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Iraq constitution on scheduleNo extension requested; new document due by August 15
SPECIAL REPORT
• Interactive: Who's who in Iraq
• Interactive: Sectarian divide
• Timeline: Bloodiest days for civilians
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSBAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A committee drafting Iraq's new constitution has decided against requesting a six-month extension of its August 15 deadline, its chairman told Iraq's transitional National Assembly on Monday. Officials had until Monday to request the deadline extension. The constitution is to be handed to the National Assembly by August 15. It then faces approval before moving onto to a public referendum in October. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld urged the committee to stick to its schedule during an unannounced visit to Iraq last week. If the constitution passes, elections for a new parliament must occur by mid-December with a new government in place by the end of 2005. The Bush administration has pushed for an Iraqi constitution that will lay the foundation for a broad-based government. Sheik Humam Hamoudi, the chairman of the constitutional committee, said discussions between political groups in the committee made up of Shiite and Sunni Arabs, as well as Kurds, will continue. He said there will also be consultations with the United Nations. "Even the Sunni Arabs insisted on meeting the deadline, so at the end the constitution committee has reached an agreement to commit to the deadline," Hamoudi said. Although a minority in Iraq, the Sunnis ruled under Saddam Hussein, who is also Sunni. Shiite Arabs and Kurds dominate the current Iraqi government. Bodies foundFifteen bodies were found in the area of Um Al Ma'alif near Baya'a in southwestern Baghdad on Monday, Iraqi police said. Witnesses told police that men in a blue minivan pulled over to the side of the road and dumped the bodies. Some of the bodies had been beheaded. Police said no further details were available. In another incident Monday, gunmen in southern Baghdad shot and killed an Iraqi police official, police said. Gen. Salam Lutfi was killed in a drive-by shooting along the Dora highway around 9:15 a.m. (1:15 a.m. EDT). Lutfi worked for the Ministry of Interior and was in charge of Iraqi police commandos, a police official said. Two of Lutfi's guards were critically wounded in the attack. They were transferred to al-Yarmouk hospital for treatment. The attack occurred around 5:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. ET) about 35 miles (56 km) from Baghdad in Latifiya. Possible pulloutIraq's national security adviser agreed Sunday with the top U.S. general in Iraq that under the right conditions, the Americans could begin withdrawing troops from Iraq as early as next spring. But Mowaffak al-Rubaie said multinational forces would "obviously [need] to stay over the horizon just in case." Citing "approximate figures," Rubaie said his "guess of a very good number" would be that "tens of thousands" of U.S. troops could leave in the first half of 2006, "and a considerable number of the multinational forces will probably leave Iraq before the end of the next year." Al-Rubaie would not be more specific, noting a fear of playing "into the terrorist hands" and "so many other factors that are variable." Gen. George Casey, U.S. ground commander in Iraq, on Wednesday said the United States would "be able to take some very substantial reductions after these elections in the spring and summer of next year," provided Iraq's "political process continues to go positively and if the development of the security forces continues to go as it is going." (Full story) But Gen. Peter Pace, who is about to become the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said earlier this month that "only a small number of Iraqi security forces are taking on the insurgents and terrorists by themselves." Al-Rubaie said Iraq would have more than 200,000 security forces in place by December. He would not say how many were capable of operating independently, but said a third of those in place by the end of the year would be ready. CNN's Enes Dulami and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report. 
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