Mahmoud Othman Quotes

"How can we vote when we saw nothing of the last budget?"

"It is not good to have a constitution that would limit the liberties of people, the human rights, the freedoms."

"Without any doubt, there is American pressure on everybody. The U.S. wants to reach a solution and finalize an agreement, and they say that the date of Aug. 15 is sacred."

"There are intense talks going on. They are trying very hard to see if they can make last-minute changes for the Sunni Arabs."

"It would be more appropriate if they would leave us alone. Let us solve our problems by ourselves."

"We are quickly running out of time. We are making very little progress in our negotiations. The situation is fragile and not one where we can afford to be divided. What the politicians don't seem to grasp is that if we don't act wisely and quickly, our decision could lead the country into even worse chaos."

"From the very beginning, we said that if the constitution committee wants to have a draft that all would agree on, it would be impossible by Aug. 15, ... The Sunnis haven't agreed on some points, and I don't think they will. The Kurds also haven't gotten their demands yet. ... There's a concern that the Sunnis and Kurds might boycott."

"He wrote his opinions to try to find a compromise, so all sides are now studying it."

"Everyone is trying to convince his own people and we haven't reached an agreement on federalism."

"I am happy about this decision because I want this to be done democratically, even though we support the constitution."

"If concessions are made to the Sunnis to make additions to the constitution, then the other parties want a guarantee from the Sunnis that they will vote back the constitution at the referendum. But there are no guarantees."

"Without any doubt, there is American pressure on everybody, ... The U.S. wants to reach a solution and finalize an agreement, and they say that the date of Aug. 15 is sacred."

"There was not enough time to reach an agreement."

"There is no progress. We are sticking to our stance and they explained their stance."

"Violence has its fingerprints on everything. It's affecting everything and every activity."

"We don't want to violate the constitution before our first meeting."

"(Friday) they were fighting each other. Until noon (Saturday) there were no improvements but suddenly after Bush called them, they all went to the meeting. There is strong American pressure because they are very much concerned about Iraq."

"We hope to solve the problems to end the deadlock as soon as possible... we need time but how much I do not know. The delay is not acceptable."

"The U.S. wants a government more than we do."

"Everyone is nervous. The security situation is not good. There are so many explosions at the checkpoints and near the convoys. The Americans are afraid. And when the driver doesn't see them, it happens sometimes that civilians are killed. It is a tragedy that most of the victims are civilians. It is making life more difficult. But this is our situation. It is very dangerous."