BAGHDAD, October 11, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Amid violence and car bombs across the war-torn country, concerns grew over the outcome of the referendum on a controversial new constitution for Iraq, with 11th hour talks still underway.

Shiite and Kurdish political leaders have been pursuing last-minute talks with Sunnis to win the support of the disgruntled community over the constitution with US experts warning that the vote could result in a “parliamentary tyranny of the majority.”

The charter appears as a brass-knuckles compromise between Shiites and Kurds that leaves Sunni Arabs feeling bruised.

The text respects the Kurds' unyielding demand for a federal foundation while providing a considerable role for Islam in the constitution, partially satisfying the Shiites.

But Sunnis see the constitution as laying down the roots of division of the country.

They fear the charter's federalist foundation could lead to the disintegration of the country, leaving them without the oil resources found mainly in the Shiite-dominated south and Kurdish areas in the north.

"The constitution has many weaknesses," Juan Cole, professor of Middle Eastern history at the University of Michigan, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"It defers key questions to a parliamentary statute" amendable by simple majority vote, which could potentially result in "a kind of parliamentary tyranny of the majority."

Sunnis could "be marginalized economically by the central government", with the potential loss of billions of dollars in revenue and services.

That by itself might suffice to make Sunnis feel the constitution "is worth fighting a war over", he warned.

Jane Arraf, of the Council on Foreign Relations, said legal squabbles over interpretations could further fuel communal tensions.

"You could really have divisions in the country that are made deeper by the ambiguity of the constitution," said Arraf.

"Iraqi politicians could be struggling with this, and likely will be, in one form or another for years," Arraf, a former CNN bureau chief in Baghdad, told AFP.

Having failed to make their positions heard by Shiites and Kurds during talks on the draft charter, leading Sunni groups have called for it to be rejected, but have not urged a boycott of the vote.

Minor changes to the text, such as the addition of article three which states that Iraq "is a founding and effective member of the League of Arab Nations", has done little to change their minds.

The constitution requires a simple majority to pass, but could be rejected if two-thirds of voters say no it in at least three of the 18 provinces. Sunnis are a majority in at least three provinces.

"The American people are rapidly losing patience with the mounting casualties and costs,” said Levin.

In Washington, the stakes are high in Saturday's constitutional referendum with the Bush administration seeking to lay the groundwork for an eventual exit strategy but fearing a possible political debacle, analysts told AFP.

Success would pave the way for definitive elections by the end of the year and show Americans the light at the end of the tunnel for the 140,000 US troops still in Iraq.

"The administration, I believe, is hoping to use elections in December as a development which will allow the US to begin to withdraw troops sometimes afterwards," Thomas Carothers, of the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, told AFP.

Rejection would bring the political process back to square one, leaving the Americans with little progress to show for years of bloody battle that have cost nearly 2,000 US lives since the invasion of the Arab country.

And even if the "ayes" win the day, the question remained whether the constitution could become a rallying point for the country's fractious body or end up tearing it apart.

Carl Levin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Monday that if the Iraqis don't resolve their political differences by the end of the year, the United States should set its own timetable for withdrawing troops.

"The American people are rapidly losing patience with the mounting casualties and costs while Iraqis squabble among themselves over their future," Levin wrote in The Washington Post.

Washington was heavily involved in writing the constitution, with its ambassador to Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, serving as intermediary between the various factions and even submitting written drafts of certain sections.

An Iraqi civilian is brought into hospital after being wounded in a Baghdad attack. (Reuters)

On the ground, thirty people were killed when a suicide car bomber ripped through a crowded market in the volatile Iraqi town of Tal Afar Tuesday, October 11.

Another seven people were killed in a similar attack in Baghdad, starkly underlining the difficulties Iraqi forces are facing in securing the country for the constitution vote Saturday, October 15, reported AFP.

Tal Afar police chief Najm Abdallah said the attack has also injured 45 more, where less than a month ago US and Iraqi forces wrapped up an operation against “insurgents.”

On September 28, five people were killed when a woman suicide bomber blew herself up at a police recruitment center in Tal Afar, which lies between the main northern city of Mosul and the Syrian border.

In Baghdad, five soldiers and two civilians were killed and four others wounded in a suicide car bombing in the western neighborhood of Al-Amariyah, a defense ministry source told AFP.

Iraqi police also came under attack, with two policewomen shot and killed while riding in a taxi in Dura, a southern district of the capital, an interior ministry source said.

Sixteen other people, including 12 policemen, were wounded in two other attacks in Baghdad, while two more targeted convoys of Iraqi officials and US soldiers, wounding four civilians, the source said.

Late Monday, October 10, a delegation of Arab League envoys was ambushed in the capital, and while none of the diplomats were harmed, two police bodyguards were killed.

"We expected it to be dangerous," the Arab League head of mission Algerian Ahmed Ben Helli said after the attack.

"The world, and in particular the Arab world, must be aware of this situation. If it gets worse, it could spin out of control."