that would make them forget the horror they saw in Vietnam," Zawahiri said. U.S. President George W. Bush responded that Al Qaeda wanted to drive the United States and its allies out but he vowed to "stay the course". "We will complete the job in Iraq," he said. "We will help the Iraqis to develop a democracy."

Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari on Thursday unveiled a new security plan to take on the insurgents, after 21 Iraqis were killed that day. His 12-point plan included strengthening intelligence coordination and more efforts to secure Iraq's borders to stop infiltration. "We are at war ... the worst kind of war," Jaafari said. He was addressing a police graduation ceremony in the southern Iraqi town of Hilla on August 4 th. Over 400 new policemen graduated during the event. At a news conference held later in the day in Baghdad, Jaafari announced that the government had adopted a new security plan for Iraq.

Note: The Kurdish demands are just and Iraq may break up if they are not met. The $64,000 question is whether the Shiite leaders will accept them. Sunni Arabs account for only 17% of Iraq’s population. They misruled Iraq for many decades, oppressing and often killing both Shiites and Kurds. Now they form the backbone of the armed opposition to the United States and its attempts to democratize the country. On no account should they be given more than 20% of the seats in any central or federal government and parliament. They will not thank the Shiites for this. They will use the additional influence to make trouble. The Iraqi Shiites are Arabs too. But the worst possible decision their leaders can make is to reject federalism, creating endless hostility and tensions with the Kurds who have never been their enemies. Their enemies are the Sunni Arabs whose rulers oppressed them. Indeed, the more far-reaching the autonomy granted to the Kurds the more stable Iraq will be. The Sunni Arab states bordering Iraq are likely to exploit any Shiite-Kurdish tensions to sow more discord and try to reinstall Sunni Arab rule in Baghdad.