LONDON, Aug 2: The presence of British and US troops in Iraq is fuelling the resistance, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in comments published on Tuesday. In an interview with Britain’s Financial Times newspaper, Mr Straw said it was crucial Iraq’s draft constitution was ready by a mid-August deadline to pave the way for a troop withdrawal.

“The more certainty you have on that (the constitution), the more you can have a programme for the draw-down of troops which is important for the Iraqis,” he said.

“Because — unlike in Afghanistan – although we are part of the security solution there, we are also part of the problem.”

The Iraqi panel drawing up the constitution has come under intense US pressure to submit a draft on time.

The Iraqi government and its US backers see the constitution as a key part of any democratic process and hope it can help defuse the resistance and allow US and British troops to withdraw sooner.

US Gen George Casey said last month he expected troop cuts after a referendum on a new constitution due in October and an election for a new leader in December.

Gen Casey made a similar prediction earlier this year, but US officials have avoided suggesting a timetable since violence worsened sharply after the new government took power in April. Britain has about 8,500 troops in Iraq, based mainly in the south.

WOMEN MEET US ENVOY: Iraqi women leaders met the US ambassador on Tuesday in an effort to pressure politicians framing Iraq’s new constitution not to restrict women’s rights.

The position of women in Iraqi politics and society is one of the most contentious issues facing the panel drafting the constitution, which must be completed by an Aug 15 deadline.

“Iraq cannot achieve all it can if it does not allow all its citizens ... to contribute fully to building this new Iraq,” ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who previously served as the US envoy in Afghanistan, told reporters after meeting the women.

“The eyes of the world are on Iraq ... The world will take note of what course Iraq has selected for itself,” he said, denying there was any American pressure on Iraq over the issue.

Any restrictions on women brought in by the authorities would be an embarrassment to Washington, which cited democracy and human rights as one reason for its 2003 invasion.

Iraq’s first government after Saddam Hussein’s overthrow was led by a secular prime minister, but the current government, elected in January, is dominated by religious figures.

Buthaina al Suhail of the Iraqi Family Association said after meeting Mr Khalilzad she was sure the United States could pressure the panel, which includes some secular Kurds and Sunnis as well as Shias, to listen to them.

“Islam should be a source of law, not the main source of law,” she said. “America has the power all over the world ... the panel will listen.”

Some of the women meeting Mr Khalilzad are advocates of changing family law to follow Shariat as much as possible.

“We have a lot of tribal areas where they don’t like women having the same rights as men in inheritance. If you put this (in law) you would have a big mess in the country,” Salama al Khafaji, a member of the ruling Shia grouping, the United Iraqi Alliance, said.

“Iraqi society does not accept that a woman should be outside the house at night in jobs with night shifts. We’ve got used to it in hospitals, but we reject it in other facilities,” she said, arguing that social mores were naturally conservative.

Ms Khafaji said the real struggle was to ensure the government does not sideline women from positions of power.

“I support there being a quota of at least 25 per cent women in the national assembly, and I also support quotas for women in the executive (cabinet) and judiciary,” she said.

“Iraqi women have the ability to run the country and they did this successfully during the old regime.” —Reuters