What happened
Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority and independence-minded Kurds submitted a draft constitution this week but delayed a vote beyond a Monday deadline, hoping to coax angry Sunni Muslims into dropping their objections. The proposal would reshape Iraq as a loose federal union with Islam as the official state religion, with a prohibition on any civil law contradicting Islamic teachings. Sunnis said that such a system would lead to the breakup of Iraq by letting Shiites form a massive autonomous region in the south, home to the country's largest oil fields. If the proposal is enacted, said Saleh Mutlak, a Sunni delegate, 'œthe streets will rise up.'
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