A draft of Iraq's constitution is expected to be ready on Sunday, several members of the panel writing the document said on Saturday, according to Reuters. "We are still holding discussions on four points but the draft will be finished," Saad Jawad Qindeel, a member of the committee, said. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who has been gathering leaders from across the sectarian and ethnic divide in a bid to hammer out a deal before an Aug. 15 deadline, was optimistic hours earlier that the draft would be ready on Sunday. But members of the committee had been sending mixed signals. Some drafters had suggested postponing discussion of the most contentious issues in order to make the deadline, but Talabani said that would not happen. Some of those on the 71-member drafting panel have said in the past 24 hours that the deadline can be met, while others have been sceptical.
